In the midst of a national strike by prison officers, inmates in Quito's women's prison took two television news crews hostage last Tuesday to press their demands for shorter sentences and better living conditions.
The standoff was among several protests by convicts across the country in the last three days. Officers in Ecuador's 34 prisons went on strike March 22 demanding $10 million for improvements and back pay.
Inmates have been largely left on their own inside the prisons, receiving sporadic food shipments from the government and meals passed to them by police and relatives.
National Prison Director Fernando Cassis said last Tuesday that the government was doing all it could to end the protests and the strike.
The television crews from Channel 4 and Channel 10 reported that three reporters and three cameramen from their stations who had entered in the morning to interview the women were prevented from leaving.
About 130 visitors--mostly friends and relatives of the inmates--also have been inside since last Sunday.
It was unclear whether they were voluntarily joining the protest or if they were being held against their will.
A cordon of heavily armed police surrounded the prison but authorities had no presence inside.
A group of congressmen entered to negotiate the release of the journalists and anyone else held captive, but after an hour the congressmen left without having succeeded.
A similar scene played out across the city in Garcia Moreno men's prison, where about 150 visitors have been shut in with convicts since last Sunday.
That prison was designed to hold 400 inmates but houses about 1,100. It also lacks running water.
In the women's prison in Guayaquil, 170 miles southwest of Quito, inmates demanding shorter sentences took two police officers hostage last Tuesday. The inmates tied the officers to stakes in the main patio and threatened to set them ablaze if other officers tried to end the protest by force.
Felipe Mantilla, the regional governor of Guayas, where Guayaquil is located, told reporters last Tuesday that he was able to negotiate the officers' release.
Striking officers have complicated police efforts to retake control of the prisons, demonstrating outside and trying to prevent anyone from entering or exiting.