Emergency declared after 22 die in Ecuador jail riots

QUITO, Ecuador - The South American country on Thursday declared a state of emergency in its penitentiary system after riots at two prisons left 22 dead and 57 wounded.

President Guillermo Lasso issued the order "to mobilize all necessary human and economic resources to reestablish order" in all prisons.

"I want to tell the mafias that try to intimidate this country that they are wrong ..." the president said. "They are wrong if they think our hand is going to shake. We are going to use all our legal powers to impose the rule of law and guarantee peace and human rights in prisons in Ecuador."

Lasso said the military would be in charge of controlling the prison perimeter and entry, while police officers would control the inside.

Until now, civilians trained as prison guards were in charge of indoor security.

Prison authorities earlier suspended all activities "that could put the penitentiary population and administrative personnel at risk".

Outside visits were canceled at some prisons.

Among the wounded in the riots at prisons in Guayas, in southwestern Ecuador, and Cotopaxi, in the center of the country, were eight police officers. An earlier toll had reported 21 deaths.

Fourteen inmates were killed in Cotopaxi, including one who died in the hospital, and five police officers were wounded, government minister Alexandra Vela said.

In Guayas, there were eight prisoner deaths and three wounded police officers.

Amid the chaos and unrest a police officer was raped, Vela said.

The same two penitentiaries were involved in a wave of riots that broke out in February. In a single day, 79 inmates died in clashes between rival gangs vying for control.

In those riots, inmates were decapitated and burned in violence that exposed the power of prison gangs and shocked the South American nation.

Cotopaxi Governor Oswaldo Coronel said "high-caliber firearms" and explosives were used during the riots that have "caused a large amount of destruction inside" the prisons.

Several Cotopaxi prisoners also managed to escape at dawn. Police have not said how many slipped out, but did say that they managed to recapture 78 of them.

Ecuador's prison system has about 60 facilities designed for 29,000 inmates but is burdened by overcrowding and staffing shortages, according to Agence France-Presse.

About 38,000 detainees are watched over by 1,500 guards, a shortfall of 2,500, according to experts.

Agencies - Xinhua