Quito, June 30 (Prensa Latina) According to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC), the prison population in Ecuador is currently 31,321 people housed in 36 detention centers.
The results of the census conducted by this institution and already published by the government show that there are 29,356 men and 1,965 women in prison, most of them between the ages of 30 and 44.
The study also found that about half of Ecuadorian detainees have only a basic education, and only 7.7 percent have a higher education.
Of those prisoners already convicted, the majority were charged with offenses related to drug trafficking, followed by robbery, murder or murder, rape and possession of weapons.
10 percent of the detainees (3,245) are foreigners, mainly Colombians, Venezuelans and Peruvians.
Released figures suggest a drop in overcrowding as prison capacity is 29,000 people, meaning there are four percent more inmates, a number that reached 28 percent in 2021.
The INEC census was conducted between August and December last year, a process interrupted several times by massacres and riots in various detention centers across the country.
Ecuador’s prison system is in crisis, exacerbated by massacres over the past three years that have killed more than 400 people.
Authorities say these violent clashes stem from a power struggle between criminal gangs inside prisons, which is also taking place on the streets.