QUITO, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Fifteen inmates have died over the past four days at Ecuador's largest prison, the Litoral Penitentiary in the coastal city of Guayaquil, prison authorities said Monday.

The National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders, which oversees the prison system, said the deaths occurred between Dec. 11 and Dec. 14.

Officials said the causes of death will be determined by forensic authorities.

Preliminary police reports cited by local media said most of the inmates were between 22 and 45 years old and showed no visible signs of violence, according to forensic investigators.

The deaths come amid a worsening health crisis at the prison, which houses around 7,000 inmates, following reports of earlier deaths, some linked to symptoms consistent with tuberculosis.

A judge recently granted part of a precautionary legal measure aimed at addressing conditions at the prison.

The Guayaquil-based Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights said at least 592 inmates have died at the Litoral Penitentiary so far this year.

Since January 2024, police and military forces have been deployed to guard all prisons across the country, which authorities describe as epicenters of the unprecedented violence gripping the country under a government-declared "internal armed conflict" against organized crime. ■