5 Dead, 15 Hurt in Bloody Ecuador Jail Riot

A jail riot in Ecuador that involved a gunfight has killed at least five inmates and injured 15 on Wednesday.

The shootout marks the country's latest deadly incident in one of the country's overcrowded jails, the BBC reported.

Jail Riot in Ecuador

Reports said the jail riot sparked after a lawyer was shot dead in the country's capital. The said gunfight between the inmates occurred at around 10 a.m, TRT World reported.

Authorities noted that they already have full control of the Penitenciaría del Litoral in Guayaquil, where the violence broke out.

The riot took place in the prison's sector, where members of the Los Choneros gang are held. Los Choneros is known to be one of the most prominent criminal groups in Ecuador.

The said group was reported to surface in the 1990s and served as a drug trafficking organization based in the city of Manta. Authorities initially identified the gang as a branch of the Colombian drug cartel that had control over the pacific maritime trafficking routed into Mexico and the United States.

Prison authorities now investigate around 37 inmates. Because of this incident, security was reinforced in prisons across the country. Investigators are looking into whether the riot is linked to the killing of a lawyer shot in Quito.

The prison system in Ecuador has a capacity of 29,000 inmates with a prisoner population of 38,000. Experts said there are only 1,500 guards to oversee them, which is a shortfall of about 2,500.

Gang Wars Inside the Prison

The recent jail riot follows an incident in February wherein a total of 79 inmates from different prisons lost their lives. The Penitenciaría del Litoral was one of the four jails where the violence took place last February.

The Guayaquil prison has reported 37 dead inmates while 34 others are also killed in a jail in Cuenca City. Eight inmates died at a prison situated in the central city of Latungca, Al Jazeera reported.

Authorities reported that gangs began a battle for leadership inside the prison system when the leader of Los Choneros was killed in a shopping center after months of being released in jail.

TRT World noted that the February violence that left decapitated and burned inmates exposed the capability of the prison gangs.

The office of the human rights ombudsman of Ecuador noted more than 100 inmates were killed inside the prisons in 2020. Former Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno declared a state emergency in Ecuador's prison system in 2019, after 24 inmates were killed in a wave of incidents.

Moreno has blamed the lack of personnel, resources, and the overpopulation of their prison system for the said jail riots.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Gabriel Martinez on Wednesday said that the order in Guayaquil prison had been restored.

"We will not allow the violent acts of February in prisons to be repeated," Martinez tweeted.

WATCH: At Least 79 Inmates Killed During Ecuador Prison Gang Riots Before Police Regain Control - From South China Morning Post