Police, military intervene in maximum security prison of Guayaquil

Guayaquil, Ecuador, Oct 2 (EFE).- Police and military forces intervened Saturday in the maximum security prison in Guayaquil, near another prison where 118 prisoners were killed in a massacre earlier this week.

In the early hours of Saturday, about a thousand soldiers and policemen entered both prisons, after sounds were heard of weapons being fired.

Marine Corps commander Fernando Recalde said initially there was cross fire, apparently between the gangs inside, but everything subsided with the arrival of the large number of security forces.

The police reported that during the intervention, the officers were shot at by the inmates, but they immediately succeeded in bringing the situation under control.

Police chief Tannya Varela said four prisoners were injured in the incident and had to be evacuated for medical care.

Varela added that further details of the operation would be made public at a press conference in the coming hours.

This incident comes four days after a massacre at a prison in the same southwestern city in Ecuador left 118 prisoners dead, the highest in recent years.

Tuesday’s incident highlighted the serious prison and security crisis in the Andean country, where foreign cartels related to drug trafficking finance local gangs for market control, especially around port cities.

So far this year, more than 230 prisoners have died in similar incidents.

Following the recent incidents, the government has proposed measures to tackle the prison crisis in the country, including granting pardon to those inmates who are aged, handicapped or suffering from terminal illness.

The government also plans to rehabilitate the Guayaquil complex and distribute prisoners in different pavilions to avoid violent incidents, as well as to construct more correctional facilities.

Moreover. it will also install scanners to prevent smuggling of arms inside prisons. EFE

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