Ten prisoners were found dead in their cells at the Penitenciaría del Litoral in Guayaquil, and the Interior Ministry says tuberculosis killed them.
The deaths surfaced on November 19, 2025, according to Primicias. Ecuador’s prison agency, SNAI, did not answer media questions right away. When it did respond, it said the 10 inmates had died since November 14, and not all on the same day. The Interior Ministry then confirmed that they “fallecieron por tuberculosis”, describing it as a chronic condition. Autopsies were under way that Wednesday. The dead were between 19 and 49 years old.
A pattern, not a first
Earlier that month, eight inmates died at the Litoral prison and the Regional jail. Prison sources told Primicias that only one showed signs of violence. The others were extremely thin and physically worn down by respiratory illness. Most deaths from so-called natural causes in Ecuador’s prisons have been tied to tuberculosis, the outlet noted, and the disease broke out in the system in 2024.
The timing was bad. SNAI was moving prisoners at the time, including transfers from the Machala jail after a massacre there, and about 300 inmates from different prisons had recently been sent to the new El Encuentro prison in Santa Elena. Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection of the lungs, and Primicias described it as very common in overcrowded places such as jails.
Another round in December
On December 15, Reuters reported that 15 more inmates at the same prison were found dead between Thursday and Sunday of that week. The agency said their bodies bore no signs of violence, and that the medical authority would determine the cause. Asked by Reuters what killed them, it declined to give details until each death had been investigated.
Relatives of inmates told Reuters the prison had seen tuberculosis outbreaks earlier in the year. Reuters also noted that the authority never again addressed the cause of the November deaths publicly after first naming tuberculosis as a possibility. The prison has seen violence too, including at least 31 deaths in November after a day of rioting.
Sources
- Al menos 10 presos mueren por tuberculosis en la Penitenciaría del Litoral de Guayaquil
- Fifteen inmates die at Ecuador prison amid fears of tuberculosis outbreak – Yahoo News UK
