Salvadoran Prisons House Over 105,000 Inmates

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Public Security and Justice Minister Gustavo Villatoro stated that Salvadoran prisons house 105,100 inmates.

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"El Salvador's prison population has tripled to 100,000 in less than two years under President Nayib Bukele's crackdown on gangs, his security minister said, revealing for the first time how many people his administration has jailed," local outlet La Prensa Grafica reported.

On Tuesday, the Legislative Assembly approved the 18th extension to the emergency regime, which keeps some constitutional rights suspended for all Salvadorans from March 27, 2022.

Since this date, the prison population has tripled due to over 72,600 arrests of citizens accused of belonging to urban gangs.

So far, however, none of those people have received a sentence, even though the prison population has increased in overcrowded conditions.

"Before March 2022, the number of people in the prison system was already around 40,000 detainees," acknowledged the Salvadoran security minister.

According to official figures, El Salvador had registered 97,525 inmates in December 2022, a figure that was equivalent to 2 out of 100 adult Salvadorans residing in the country.