Families demand answers as tuberculosis crisis deepens in Ecuador’s largest prison: Video
Relatives of inmates gathered outside the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil on Friday, calling for urgent information and medical attention as a tuberculosis outbreak continues to devastate Ecuador’s largest and most violent prison.
Footage from the scene shows women holding photos of detainees visibly weakened by illness, many severely underweight, alongside signs reading, “They have the right to medical care. Prisoners are not sentenced to death.”
Families described dire conditions inside the prison, saying inmates have been left without access to food, medicines or basic supplies. “You cannot pass him food, you cannot pass him supplies, you cannot pass him anything… The people there have nothing,” said one mother of a detainee with tuberculosis, breaking down as she spoke. Others recounted how their relatives entered the facility healthy but have since become bedridden due to malnutrition and untreated disease.
Several relatives also reported days of uncertainty as they sought updates on sick or missing detainees. One woman said she learned of her brother’s death only after repeated visits to the prison, claiming officials had delayed informing the family. Others described inmates suffering from additional infections and a lack of water for basic hygiene.
According to the Permanent Committee for the Defence of Human Rights of Guayaquil, 592 detainees have died in the Litoral Penitentiary so far in 2025, surpassing the total number of inmates killed in prison massacres nationwide between 2021 and 2024. Between January and September alone, an estimated 8% of those deaths were linked to tuberculosis and chronic malnutrition, highlighting the scale of the humanitarian crisis unfolding inside the facility.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
