Ecuador to pardon up to 2,000 inmates after deadly prison riot
Al Jazeera
Move aims to reduce overcrowding in detention centres after 118 inmates died in an Ecuadorian prison riot this week.
As many as 2,000 prisoners will be pardoned in Ecuador, the head of the country’s prison authority has announced, as the South American nation seeks to reduce overcrowding in its detention centres after a deadly riot this week.
Bolivar Garzon, director of the SNAI prison authority, said on Friday that the government would prioritise elderly and female prisoners, as well as those with disabilities and terminal illnesses, for release.
At least 118 inmates were killed and another 79 injured in the riot on Tuesday at the Penitenciaria del Litoral in the southern city of Guayaquil, the deadliest instance of prison violence in Ecuador’s history.
