CNN —Fifty prison guards and seven police officers have been freed after being taken hostage by inmates held in six prisons across Ecuador, authorities said, part of a coordinated protest against security operations being conducted inside the country’s violence-plagued penitentiaries.
The SNAI said on Saturday that all hostages had been freed following a “coordinated operation” and that prison was now running normally.
The SNAI said in July that it had successfully executed an operation to free 106 prison guards taken hostage by inmates across five different prisons.
A detainee uprising in the port city of Guayaquil left 31 people dead, according to the Ecuador Attorney General’s office.
Ecuador’s prison system has long been dogged by violence and infighting between gangs powerful enough to overwhelm the guards meant to keep the facilities, many of which are overcrowded, safe.
Persons:
SNAI, Guillermo Lasso, Ecuador Attorney General’s, Fernando Villavicencio, “
Organizations:
CNN, Ecuador’s Ministry, Ecuador Attorney
Locations:
Ecuador, Latacunga, Quito, Guayaquil