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Sexy telenovela star feels bad for Rikers inmates

They’re too hot for jailbird TV.

The sexy Latina starlets on the Spanish soap opera “En Otra Piel” are bursting with so much on-screen “passion,” it’s no wonder they sparked a jail riot, actress Silvana Arias told The Post on Tuesday.

The 34-year-old actress laughed when she heard that inmates at Rikers Island love her show so much, they rioted because a new bedtime rule forced them to miss it on Monday.

“Maybe guys in jails like the passion that we Latinas have. When we say ‘I love you,’ we say it with so much passion, maybe they like that,” said Arias, who plays a girl who gets kidnapped and falls in love with a Mexican gangbanger.

“I laughed because I couldn’t believe it . . . I thought it was funny that they were so upset they couldn’t watch us. But it’s also sad that they don’t have any other entertainment,” the Peruvian stunner said by phone from Miami.

She added, “Maybe we should try giving them salsa classes. Maybe they need some music or instruments.”

Inmates at the high-security George Vierno wing often crowd around a flat-screen TV attached to the ceiling to watch the steamy show — whose title means “In Another Skin” in English — at 9 p.m., Department of Correction sources said.

They peel off their shirts, which is against jail rules, because there’s no air conditioning in the sweltering common area, a department source said.

The smoking-hot girls only hike up the heat.

“The show actually makes them hotter,” the source said.

They’re often so entranced by the sexy plot — which features a gigolo who seduces wealthy women — they often ignore guards’ orders to put their shirts back on, the source said.

The inmates hoot and holler at the screen, according to the source, who called the show “Telemundo soft porn.”

But Arias insists jailbirds are engrossed in the show because the language of love is universal.

“You don’t need to speak Spanish to watch us,” she said.

“We have pretty girls and gorgeous guys, so we are fun to watch,” she said.

Her character — who adores a rough-and-tumble gangster — probably resonates with the inmates, she added.

“She tries to change his life as she changes hers. She tries to convince him to leave the gang,” Arias said.

“It’s never too late to change your life. Change is the only constant thing in this world,” she said, offering a few words of wisdom.

On Monday, 68 inmates rioted to protest a 9 p.m. bedtime crackdown that forced them to miss the latest episode of “En Otra Piel.”

Guards had to pepper-spray the inmates to keep them under control.

There have been no riots in the wing since, Correction sources said.