Sixty-two prisoners were killed in riots in prisons in three cities in Ecuador as a result of fighting between rival gangs and an escape attempt.
Edmundo Moncayo, director of prisons, said at a news conference on Tuesday that 800 police stations had helped regain control of the facilities. Hundreds of tactical unit officers have been deployed since the clashes broke out late Monday.
Moncayo said two groups were trying to gain “criminal leadership within the detention centers” and that the clashes continued through a search for weapons carried out by police officers on Monday.
Photos and videos on social media show suspected prisoners being beheaded and amidst puddles of blood.
Fatal prison riots have occurred relatively frequently in recent years in Ecuador, of which the prisons are designed for 27,000 inmates, but are about 38,000 residents.
Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno said he had ordered the Ministry of Defense to exercise “strict control over weapons, ammunition and explosives in the outer prisons” in the wake of this week’s riots.
According to Moncayo, 33 died in the prison in Cuenca in southern Ecuador, 21 in the city of Guayaquil in the Pacific Ocean and eight in the central city of Latacunga.
Moncayo said nearly 70% of the country’s prison population lives in the centers where the unrest took place.
Prime Minister Patricio Pazmiño sent a tweet accusing him of “the joint action of criminal organizations to cause violence in the country’s prisons”, but added: “We are taking action to regain control.”