(Quito) Ecuador will carry out a census of detainees from next week in all the prisons of the country, the scene of recurring violence between rival gangs, we learned on Friday from an official source.
Posted at 8:05 p.m.
This census will begin on Monday “in the 36 centers of deprivation of liberty in the country”, indicated the prison administration (SNAI) in a press release.
The operation will make it possible to update information on detainees in order to “improve their living conditions and for better administration” of detention centres.
For the SNAI, “it is fundamental” to have reliable statistics on prison establishments in order to better define “public policies and strategies” to guarantee in particular “better rehabilitation and social reintegration” of prisoners.
According to official estimates, the country’s overcrowded prisons house some 35,000 prisoners, many of them members of drug-related gangs. Since February 2021, Ecuador has experienced seven massacres between prisoners, which have left more than 400 people dead. The authorities have so far proved unable to curb this violence, often perpetrated with knives and marked by beheadings and other acts of barbarism.
In 2021, Ecuador seized a record 210 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine. For 2022, seizures to date have reached around 70 tonnes.
Bordered by Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest cocaine producers, Ecuador serves as a port of departure for drug shipments, mainly to the United States and Europe. Last year, the country of 17.7 million people recorded a rate of 14 murders per 100,000 people, almost double that of 2020.