El Salvador’s government has led a war against the country’s gangs that has seen officials jail citizens en masse in prisons – but some are yet to be found guilty of any wrongdoing.
During his first and second terms in office, President Nayib Bukele has led an aggressive effort that has all but eradicated gang activity in his home nation, with thousands of members now imprisoned in new mega facilities, some of which are capable of holding up to 40,000 people. While he has been praised for his efforts, critics have condemned authoritarian policies that could see innocent people put behind bars alongside seasoned criminals.
Anyone sent to one of the El Salvador‘s new facilities used to house the overflow of people being detained on suspicion of gang activity face a dangerously hostile environment where they are packed like sardines. Photographers documenting the experience of detainees and convicted criminals have shown the shock conditions that await would-be wrongdoers.
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Anadolu via Getty Images)
Pictures from Cecot (Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism) show thousands of people being packed closely together, half-dressed and handcuffed while sitting on bare concrete floors in rows. The gang members – most of whom hail from MS-13 and Barrio 18, two infamous national groups – are flanked by heavily armed guards.
As well as being tightly packed inside cells, inmates also allegedly face torture, with El Salvador-based human rights organisation Cristosal claiming to have documented abuse and more than 150 deaths in state custody since Bukele’s government declared a “state of exception” in 2022. As part of the state of emergency, the government opened a hotline that could see innocent people housed in the jail.
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AFP via Getty Images)
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Presidencia El Salvador via Getty Images)
Members of the public can report on members of their community they believe are collaborators via phone, which human rights champions argue some have used to settle old scores with neighbours. El Salvador’s policy of imprison first, trial later has meant that regular people accused of crimes face dangerous prison conditions.
Even when they do have a chance to argue their innocence, observers have said they are often tried in massive groups that make it almost impossible for them to be heard. Speaking to The Sun, Irene Cuellar, from Amnesty International, said the government may trial nearly 1,000 people at any one time.
She said: “The strategy the government came up with, they say, in order to make things quicker, is to have massive trials. They are talking about trials that are from 200 through to 900 people in just one trial. [Amnesty International] cannot imagine how people are going to be able to exercise adequately their right to defence.”
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