State of Exception to Be Implemented in Ecuadorian Prisons

On Monday, President Guillermo Lasso decreed a 60-day state of exception in all institutions of the Ecuadorian prison system.

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This decision was made after three days of intense confrontations inside several prisons, which have left at least 6 dead and 11 injured in the Guayas province penitentiary.

The chaotic situation is also reflected in an unprecedented event: 96 prison officers remain held by inmates in five prisons. The Lasso administration also admitted that prisoners are on hunger strike in 13 detention centers.

"The declaration of a state of exception seeks to preserve the rights of prisoners, prison officers, police officers. Its purpose is also to control the current circumstances and restore peaceful coexistence, order and the normal functioning of prisons," the authorities said.

The tweet reads, "Guayaquil: Military personnel and police entered the Litoral Penitentiary after more than 40 hours of confrontations."

The Lasso decree provides that the Armed Forces enter prisons as a "temporary, subsidiary, and exceptional measure in the event of serious disturbances of order."

The presence of the soldiers will seek to guarantee that prisoners, visitors, or penitentiary servers are not the object of threats to their physical or sexual integrity.

The state of emergency decree implies the suspension of the rights to the inviolability of correspondence and freedom of assembly between prisoners.

The Lasso administration also declared a 60-day emergency state in the Duran Municipality and in the provinces of Manabi and Los Rios. This measure will be accompanied by a nightly curfew.