Guide and inmate arrested over forged medical prescriptions at Cotopaxi prison

A prison inspection in Ecuador led to the arrest of an inmate and a security officer after authorities uncovered prescriptions allegedly forged to bring medicines into Cotopaxi prison.

The discovery came on Tuesday morning, Sept. 1, 2026, at Filter 1 of Cotopaxi Prison No. 1. Officers from the prison contingency unit were checking three inmates returning from medical treatment at Latacunga General Hospital when they searched Gustavo E. M. Z. and found two prescriptions.

The documents carried the logo of the prison’s internal medical dispensary and listed various medicines and quantities. Police contacted the dispensary’s manager and the prison director, who conducted a technical review. They confirmed that the prescriptions did not use the institution’s official format and said the prison had not authorized any outside purchase of medicines in the amounts shown.

After the alleged alteration was confirmed, police and the prosecutor’s office coordinated an intervention at the prison. Authorities detained Gustavo Z. and Romel D., a prison security officer, and placed them in judicial custody as legal proceedings began. Criminalistics experts collected and documented the prescriptions and other material evidence before sending them to justice officials in Cotopaxi. The case is being investigated as the falsification and use of a false document under Article 328 of Ecuador’s Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code.