SNAI approves contingency plan to resume treatment axes in Ecuador's prisons

The National Service for Comprehensive Care for Adults Deprived of Liberty and Juvenile Offenders (SNAI) approved the implementation and execution of the “Contingency and Intervention Plan for the development of activities inherent to the treatment axes in deprivation of liberty centers nationwide.” The decision is contained in Resolution No. SNAI-SNAI-2026-0106-R, signed in Quito on October 23, 2026, by the general director Mauricio Fernando Mayorga Vallejo, and published in the Third Supplement of the Official Registry No. 406, on Tuesday, November 10, 2026.

The plan is directed exclusively at persons deprived of liberty who, due to insecurity events or penitentiary crisis situations, were unable to participate continuously in the treatment axes and therefore do not have the corresponding grades in their Individualized Sentence Compliance Plan (PICP). The regulation is based on the fifth and sixth transitory provisions of the Regulations of the National Social Rehabilitation System, issued via Executive Decree No. 366, signed on April 22, 2026, and in effect since April 28, 2026.

The collapse of penitentiary participation

The technical diagnosis incorporated into the plan quantifies the drop in treatment activity since 2023. The document attributes the impact to states of exception, the declaration of internal armed conflict, and the permanent presence of the Armed Forces and National Police inside and outside the centers, which limited activities for security reasons.

• December 2023: 41.36% participation, approximately 12,740 deprived of liberty, out of a population of 30,804.
• December 2024: 17.74%, around 5,937 people, with 33,463 inmates.
• December 2025: 19.23%, nearly 7,096 people, with 36,907 inmates.
• August 2026: 10,798 participants, out of a population of 39,453 people as of September 4, 2026.

SNAI maintains that the absence of records cannot be considered evidence of non-compliance when it derives from circumstances beyond the will of the person deprived of liberty, and warns that a minimum grade of 5 out of 10 in the PICP is a requirement to access penitentiary benefits or changes in regime.

Three weeks of activities and a maximum grade of eight points

The intervention will be executed in an intensive period of three consecutive weeks, with a daily schedule of workshops, reading, and sports practice. The activities and their weighting are as follows:

• Labor axis: work in artisanal or industrial workshops and productive ventures, 16 hours, up to 2 points.
• Educational axis: certified reading of three works of at least 50 pages each, 12 hours, up to 2 points.
• Cultural axis: literature, performing arts, music, plastic arts, audiovisual production, and radio workshops, 14 hours, up to 1 point.
• Sports axis: sports, recreational, or physical education practice, 14 hours, up to 1 point.
• Family and social bonding axis: four workshops or two training sessions on gender, masculinities, non-discrimination, and violence prevention, 4 hours, up to 2 points.

The projected total reaches 60 hours and a maximum of 8 points out of 10. The document justifies this cap based on the shorter duration of the extraordinary period compared to the ordinary semi-annual evaluation process, and clarifies that it does not constitute a sanction or a negative assessment. The grade will be added to the grades from the 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% periods; if the person has no previous grades, it will be the only valid one.

Priority, deadlines, and coordination with public forces

The plan focuses on those who have completed 40% of their sentence, for pre-release cases, or 60%, for a change of regime, as well as those who are about to reach those percentages. The validity extends from its issuance until January 31, 2027.

The provisions of the resolution include:

• Mandatory implementation of the plan in all deprivation of liberty centers in the country, according to the schedule.
• Fifteen business days to implement, assemble, and send the files to the Directorate of Penitentiary Benefits, Regime Changes, Pardons, and Repatriations.
• Coordination of the Sub-directorate of Penitentiary Protection and Security with the National Police and the Joint Command of the Armed Forces to provide the necessary contingent.
• Verification, registration, and certification of activities under the responsibility of the Directorate of Precautionary Measures and Custodial Sentences.

The resolution entirely repeals Resolution No. SNAI-SNAI-2026-0051-R, dated May 14, 2026, which had approved a plan of similar name and was published in Official Registry No. 301, dated June 9, 2026.

Impact on the prison population

With more than 39,000 people deprived of liberty and participation in treatment axes around 27% of that population according to August 2026 figures, the plan directly conditions inmates’ access to pre-release and the semi-open regime, and thereby the length of stay in prison and the lives of their families. The document itself acknowledges that the lack of grades administratively blocked those benefits, so the extraordinary intervention operates as a regularization path for those who were trapped by security restrictions.

Source: Official Registry, Third Supplement No. 406, Tuesday, November 10, 2026, p. 10 (official reference: SNAI-SNAI-2026-0106-R).