Ecuador prison rioting causes at least 31 deaths

QUITO (Reuters) -A day of violent rioting at a prison in southwest Ecuador on Sunday caused the deaths of at least 31 inmates, the country’s prisons agency said.

Twenty-seven prisoners in port town Machala, south of Guayaquil, died due to asphyxiation and “immediate death by hanging,” according to a statement shared on X by the SNAI prisons agency. There were no other details about how the prisoners died.

Earlier Sunday, SNAI reported four deaths at the same prison in a separate incident, which was brought under control by tactical police. That riot was prompted by a reorganization of the prisoners in a new maximum security facility, the statement said.

Ecuador has faced a wave of deadly prison riots in recent years, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of inmates. President Daniel Noboa’s administration, which has pledged to take a tough stance on crime, blames the violence on rival gangs battling for dominance and territorial control.

In September, a riot caused by gang fighting in the same prison left 14 people dead and another 14 wounded. Days later, another 17 people were killed in a prison riot in the northern city of Esmeraldas, near the border with Colombia.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia, writing by Cassandra Garrison, editing by Stephen Coates)