Ecuador has transferred 300 high-risk inmates, including former Vice President Jorge Glas, to a newly built maximum-security prison on the country’s coast, President Daniel Noboa announced on Monday.
The move comes just a day after 31 prisoners were killed in a violent riot at a southern Ecuadorian jail.
The inmates were relocated to the Encuentro Prison in Santa Elena province as part of Noboa’s ongoing effort to regain control of Ecuador’s overcrowded and gang-ridden penitentiary system, where hundreds of inmates have died in clashes over the past several years.
“The first 300 most dangerous inmates have already been transferred to the Encuentro Prison,” Noboa said on X, posting photos of prisoners in orange uniforms, heads shaved, and surrounded by heavily armed soldiers.
“Crime wanted to challenge Ecuador and start its campaign. Today, Ecuador responded with action,” he added.
Among those transferred is Jorge Glas, who was Ecuador’s vice president between 2013 and 2017. Glas’s lawyer condemned the publication of his client’s images in custody, saying it violated a binding order from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Glas was sentenced in June to an additional 13 years in prison for misusing funds meant for rebuilding areas devastated by a 2016 earthquake. He was already serving time for two prior corruption convictions.
Interior Minister John Reimberg said the deadly riot at the Machala prison on Sunday erupted after inmates learned they were due for transfer.
“The party’s over for them,” Reimberg said in a radio interview. “The orders from the prisons to generate violence and chaos are over. Today they are in cells designed to prevent any contact or communication with anyone.”
According to government data, 27 of the 31 inmates killed at Machala were suffocated during the fighting between rival gangs Los Lobos and Sao Box, a splinter faction battling for control of the facility.
The new Encuentro Prison can house more than 700 inmates and is equipped with reinforced surveillance and isolation systems. Ecuador’s prison system remains 30% over capacity, according to the national prison agency SNAI.
Authorities say they will continue relocating high-risk inmates and conducting regular sweeps across Ecuador’s 36 prisons, where past raids have uncovered firearms, ammunition, cell phones, and even fighting animals.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
