Factors such as overcrowding and criminal populism affect a prison overcrowding in which there is a lack of guides.
The most violent year in prisons begins on February 23, claiming the lives of 79 inmates in simultaneous riots in Latacunga, Cuenca and Guayaquil, which by the end of 2021 would have the highest number of murdered inmates nationwide. By that date, the country was waiting for the second presidential round to replace Lenín Moreno.
The Litoral Penitentiary becomes the scene of the worst massacre in a prison in the history of the country. On September 28, “a conflict between gangs”, as attributed by the Police, caused the death of 118 inmates at the hands of other inmates. Guillermo Lasso, who on July 21 faced the first prison conflict of the new government with the death of 21 inmates between the Guayaquil and Latacunga centers, changes the director of SNAI, the entity in charge of prisons, and decrees a state of emergency for the system penitentiary. The measure includes the militarization of the detention centers, but then the Constitutional Court indicates that the Armed Forces should not be inside, only outside the prisons.
In October, while the Legislative Commission for Sovereignty, Integration and Security visits the prisons and receives experts to address the crisis, eleven inmates appear ‘hanged’ in the Penitentiary. The theory of a collective suicide, as announced by the SNAI, is rejected by human rights organizations.
And that is just a precedent to a new massacre there. The bloody night of November 12 ends the lives of 65 inmates, most of them interned in a so-called transitory sector, where they go – paying for protection, according to their relatives – who do not have a sentence.
‘Trébol’ was killed 103 days after serving his eight-month sentence
Overwhelmed by the prison crisis, President Lasso summons all the authorities of the different functions of the State, such as the National Assembly, the National Court of Justice, the Constitutional Court, Prosecutor’s Office, Council of the Judiciary, Public Defender, among others, to take joint action.
It is then decided to initiate a process of pacification through dialogue, with the support of civil society and international organizations.
The Ministry of Government and the Attorney General’s Office are entrusted with the preparation of a draft Law on Citizen Security, while the Judiciary and the National Court undertake to coordinate actions for the processing of prison benefits requested by those deprived of liberty and the Executive begins to grant pardons to those who meet certain conditions based on their penalties and health status. The goal is to reduce overcrowding, one of several problems encountered by the Parliamentary Commission that addressed the prison crisis with input from experts and non-governmental organizations.
“He had bought him a tricycle to sell fish, it was a surprise,” says the father of a prisoner killed in the Litoral Penitentiary
In a report of more than 600 pages, the legislators conclude that Ecuador, as a state, does not meet certain international standards regarding its responsibility for persons deprived of liberty; For example, it was found that the inmates were not properly separated according to factors such as age, crime committed, and level of danger; much less is there a distinction between those sentenced and processed, that is, those who have not yet been sentenced and are around 40% of a prison overcrowding that borders 38,000 inmates, for whom guides are lacking.
Daniela Oña, a lawyer specializing in persons deprived of liberty, has been insisting that if the State does not solve overcrowding and solve criminal populism, nothing will change in this crisis.
Increased drug seizure
The Government links violence in prisons and insecurity in the streets to drug trafficking and actions against this crime.
On August 13, the Police discovered 9.6 tons of cocaine behind the facade of a water sales business in Los Vergeles, north of Guayaquil, the largest seizure achieved in a single operation. In 2021, more than 201 tons of drugs are seized (70% in Guayas), a record for the country, according to Antinarcotics, compared to 120 tons in 2020.
The territorial dispute of drug trafficking in Ecuador puts the country on the international route of arms trafficking. Ecuador registers more than 2,000 homicides in 2021, a figure that far exceeds the 1,372 violent deaths in 2020 and almost double the 1,187 in 2019, before the pandemic.
These crimes have been possible thanks to the increasingly sophisticated firearms that enter across the borders to fuel the battle between drug gangs that is being fought in the streets and prisons.
To fight against drug trafficking, which uses airplanes that land on clandestine runways in Manabí, the Government has installed a radar on Mount Montecristi. Its operations begin on October 27, but after ten days it presents a fault that is still being investigated. Meanwhile, other teams are monitoring and increasing drug seizures. In addition, the Executive sends to the Assembly a bill that allows the demolition of intruding aircraft. (I)
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
