At least 31 inmates die of asphyxiation, ‘immediate death by hanging’ in Ecuador prison—what is going on?
Ecuador is no stranger to prison riots, with overcrowding and corruption contributing to deadly uprisings in the country's jails, where inmates, often members of drug cartels, smuggle in weapons from the outside and orchestrate criminal activities from behind bars.
At least 31 inmates died at an Ecuador prison on Sunday afternoon after violent, armed riots broke out, authorities said.
According to a statement shared by the country's prisons authority, 27 prisoners in a jail in the port town of Machala died of asphyxiation and "immediate death by hanging", reported Reuters.
No other details were provided by the authority, also known as SNAI.
Earlier on Sunday, the prisons authority had reported four deaths in the same prison in a separate incident, which was brough under control after the deployment of a tactical unit of the police.
The prisons authority also said that the riot had been sparked by an attempted reorganization of prisoners in a new maximum security facility.
Ecuador is no stranger to prison riots, with overcrowding and corruption contributing to deadly uprisings in the country's jails, where inmates, often members of drug cartels, smuggle in weapons from the outside and orchestrate criminal activities from behind bars.
Over the past few years, deadly riots in the country's jails have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of inmates.
The most recent incident took place in September, when a riot caused by a gang war inside the Machala prison left 14 dead and another 14 injured.
Days after the September incident, another 17 peiple were killed in a prison riot, which took place in the northern city of Esmeraldas, near Ecuador's border with Colombia.
Ecuador President Daniel Noboa's administration, which has vowed to take a strong stance against organized crime in the South American nation, blames the prison violence on rival gangs fighting for dominance and territorial control.