El Salvador Is Imprisoning People at Triple the Rate of the US
El Salvador has jailed 1.6% of its population under President Nayib Bukele's unprecedented gang crackdown
The number of incarcerated El Salvadorans has swollen to about 100,000, or 1.6% of its total population.
Photographer: Camilo Freedman/BloombergEl 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, disclosing for the first time how many people the government has jailed.
Since March 2022, Salvadoran authorities have arrested more than 72,600 people on suspicions of being gang members, Gustavo Villatoro, El Salvador’s Justice and Public Safety minister, said in an interview. While none of the detainees have been sentenced, the country’s prison population has tripled to a total of 100,000, “more or less,” Villatoro said.