Unanimously, the Assembly approved the report on the prison and insecurity situation

With 131 affirmative votes and one abstention, The Assembly approved the report prepared by the Comprehensive Security Commission that addresses the prison and security situation in the country.

The document containing more than 600 pages, investigates the actions of public officials to prevent and solve the crisis in the rehabilitation centers, as well as the public insecurity that the country is experiencing, because, according to the report, it is causing serious social upheaval.

The plenary session began at around 10:35 a.m. on November 17, and lasted for 10 hours. At the beginning of the day, 127 legislators were present, but at the time of reading the report of the Security Commission, 76 assembly members remained in the room. There were already 132 attendees for the vote.

National Assembly begins to debate the prison crisis in Ecuador

The document that was submitted for discussion yielded 52 conclusions and 72 recommendations facing the situation in the prisons. Following the debate added 9 additional points that arose from observations raised by the assembly members.

The topics introduced during the session were:

• Determine what the situation in prisons is a national priority, since it has caused death, unrest and serious public insecurity;
• Recommend to all State institutions to develop a human rights protocol in relation to persons deprived of liberty (PPL), as well as creating mechanisms for measuring compliance with the report’s recommendations;
• Recommend to the governing body of the social rehabilitation system to implement a contingency plan to overcome the shortage of human talent, so that the PPLs can access the semi-open prison regime;
• Recommend to the rector of social rehabilitation to establish deadlines for compliance with recommendations Of the report;
• Require the Ombudsman’s Office strengthening actions the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment;
• Request the Ombudsman’s Office to initiate a defense process for the violation of the human rights of inmates who were victims of massacres in prisons in the last year. The case of the defender of water Víctor Guaillas will be especially considered;
• Request that the different functions of the State, in accordance with the report’s recommendations, determine comprehensive reparation measures for victims and their families;
• Send the report and its annexes to the Comptroller’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office to initiate the corresponding investigations;
• Submit the report and its annexes to the Presidency of the Republic, to the Directory of the technical organization of social rehabilitation, to the National Service of Comprehensive Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI), to the Ministry of Government, to the General Command of the National Police, to the Ministry of Defense, Constitutional Court, Council of the Judiciary, among other institutions.

During the debate, Assemblyman Ramiro Narváez (ID), president of the Comprehensive Security Commission, presented details of the report. He noted that it could be determined that there is no public policy focused on human rights and criminal policy; what’s more, the prison population increased.

“There is weak state capacity, there is no personnel, there is no infrastructure, there is no endowment, there is no intelligence system, and the most serious thing is that there is a disarticulation of the security entities. There are many actors and in the end no one responds. The role of the judicial system has been one of absolute indifference and indolence facing problems. Access to efficient and timely justice is not guaranteed, ”Narváez said.

Among the conclusions of the report, the parliamentarian highlighted that the State did not observe international standards and did not act with due diligence. The legislator stressed that the problem in prisons deepened between 2017 and 2021. And that since 2013 this situation has been observed by the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture, which has warned that there is no articulation between state institutions.

To prepare the report, the Security Commission visited the rehabilitation centers of Guayas, Cotopaxi, Pichincha, Azuay and Chimborazo, where it was found that 42.59% of the prison population lives in overcrowding, and that the facilities and services do not meet international standards.

Council for Citizen Participation does not reach agreements to install dialogue tables due to prison crisis

Assemblyman Luis Almeida (PSC) criticized the delay by the Police to enter the Litoral Penitentiary in the last recorded massacre that left 62 people killed. “No one can say that nothing was done (in the Penitentiary) because it was very dangerous to enter. So do we accept that we are a failed state? We cannot accept this. The State has to defend everyone’s life ”, questioned Almeida.

Ronny Aleaga (UNES) insisted that the prison crisis comes from 2019 and that at present the death toll in the rehabilitation centers amounts to 323, “without any authority of the Executive being responsible for the damages.” It requested that President Guillermo Lasso be ordered to inform the Assembly what will be the treatment to compensate the families of the victims.

From the ruling party, Diego Ordóñez (CREO) stressed that the problem is not recent and that finding solutions requires a diagnosis and resources. In addition, he pointed out that before the excessive use of pretrial detention One option is for the judges to have protocols to know when alternative measures are applied or put in place.

Ordóñez mentioned that one of the causes for judges to resort to preventive detention is for the lack of electronic shackles that allow the application of different measures. In that sense, he expressed that the Government faces the crisis without security systems or technology mechanisms.

He also referred to the ruling of the Constitutional Court (CC) that prohibited the entry of military personnel into prison facilities. “We hope that this ideological vision is overcome in the CC that prisoners are victims of social injustice, ”Ordóñez said.

The plenary debate ended at 8:45 p.m., after the intervention of 35 assembly members of the different legislative benches. (I)