After hundreds of inmates were killed in Ecuadorian prison riots in 2021 and 2022, President Daniel Noboa made restoring order in jails a central part of his security strategy when he took office in 2023.
While the government has significantly reduced the number of riots, a Reuters investigation reveals that prison deaths are climbing to levels not seen since the peak of the unrest.
According to data obtained by Reuters through a freedom-of-information request to the Interior Ministry, inmate deaths nearly quadrupled year-on-year in 2025, driven by both violence and natural causes, including a tuberculosis outbreak. Deaths from violence alone also increased fourfold compared with 2024.
Of the 1,220 inmates who died in 2025, at least 206 were killed during gang clashes and other violent incidents, up from 46 the previous year. This marks the highest number since 2021, when 328 inmates died. The remaining deaths were attributed to illness, suicide, and other undetermined causes, representing a 256% rise from 285 deaths recorded in 2024. The government has not released comparable figures for 2021–2023.
Neither Noboa’s office nor the prison agency SNAI responded to requests for comment on the increase in deaths. The Interior Ministry, in response to the freedom-of-information request, stated that the sharp rise “even compared to historically critical periods such as 2021” could, “without proper technical context,” create “distorted perceptions of institutional management.” The ministry did not clarify the technical context.
During 2021 and 2022, fatal prison riots were almost monthly events, as Ecuador’s jails mirrored a broader surge in drug-related violence.
Bringing prisons under control remains a cornerstone of Noboa’s security agenda. The conservative business heir has made tackling crime and drug trafficking central to his presidency, amid a regional trend of electing tough-on-crime leaders from Costa Rica to Chile.
Noboa has placed the military in charge of select penitentiaries, built new facilities designed to handle violent offenders, and transferred high-profile prisoners. His government asserts that these measures have reduced violence compared with previous years.
The government acknowledges overcrowding in prisons and says it is addressing health issues with screenings and medical care. However, the death figures highlight ongoing challenges, with relatives and human rights groups pointing to violence, abuse, tuberculosis worsened by overcrowding, insufficient medical care, and inadequate food. They argue that strict military-imposed conditions have intensified these problems.
Officials emphasize that military interventions have dismantled criminal operations inside prisons, including drug trafficking, extortion, and plotting attacks on politicians, while shutting down nightclubs and private pools once controlled by gang leaders.
Yet adult prisons remain 30.6% overcrowded. Juvenile facilities, previously not overcrowded in 2024, reached 15.3% overcapacity in 2025. The national inmate population increased by 7.6% last year, to 35,454, due to more arrests and longer sentences. Many cells remain unusable due to riot damage, forcing inmates to crowd into fewer spaces.
“We are now facing a health crisis, a food crisis, and complaints from relatives about alleged mistreatment and torture by military personnel,” said Rodrigo Varela, secretary general of Ecuador’s human rights ombudsman. His office has referred multiple complaints about prison conditions to the prosecutor’s office.
Although Noboa resists comparisons to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, famous for his strict prison strategy, Noboa has posted images reminiscent of Bukele’s approach: shaven-headed inmates in orange uniforms sitting in tight rows under the watch of heavily armed, masked soldiers. “We are not following either Bukele’s or (Argentinian President Javier) Milei’s manual — we are addressing Ecuador’s reality,” Noboa told CNN en Español last year, adding that new prisons are the solution to overcrowding.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights urged Ecuador in December to improve conditions for the 7,000 inmates at Litoral Penitentiary, the country’s most dangerous prison. Government data reported 564 deaths there from January to September 2025, including 550 classified as natural or undetermined. Interior Minister John Reimberg linked the outbreak to overcrowding but has not explained its origins or shared infection data.
Six relatives of inmates interviewed by Reuters said that the military presence has worsened already precarious conditions, including inmate extortion. “Many times these are not riots — these are inmates raising their voices because they are dying or in agony,” said Ana Morales, coordinator for relatives whose son is at Litoral Penitentiary. “It is a lack of humanity by the military and dehumanization by the Ecuadorian state.”
Relatives also criticized inadequate food and destructive cell searches. Stefany Salinas, whose husband is in El Rodeo prison, said, “We’re seeing not just a resurgence of tuberculosis but of military abuse. They break everything and throw away personal belongings.”
SNAI and the Defense Ministry did not comment on these accusations. Reimberg stated that all prisons receive food, though many inmates reportedly trade meals for drugs.
The government has transferred hundreds of inmates to break up gang control, moving around 900 prisoners in January 2026 alone. High-risk prisoners, including gang leaders and former Vice President Jorge Glas, were sent to El Encuentro, a new maximum-security prison with 800-bed capacity. Another facility for over 15,000 inmates is planned for completion in 2027.
El Encuentro is promoted as a model facility: no visits by lawyers or relatives are allowed, different gang members are mixed, and four inmates share a single cell. Inmates are not allowed pillows, as they could be used as weapons, according to Reimberg.