Deaths and alleged suicides are on the rise. To this are added videos that record parties and torture within the country’s prisons.
“Leave him alone to kick, it’s 10 (seconds) after kicking”, those are the instructions given to sink a man headfirst into the water, whose feet and hands are tied with ropes.
It happened at the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayas, and it was recorded by one of the prisoners. The video -apparently- is sent to the relatives of the tortured to make deposits in exchange of security or to cover some debt.
But that is not the only recording that they make from prison, people deprived of liberty (PPL), images also circulate where they celebrate by drinking liquor and listening to music. Everything, absolutely everything, is prohibited, but everything happens in a state of exception.
State despair
Between November 9 and 10 there were clashes and shooting at the Litoral Penitentiary. In two days order could not be restored and the balance was a dead prisoner. He joins the more than 300 violent deaths registered in prisons in 2021, of which 119 occurred on September 28, during the biggest prison massacre of the history of Ecuador.
While the Police tried to restore order, on November 10, 2021, the Technical Agency for Social Rehabilitation met on the afternoon of November 10, 2021. Although the session had planned to deal with the schedule and methodology of the prison census, the application of the mechanism against torture and the articulation of the politics from Social Rehabilitation to the National Development Plan 2021; the wave of violence prompted emergent measures to be taken.
It was Bernarda Ordóñez, head of the Human Rights Secretariat (DD.HH.) and president of the Technical Organization for Social Rehabilitation, who proposed to change the order of the day so that the first action is the creation of the Emergency Intervention Commission.
Alberto Santamaría, a sociologist and security expert, says that actions must already move from the work tables to tangible actions such as the installation of signal inhibitors and the restructuring of pavilions. “The inhibitors installed not only do not cover all the cells, some do not work or there are too many blind spots,” says Santamaría, who indicates that continuing to plan commissions only gives more space for criminal groups to act and is a sign of “desperation state that believes that prison violence is curbed with advertisements. There is no clear message of concrete and transformative actions ”.
From the Ombudsman’s Office to the church
The Ombudsman’s Office will lead the commission, although the governorates of the provinces where the prisons are located will also intervene. They are joined by: The Commission for Sovereignty, Integration and Integral Security of the National Assembly; the Catholic Church;. the National Court; the Council of the Judiciary; the Prosecutor’s office General of the State; institutions of higher educationr; the civil society and representatives of media.
Santamaría criticizes that there is no specific plan of action in the short term. Lautaro Ojeda, security expert and university professor, agrees with him, who details that basic aspects such as training of prison guides. Currently, there is a deficit of 57.8% of prison guides, there is one agent for every 25 prisoners, when the international standard specifies that there must be one agent for every 10.
One of the first actions of these labor has been the activation of the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture, with which administrative and criminal investigation actions are promoted on situations that occur within prisons. (AVV)
The leader of the criminal gang ‘Los Tiguerones’ has been released from prison
Álex Salazar Villamar is one of the leaders of the criminal gang ‘Los Tiguerones’, which has been identified as a participant in the prison killings after the disputes for spaces and their fight against ‘Los Choneros’.
Salazar’s departure is due to the fact that he accepted pre-freedom and will end his sentence in a semi-open regime. The man served 60% of his sentence after being sentenced for the crime of reception.
Santamaría indicates that although the provisions of the law have been complied with, these actions could respond to internal agreements for ‘peace’ within the prisons. “It is not unreasonable to think that the authorities will reach agreements, but in these types of negotiations it must be clear who set the conditions,” he adds.
