Dozens of inmates found hanged in Ecuador prison

At least 31 inmates have been found dead in a prison in southern Ecuador, including 27 who were executed by hanging, officials said.

Four prisoners were killed and more than 30 others were injured in clashes between members of rival gangs at the Oro Prison in Machala in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Hours later, security guards, alerted to a new outbreak of gang violence, found the others hanged on the third floor of the building, Ecuador’s prison service said.

The country’s overcrowded prisons have been the scene of a series of deadly riots and gang battles in which hundreds of prisoners have been killed in recent years.

Ecuador’s corrections department, known by its initials Sanay, said the clashes broke out over plans to transfer some prisoners to a newly built prison.

El Oro prison was the site Another fatal incident occurred in September when 13 prisoners and guards were killed in clashes between rival gangs..

Prisoners’ relatives have asked authorities to beef up security inside the prison, including separating rival gangs, while Machala residents have long demanded the city center facility be moved.

Earlier this year, the government of President Daniel Noboa announced the construction of a new high-security prison in Santa Elena province.

The new prison, called El Encuentro, is expected to open in late November and, according to the Interior Minister, will include the latest security measures.

For years, prison gangs have played a major role in the rise in violent crime in Ecuador, and last September, the US State Department declared two of them, Los Lobos and Los Choneros, foreign terrorist organizations.