QUITO, Ecuador (AP) – Sixty-two prisoners have been killed in riots in prisons in three cities in Ecuador as a result of fighting between rival gangs and an escape attempt, authorities said Tuesday.
Prison director Edmundo Moncayo said at a news conference 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.
Deadly prisoner incidents have occurred relatively frequently in recent years in Ecuador, of which the prisons are designed for about 27,000 inmates but contain about 38,000 residents.
President Lenín Moreno tweeted that he had ordered the Ministry of Defense “to exercise strict control over weapons, ammunition and explosives in the outlying areas of 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 tweeted accusing him of “the concerted action of criminal organizations to bring about violence in the country’s prisons”, but added: “We are taking action to regain control.”