Ecuadorian Authority Restores Order In Prison After Staff Hostage By Prisoners

Ecuadorian military stands guard in public places. (Wikimedia Commons/Ceibos)

JAKARTA - Ecuadorian police and military sought to restore order in prisons on Sunday, after the release of staff who had been detained by inmates, amid riots in the country.

Images on social media shared by Ecuador's armed forces show prisoners shirtless kneeling with their hands on their heads, as armed soldiers enter seven prisons where the hostage-taking crisis ended on Saturday night.

Security forces searched and regained control of the prisons, the military said.

"National police respect the human rights of these people. We did it in a very calm way," Norman Cano, chief of police at Esmeraldas Prison on social media.

The hostages, previously said by the SNAI prison agency consisted of 158 guards and 20 administrative staff, were released after previously being detained since last Monday in at least seven prisons.

The prison agency, SNAI, did not specify how many people had been released but said they were undergoing medical evaluation and would investigate who was responsible for their arrests, quoted by CNN.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa welcomed the news and congratulated SNAI, the armed forces and national police for their release.

The hostage-taking in Ecuador's prisons comes amid a wave of violence that has hit the country, including explosions and kidnappings of police.

The trigger for the latest clashes was the escape of the famous gang leader, Adolfo Fito Mac calms, from prison in Guayaquil City recently.

Fito is Los Choneros leader, one of Ecuador's most feared gangs, linked to the trade in maritime drugs to Mexico and the United States, who also works with Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and Colombia's Oliver Sinisterra Front, according to authorities.

He was sentenced to 34 years in prison in 2011 for crimes, including drug trafficking and murder.

The increase in violence began after President Noboa declared a state of emergency following the escape of Fito, quoted from Al Jazeera.

At least 19 people have died in the violence, including civilians, prison guards and police in the past week, according to SNAI authorities.

It is known, Fito's search continues. More than 3,000 police officers and members of the armed forces have been deployed to find him. On the other hand, authorities have yet to determine the time and exact date he escaped from prison.