At least fifteen prisoners have been killed in a fight in Ecuador’s largest prison

QUITO, Ecuador — A fight between prisoners has left at least 15 people dead and 14 injured at Ecuador’s largest prison, authorities said on Tuesday.

The Litoral prison in the coastal city of Guayaquil has regularly been the scene of riots and mass killings, including one in 2021 in which 119 prisoners died.

Authorities provided few details about what sparked the latest violence. In a statement, prison officials said police and military had been deployed to take control of the facility.

Local media reported that helicopters flew over the prison as ambulances and relatives of prisoners, some desperately screaming for their loved ones, rushed to the gate.

The massacre is sure to roil the presidential race in Ecuador, where law-and-order incumbent Daniel Noboa has made improving security, including in detention centers, a top priority in his bid for re-election next year.

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

Litoral prison currently houses around 10,000 prisoners – or double its capacity.

Ecuador’s attorney general’s office said it is preparing to charge nine prisoners with murder as a result of the violence.

More than 400 people have been killed in a dozen outbreaks of violence in Ecuadorian prisons since 2001. The violence in prisons reflects a deteriorating security situation across the Andean country.

Ecuador recorded a record 47 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, compared to six murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018.

Noboa declared a state of emergency in January and then ordered the military to take control of the prisons Armed men stormed and opened fire in a TV studio and bandits threatened arbitrary executions of civilians and security forces.