At least 12 inmates were killed Friday following gang-related riots at an Ecuadorian prison. In an announcement, a Quito-based advocacy group reported that 12 were killed and three were injured in riots at the Litoral Penitentiary in the city of Guayaquil.

The group, the National Comprehensive Care Service for Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI), has confirmed that the prison is secured and under police control.

“The Institution expresses its solidarity with [the victims’] families. SNAI will collaborate in all the respective procedures and investigations,” the organization stated.

State prosecutors have initiated a preliminary investigation into the deaths.

“Fiscalía Ecuador ordered autopsies, examination of corpses, versions and other proceedings. The bodies present bullet wounds. Meanwhile, three other PPL were injured and transferred to various care homes in Guayaquil,” the prosecution office stated.

The riot follows six inmates who were found hanged on Wednesday and the murder of three female prison officers outside of the prison on Thursday. Ecuador has faced severe gang violence since 2021, with eight reported massacres across the nation’s prisons resulting in over 400 deaths. Gang violence has emerged in response to arbitrary detainments, overcrowding and inadequate state interference.

Last year, the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture reported on the poor conditions in Ecuadorian prisons and human rights depravations whilst in detention.

UN delegate Maria Luisa Romero commented:

The recent violence is the consequence of decades of state abandonment. Detainees have been living in a state of tension and constant fear, in prisons lacking essential services and basic resources. Some spaces in these prisons are self-governed by detainees who are members of criminal organisations.