Ecuador: At least 18 inmates die in two prison riots

The latest violence comes months after at least 79 inmates died in the country’s worst prison riots.

At least 18 inmates died and several police officers were injured during riots at two of Ecuador’s largest penitentiaries, the Andean country’s SNAI prison authority said late on Wednesday, marking the second major deadly wave of prison violence this year. Special police units deployed to the jails in southern Guayas province, home to the largest city of Guayaquil, and Cotopaxi province, south of capital Quito, to quell the violence. On Thursday, Ecuador’s police service wrote on Twitter that 45 inmates were captured as they attempted to escape from the Cotopaxi prison, where SNAI said 10 inmates died and 35 were injured. Eight prisoners died at the Guayas jail, according to SNAI.