together
like livestock in cells the size of a shed
Huddled together like cattle in a cage no bigger than a shed
some of the men of El Salvador's prison pits have languished in these rancid,
disease ridden holding cells for more than a year.
Designed only for temporary 72-hour stays, the sweltering
cells, each 12 feet wide and 15 feet tall are crammed with more than 30 people
- all veterans of the country's vicious war between the MS-13 and M18 gangs.
Not in the Agreement: Under the truce agreement,
gang leaders imprisoned with their members are supposed to receive
'intimate visits' in jail - this is clearly not happening
Segregated along tribal gang-lines, the men in these
inhumane cells are hidden from public view, but one reporter from
counter-culture magazine VICE, managed to gain access to throw light on the
grizzly conditions they are consigned to spend their days living in.
Shown the
prison pits by a police officer in El Salvador disgusted with the prisoners
treatment, the VICE reporter noted that the men suffered frequent health
problems and weren't even fed enough.
Hoping that the pictures taken will pressure the government
into improving their life while incarcerated, the images portray the fallout
from El Salvador's fragile truce following decades of near civil-war between
the two powerful gangs.
Even in July, El Salvador witnessed a burst of violence that
caused observers of the year long truce between the two gangs to fret that it
might be crumbling.
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