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🇪🇨 Ecuador /Crime & Justice

Ecuador prison families demand visitation rights in legal action

From El Comercio · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • Relatives of inmates at Ecuador's El Encuentro prison filed a protection action seeking to restore communication and visitation rights.
  • They claim that since their relatives were transferred to the maximum-security facility, all contact has been impossible despite numerous requests.
  • The lawsuit demands the state guarantee family contact, implement visitation protocols, and establish a system for families to access information about inmates' well-being and status.

Families of inmates at Ecuador's El Encuentro prison have taken legal action to demand the restoration of communication and visitation rights. On August 24, 2026, relatives gathered at the Provincial Judicial Unit in Santa Elena to support a protection action aimed at re-establishing contact with their incarcerated family members.

Human rights organizations and the Committee of Relatives of Prisoners filed the lawsuit against the prison director, the National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), and the Ministry of the Interior. According to the families, they have been unable to communicate with their relatives since their transfer to the maximum-security prison, despite submitting over 70 requests and 180 habeas corpus petitions.

Ana Morales, a leader with the Committee of Relatives, stated that these requests have either been ignored or rejected. She emphasized that the right to visitation is enshrined in legislation, questioning why it is allegedly not being upheld at El Encuentro prison.

the families have submitted more than 70 requests and more than 180 habeas corpus petitions to try to communicate or visit the persons deprived of liberty.

— Ana MoralesAna Morales, leader of the Committee of Relatives, detailed the extensive efforts made to contact inmates.

The protection action seeks a declaration that the rights to communication, family visits, family protection, and personal integrity of the inmates' relatives have been violated. It also calls for the implementation of protocols for family and intimate visits, as well as communication channels. Furthermore, the plaintiffs propose the creation of a permanent, accessible, and verifiable system for families to obtain information regarding their relatives' health status, location, and detention regime.

Fernando Bastias, a lawyer with the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDH), noted that regulations for maximum-security prisons should include specific provisions for inmate contact, which he claims are currently lacking. The El Encuentro prison, inaugurated in November 2025 in Santa Elena province, was built under President Daniel Noboa's administration primarily for high-risk individuals, including leaders of criminal organizations and political figures.

the right to visits is contemplated in the legislation and questioned that, according to their version, this is not being fulfilled in the El Encuentro jail.

— Ana MoralesMorales asserted that visitation rights are legally protected and allegedly being denied.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Comercio in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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