San SalvadorNearly 2% of Salvadorans are now imprisoned.
The world’s highest incarceration rate followed a crackdown that gutted MS13 and Barrio 18’s structures.
A 2022 state of emergency in El Salvador suspended constitutional guarantees, enabling mass arrests and a 40,000-capacity megaprison.
Amnesty International has documented arbitrary arrests, abuse and deaths in custody inside the megaprison system.
Collective trials continue after hearings against 485 alleged MS13 members concluded in July, with more pending.
How each outlet framed it
- InSight Crime leans critical
- reconstructs three pillars of Bukele's strategy (state of emergency, mass arrests, megaprisons) and examines human cost
Sources: InSight Crime