Construction of the Encuentro maximum-security prison in Santa Elena begins

This Friday, June 21, 2024, construction of the Encuentro maximum security prison, located in Santa Elena, began. The structure will have controls and surveillance with artificial intelligence technology and people deprived of liberty (PPL) will be classified according to their degree of danger and sentence.

This will be the maximum-security prison in Santa Elena.

The investment in the maximum-security prison is USD 52 million and will have a capacity for nearly 800 highly dangerous PPL or those who present a high risk of escape. They will be in the maximum-security pavilions.

“Today we mark one of the most important milestones in our fight against terrorism and the mafias that have entrenched themselves with impunity in our country for decades,” said the President of the Republic, Daniel Noboa. He was present at the official event that marked the start of the work.

The President also stated that seven months ago “the penitentiary system was kidnapped and humiliated by criminal organizations that had turned prisons into their centers of operations.”

He also recalled that “New prisons, but this time with maximum security, designed to reclassify and isolate highly dangerous criminals, the mafia leaders, will now be monitored in real time and with the support of artificial intelligence. “We are making history.”

Also present at the event was Luis Eduardo Zaldumbide, director of the National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI). He explained that the maximum-security prison will have an area of ​​16.2 hectares and its construction will be carried out in 300 days.

The community supports construction in Santa Elena. Karina Balón, president of the autonomous parish government, thanked the inhabitants of the communes of Sacachún, Sube y Baja, Barranca de Julio Moreno, Comuna del Cerro, Juntas del Pacífico, Los Recintos, Santa Ana and Frutilla for their support. “It is an important day, it is a historical milestone for the security of the country.”

The President also referred to the fact that: ” I am crazy for wanting to serve my country. I am crazy for preventing corruption from continuing in Ecuador. I am crazy because I want to give opportunity to our young people who are unemployed and without opportunities. I am crazy because I have plans ambitions, 100,000 scholarships for our young people, to build maximum security prisons, how to improve agriculture, how to improve a country’s exports. They say I am crazy because I risk my life, every day, going to the most difficult places, moving and moving. making headquarters in Manta. This madman will make old Ecuador difficult.”

At the end of his speech he pressed a button, which sounded an alarm. He was a symbol of the beginning of the construction of the Encuentro maximum security prison, in Santa Elena. 

This will be the structure of the Encuentro maximum security prison

The prison will have six surveillance towers (9.5 meters high each); a nine-meter wall, of which six meters will be made of concrete and three meters of unscalable mesh; maximum security modules, parking area, kitchen, laundry, armory, among others.

Technological platform

• Iris-based biometric inmate roll call: Automated system to ensure accuracy and efficiency.
• Visit registration: Authorized visitors will be registered in the system so that from the external security ring it can be defined who can approach the center and who cannot.
• Access controls: Use of biometric technology and high security devices to control access of staff and visitors, limited by areas and with real-time registration for monitoring.
• Personnel location: Real-time monitoring to improve security and personnel management.
• Internal audits: Registration and monitoring of all actions carried out within the prison.
• Active monitoring: Constant supervision of all implemented technologies.
• Automatic generation of incident reports: Improvement in the response and management of emergency situations.

More technology implemented in the maximum-security prison

• Data Network and Structured Cabling: Robust communication infrastructure.
• Data Center and Control Center: Operational epicenter with cutting-edge equipment and a 24/7 control center with continuous recording and centralized alerts.
• Cellular and WiFi Signal Blockers.
• Closed Circuit Television (CCTV): Advanced surveillance system with comprehensive coverage and remote control.
• Access Control: Based on fingerprints and biometric devices with two technologically supported external security rings.
• Vehicular Lock: With anti-terrorism bollards and under-vehicle scanning system.
• Perimeter Detection: Sensors for early detection of intrusions.
• Fire Detection: Complete system with photoelectric, thermal and multi-criteria detectors.
• Customs Equipment: Metal detectors, magnetic arcs and X-ray machines for detailed inspection.

Watch the start of construction of the Encuentro maximum security prison, in Santa Elena: