Overview
- The Interior Ministry attributed the fatalities to tuberculosis and said forensic examinations are underway to establish official causes.
- Authorities reported the deaths occurred between Friday and Tuesday inside the Penitenciaría del Litoral in Guayaquil.
- The prison holds 7,187 people in space designed for 4,519, according to official figures.
- SNAI recorded 401 tuberculosis cases in the Litoral prison complex as of July 31.
- The announcement follows the transfer of about 300 high-risk inmates to the new Encuentro maximum-security facility and comes less than two weeks after 31 prisoners were killed in Machala.