The Latest Breaking News from SNAI

Deadly Riots in Ecuador Prison Leaves More Than 30 Inmates Dead, 27 by Asphyxiation

Ecuador's Interior Minister John Reimberg said inmates across the country have been staging violent uprisings to prevent their transfer to new maximum-security prisons.

Latin Times · Nov 15, 2025

Ecuador extradites leader of violent Ecuadorian drug gang to the United States

Ecuador has extradited the leader of a violent Ecuadorian gang who relied on hitmen, bribes and military weapons to do business to the United States

The Independent UK · Jul 20, 2025

From pristine forest to prison fortress: why Ecuador is sacrificing fragile ecosystems to build jails

As murder rates soar, Daniel Noboa plans high-security jails in remote areas. But local communities are determined to save their ancestral lands and a fragile, unique ecosystem

The Guardian - UK · Oct 1, 2024

Gang clash leaves at least 12 dead in Ecuador prison

At least 12 inmates were killed in an Ecuadorian jail amid a new clash between gangs, the SNAI prison agency said on Saturday, in the latest chapter in the South American nation's prison violence.

Reuters · Apr 15, 2023

Two dead in gang violence at Ecuador prison after inmate transfers

Fighting between gangs at Ecuador's most violent prison has killed at least two people, prisons agency SNAI said on Wednesday, on the heels of attacks against police over prisoner transfers.

Reuters · Nov 2, 2022

Five police killed in Ecuador; state of emergency declared

At least five Ecuadorean police officers were killed on Tuesday in explosive attacks in response to prisoner transfers from overcrowded and violent penitentiaries, prompting President Guillermo Lasso to declare a state of emergency in two provinces.

Reuters · Nov 1, 2022

Gang control of Ecuador's prisons leave inmates' families terrified

Gangs operating inside Ecuador's prisons are taking advantage of state abandonment to expand their power, extorting inmates for access to services and threatening their lives with violence, prisoners' families and human rights groups say.

Reuters · Oct 25, 2022

Latest Ecuador prison riot leaves at least 11 injured

A prison riot in Ecuador's coastal city of Guayaquil on Wednesday has left at least 11 inmates and police officers injured, the SNAI prison authority said in a preliminary report, just days after a deadly riot at another jail.

Reuters · Oct 6, 2022

At least 15 killed in latest Ecuadorean prison violence

At least 15 prisoners were killed in a prison in the Ecuadorean city of Latacunga on Monday, Ecuador's SNAI prison agency said, and another 21 were injured in the latest incident of deadly jail violence in the Andean country.

Reuters · Oct 4, 2022