Gang clash leaves at least 12 dead in Ecuador prison

At least 12 inmates were killed in an Ecuadorian jail amid a new clash between gangs, the SNAI prison agency said on Saturday, in the latest chapter in
the South American nation’s prison violence.
The confrontation occurred on Friday in the prison known as La Penitenciaria, in the city of Guayaquil, one of the country’s most dangerous.
Ecuador has been plagued by prison riots since 2021, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of inmates, which the government attributes to clashes between drug gangs fighting for territory and control.
“Through the use of technology, it was established 12 people died,” SNAI told reporters.
The entity added that the prosecutor’s office and the police are in the prison for the identification of the dead bodies.
Last year, a United Nations delegation found that the violence in Ecuador’s prisons was caused by years of state neglect of the penitentiary system.