February_2021_Ecuadorian_prison_riots
February 2021 Ecuadorian prison riots
Massacre in Ecuadorian prisons in February 2021
On 23 February 2021, 79 inmates were killed and several others were injured in riots that took place simultaneously in four prisons in Ecuador. Authorities gave gang rivalry in an overcrowded prison system as the cause.[1] The violence happened in prisons located in the Guayas, Azuay, and Cotopaxi provinces, which contain nearly 70% of the total prison population in the country.[2]