After riots in a Guayaquil penitentiary left 119 dead on September 28 and 62 dead on November 12, activists of the local Prison Pastoral Ministry have been warning that new rebellions, equally lethal, may happen again in the near future. 

The city’s largest prison, known as Litoral (Coastal) Penitentiary, has been the stage for brutal disputes between criminal gangs, resulting in almost 200 deaths over the past few months. Some of the bodies found after the massacres had signs of extreme violence, including decapitation.

In the South American country as a whole, at least 328 inmates have been killed in 2021. While part of them was connected to gangs, many were men arrested for non-violent crimes. 

A few days after the September riot, Pope Francis prayed for the victims and their families, asking God to “heal the wounds of crime that enslave the poorest, and to help those who work every day to make prison life more humane.”

Indeed, a humane life inside the Ecuadorian penal system seems to be something still difficult to attain. According to Anibal Hidalgo, who directs the Archdiocese of Guayaquil’s Prison Pastoral Ministry, the situation is chaotic, and the deep causes of such explosions remain mostly unaltered. 

“I consider that Ecuador’s prisons are a time bomb. The sequence of events that led to those riots can happen again if we do not take the situation seriously,” he told the Catholic Herald.

Hidalgo is a lay missionary of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, which is one of the main groups currently working with inmates in Ecuador. Over the years, he saw how several problems became endemic in the Ecuadorian prison system.

“There is an overspread corruption in the penal system and in all State levels when it comes to prisons. The result is structural negligence. It’s like everybody is waiting to see if the inmates kill each other,” he analysed.

One of the greatest problems in Litoral Penitentiary is a significant overcrowding. It was designed to receive 5,000 inmates but now more than 8,500 men are imprisoned there. 

In Ecuador as a whole, there are about 38,000 people incarcerated. But the country’s prisons can receive only 28,500 inmates. Great agglomerations tend to generate tension and uncontrollable conditions. That is one of the reasons why large gangs end up taking control of the prisons’ dynamics.

“Gangs have a gigantic power nowadays. Everything has to be negotiated with them in a prison. The police authorities will face great difficulties if they want to resume control now,” Bishop Rafael Cob of Puyo told the Catholic Herald. Cob published an article on the Bishops’ Conference’s website after the incident reflecting on the current prison crisis in Ecuador.

Much of those groups’ power, Cob said, comes from drugs. 

“Money makes those mafia-like criminal organisations strong inside and outside the penal system. We need to educate the youth to stay away from drugs. But that feels like the struggle of David against Goliath,” he reflected.

Cob stressed that, despite the difficult scenario, Catholics have been doing relevant efforts to intervene. Missionaries regularly visit prisons and interact with thousands of detainees all over the country. 

“And they do it in a very violent context. Prisons are brutal places due to the power of drugs,” he said.

In Guayaquil, Catholics have different programs to help prisoners. Hidalgo and his Congregation’s colleagues established a few years ago a ministry called La Barca de Pedro (The boat of Peter), which reaches about 200 inmates daily.

“We educate prisoners according to the Gospel’s principles. Our goal is to make people think on what to do with their lives when they regain freedom,” he said.

The ministry also has two houses, one that welcomes the inmates’ children and another where drug addicts are assisted. All work is carried out with the missionaries’ own resources.

Maria Cristina de Cuvi visits prisoners every day in Guayaquil. She is in charge of the Alpha Prisons program, which offers Gospel-inspired courses to inmates. Her ministry also includes catechesis, artistic activities, and professional training.

“We managed to create a chapel at a women’s prison for 150 inmates, and another one at a men’s prison for 90 prisoners. Those are small pieces of heaven,” she told the Catholic Herald.

Her group is currently trying to get permission to celebrate daily Masses inside the Litoral Penitentiary. 

“About 70 percent of the prisoners are Catholic,” she affirmed. De Cuvi explained that her group works with all prisoners, including members of large gangs like the Choneros. 

“Junior [Choneros’ leader] has attended one of the Masses we celebrated. We have organized fraternal lunches with members of their gangs,” she declared. “They do not do anything bad to us, because we do not represent a threat for them. What we bring for them is our service, our support,” she added.

De Cuvi’s dream is to build a replica of Mexico City’s Basilica of Guadalupe inside a penitentiary. “If the inmates do not get closer to God, they will keep killing each other,” she argued.

Anibal Hidalgo said that the Prisons’ Pastoral Ministry does not discriminate the detainees for the kind of crime they have perpetrated. 

“As missionaries, we cannot put a tag on a prisoner, defining him or her as dangerous. We can only say that there is always hope. There are always inmates who welcome us and who are being rehabilitated,” he argued. 

The Prisons’ Pastoral Ministry has been taking part in different initiatives to help the victims of the massacre and their families – and to avoid that it happens again. 

Catholic missionaries engaged in talks with authorities, civic organisations, and universities about the crisis in the penal system, and a few concrete measures have been taken by the government, including the repatriation of foreigners and the release of prisoners who had already served their time but remained detained.

“The Archdiocese of Munich is sending money to help the families of the inmates who were killed. We will buy them food, medicines, and other items,” Hidalgo explained.

Despite the Church’s efforts, Hidalgo and Cob know that the crisis can only be solved by the Ecuadorian State.

“The ultimate responsibility lies with the government. We need a broad plan not only to deal with prisons but with violence in general,” Cob reasoned.

In Hidalgo’s opinion, things will most likely remain as they are now. 

“People were shocked by the massacre, but the news tends to be rapidly forgotten. It can happen again,” he lamented.

The post Ecuador’s Church struggles to bring humanity to the country’s prisons after brutal riots appeared first on Catholic Herald.