2 TV crews held hostage by inmates

QUITO, Ecuador -- In the midst of a national strike by prison guards, inmates in Quito's women's prison took two television news crews hostage Tuesday to press their demands for shorter sentences and better living conditions.\nThe standoff was one of several protests by inmates around the country in the last three days after guards in Ecuador's 34 prisons went on strike March 22 demanding $10 million for improvements and back pay.\nInmates 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.\nNational Prison Director Fernando Cassis said Tuesday the government was doing all it could to end the protests and the strike.\nThe TV 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.\nSome 130 visitors -- mostly friends and relatives of the inmates -- have also been inside since Sunday. It remained unclear Tuesday if they were voluntarily joining the protest or if they were being held captive.\nA cordon of heavily-armed police surrounded the prison but authorities had no presence inside the facility. A group of congressmen entered to negotiate the release of the journalists and anyone else held captive, but after an hour, they exited without success.\nA similar scene played out across the city in Garcia Moreno men's prison, where some 150 visitors have been shut in with inmates since Sunday. That facility was designed to hold 400 prisoners but houses about 1,100 inmates and lacks running water.\nIn the women's prison in Guayaquil, 170 miles southwest of Quito, inmates demanding shorter sentences took two policemen hostage Tuesday, tied them to stakes in the main patio and threatened to set them ablaze if other officers tried to end the protest by force.\nFelipe Mantilla, the regional governor of Guayas, where Guayaquil is located, told reporters late Tuesday he was able to negotiate the officers' release.\nStriking guards have complicated police efforts to retake control of the facilities, demonstrating outside the prisons and trying to prevent anyone from entering or exiting.