A violent overnight riot inside a prison in southwest Ecuador has become one of the country’s deadliest incidents this year, leaving at least 31 inmates dead, according to the national prisons agency, SNAI. Officials said 27 prisoners in the coastal city of Machala died from asphyxiation and hanging, though full forensic confirmation is still underway as investigators work to clarify what happened.

The unrest began around 3:00 a.m., with nearby residents reporting gunfire, explosions, and screams coming from inside the facility. Elite police units eventually regained control, but by then the scale of the violence had grown clear. In total, dozens were injured, including inmates and a police officer, as authorities uncovered more victims throughout the day.

Ecuador’s prisons have increasingly become strongholds for drug-trafficking gangs, turning detention centers into battlegrounds. More than 500 inmates have been killed since 2021 in gang-related prison violence, with facilities often serving as command hubs for organized crime. Reorganization efforts inside prisons have frequently triggered deadly turf wars.

The massacre highlights a wider national crisis fueled by narco-violence. Once relatively safe, Ecuador has become a key transit point for global cocaine trafficking, with prison bloodshed reflecting a broader collapse of security. As investigations continue, the country faces a grim truth: its prisons are no longer places of containment, but front lines in a growing internal war.