At least 15 inmates were killed Monday, October 3 following a mutiny in one of Ecuador's largest prisons, already the scene of deadly violence in the past, authorities said.
This mutiny left "15 dead and 20 injured", the prison administration of Ecuador told the press.
Earlier, the Ecuadorian prison administration (SNAI), reported that rescuers took care of five injured detainees and another was transported to a hospital, without specifying the seriousness of the injuries.
SNAI added that "tactical units are continuing operations to regain control" of the penitentiary.
According to the same source, "the armed forces provide support in the outer perimeter" of the prison located.
Located on the outskirts of the city of Latacunga (south), this prison houses some 4,300 prisoners and is one of the largest in the country.
Since February 2021, the establishment has experienced seven massacres between prisoners that have killed more than 400 people.
Barbarity
The authorities have so far proved unable to curb this violence, often perpetrated with knives and marked by beheadings and other acts of barbarism.
According to official estimates, the country's overcrowded prisons house some 35,000 prisoners, many of them members of drug-related gangs.
In August, the government of President Guillermo Lasso launched a census of detainees with a view to improving living conditions in the face of prison overcrowding.
With AFP
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