What are the prisons that Ecuador wants to build like, imitating the “Bukele model”?

The prisons of Ecuador They are out of control. Despite the hundreds of prisoners who died in orchestrated massacres in recent years, and the repeated promises to improve security in prisons, they remain in the hands of powerful mafias that from the penitentiary centers control drug trafficking, extortion, order murders, among other crimes. One of the new president’s campaign promises Daniel Noboa It was precisely to reform the system and take control of the prisons. And earlier this month he made announcements about it.

To illustrate the power that criminals have in prisons, one example is enough. One of the crimes that has impacted Ecuadorians the most was assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicenciowhich occurred on August 9, 2023 in Quito. Investigations have determined that the order to carry out the crime possibly came from the prison of Cotopaxiwhich is controlled by the criminal gang The Wolvessince the group of Colombians who carried out the murder had previous contacts with inmates of said prison.

LOOK: What is known about the escape of alias Fito, one of the most dangerous criminals in Ecuador

All hitmen arrested for the crime of Villavicencio they went later murdered in the jail.

Now, the objective of the Government of Noboaembodied in the so-called Phoenix Planis separating the ringleaders from the gang members.

At this point, it should be noted that the prisoners in Ecuador They are not classified by their degree of danger, but by their membership in criminal gangs. This explains the fact that in prisons each group is in a specific cell surrounded by their cronies, something similar to what happened in The Savior but in a larger dimension, since the members of the Mara Salvatrucha They could not be in the same prison as their enemies. Neighborhood 18. Today the reality in the country of Nayib Bukele is another.

Another example of what happens in Ecuador: the recently escaped Adolfo Macías, alias Fitoringleader of The Chonerosoccupied a prison wing Guayaquil Regional surrounded by members of the same criminal organization. From there he continued to control the illicit businesses of his gang abroad and, in addition, inside he extorted other inmates, according to the authorities.

After the murder of Villavicencio, Fitowho allegedly threatened to kill the politician, was transferred to the maximum security prison called The rockwhich is within the complex of the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil and serves to isolate the most dangerous prisoners. But he didn’t spend even a month in that place, because a judge ordered that he be returned to the Regional jail.

Noboa’s plan: Bukele-style prisons and prison barges

Now Noboa has confirmed that it will build prisons similar to those in Mexico and El Salvador. In the latter country, the president Nayib Bukele built in record time the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot)also known as the “Bukele megaprison”.

During the election campaign, Noboa He also promised to purchase prison barges to locate the leaders of criminal gangs 80 miles (129 kilometers) from the coast in the Pacific.

About prisons on land, Noboa said that “they are prisons that will be ready in 10 to 11 months.”. They are going to be the same, because it is the same company, under the same design, that made the maximum security prisons in Mexico and that he made them in The Savior”.

“We have already completed the conversations with international groups that built the prisons in El Salvador and Mexico and with that we will lay the first stone in January,” he announced. Noboa.

“It is Israeli cooperation in the design of maximum and super maximum security prisons and the segmentation for minor crimes and contraventions. It is a system that was not invented Bukele, but it came from Mexico, and before then they achieved it in Thailand, in Singapore. Then it was Mexico, El Salvador and now Ecuador would have it,” the president emphasized.

Ecuador has 20 prisons

where 31,300 people are held, although its capacity is for 27,500 prisoners; That means there is 13% overcrowding.

Noboa He added as a joke: “for all the Bukele lovers, it is an equal, identical prison. If they want to go, take a walk, meet her, stay one night, they can go, commit a crime.”

He president He also gave the location of the new prisons, saying that they will be built in the Amazon province of Pasta and the coastal st. Helen.

Why were those places chosen? Noboa He maintained that “they are the areas of least influence of narcoterrorist groups.”

He explained that the prisons will be located between 20 and 30 minutes away by vehicle from the population.

He said that his government is going to separate the most dangerous inmates and this will stop the prison massacres that since February 2021 have left 460 prisoners dead.

“They are prisons to have segmentation, adequate isolation of people”continued Noboa.

The Government has not revealed how much these two prisons will cost. He has also not given more specific details about the prisons.

About the prison bargesthe president said in December that he has seen three that could reach Ecuador within seven or eight months. She said they were in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Are prison barges They have the capacity to house up to 400 people and would cost about 8 million dollars. “A barge can arrive in seven or eight months, depending on how far away it is. “Many of the barges are not operational or are not autonomous, they have to be pulled by another ship,” he explained. Noboa.

Bukele’s megaprison

In the absence of specific details about what the new prisons will be like Ecuadorit is necessary to explain in detail the one built in El Salvador, which is the model that the South American country will imitate.

He Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) was inaugurated by the president Bukele on January 31, 2023 and is considered the largest prison in America.

It is located in a rural valley about 74 kilometers southeast of San Salvador. It was built in a record time of seven months. 3,000 people worked and the work was supervised by a Mexican company.

According to the government, It has a capacity for 40,000 prisoners and is exclusive to those “profiled as high-ranking” of the Mara Salvatrucha and the two factions of the Neighborhood 18.

As the AFP agency explains, to build the prison the State bought 166 hectares of land, 23 of which were used for the construction of eight pavilions which are located within a perimeter surrounded by a concrete wall 11 meters high and 2.1 kilometers long, protected by electrified fences.

To enter the Cecot Inmates, security and administrative staff alike have to reach registration areas before passing through three fortified gates controlled by security guards.

Each arriving gang member, in addition to going through a body scanner, must register at an entry area where photographs are taken.

For the supply of water Two wells were drilled and a 600 cubic meter plant and four cisterns were installed. Refering to lighteight electric power substations were built.

A plant was also built for sewage treatment.

The pavilions have a curved roof for natural ventilation.

Each pavilion has a construction area of ​​6,000 square meters. Each of its 32 cells equipped with steel bars are prepared to house more than 100 gang members.

Each cell is about 100 square meters. In them, gang members have two pipes with running water for personal hygiene and two toilets.

For sleeping, each cell has iron sheet cabins without a mattress.

Furthermore, in each pavilion there are dark, windowless punishment cells.

The megaprison It does not have patios for inmates, nor recreation areas or conjugal spaces.