Guards and police released after being held hostage in Ecuadorian prisons

Fifty-seven law enforcement officers held in six prisons amid sharp rise in gang violence ahead of election

Fifty guards and seven police officers have been released, Ecuadorian authorities said, after being held hostage in several prisons for more than a day.

The country's corrections system, the National Service for Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty, said in a statement that the 57 law enforcement officers, who were held in six different prisons, were safe, but did not offer details about how they were released.