Ecuador’s National Assembly approved, on March 17, 2026, a law requiring prisoners to work to cover their own needs in prison. Eighty-four votes in favor, sixty-two against, two abstentions. The proposal by Assemblywoman Inés Alarcón entered the public debate as the solution that would force inmates to pay for their food through their own effort.
But that idea, the one that made the headlines, is only one piece of a much broader package. The actual text creates a prison intelligence system, reclassifies inmates’ level of dangerousness, and authorizes guards to use force legitimately. All of this comes after a year in which deaths inside Ecuadorian prisons rose 268%, from 331 cases in 2024 to 1,220 in 2025.
The opposition party Revolución Ciudadana voted against it, noting that the law is not accompanied by a real budget. The text now awaits President Daniel Noboa’s signature to become law.
