Ecuador prison riot leaves four dead, dozens injured

Four inmates are dead and more than 30 others are injured after a riot at a prison in Ecuador.

The riot stemmed from the "reorganisation of inmates" to a new maximum-security prison that will soon begin operating in a different province, according to a statement from Ecuador's prison oversight agency.

The violent incident in Machala happened less than two months after 14 inmates died at the same facility in what authorities described as a dispute between gangs.

Officials said authorities regained control of the facility following the riot, which also injured one police officer.

The conditions of the injured were not immediately clear.

Ecuador's prisons have become among the deadliest in Latin America as overcrowding, corruption and weak state control have allowed gangs connected to drug traffickers in Colombia and Mexico to proliferate. Many are heavily armed with weapons smuggled in from the outside and continue to organise criminal activity from behind bars.

More than 500 people have died in prison riots in Ecuador since 2021. Last year, a series of co-ordinated riots across multiple prisons led to the hostage-taking of 150 prison guards.