SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – El Salvador’s Congress voted on Wednesday to allow minors convicted of crimes linked to organized crime to be housed in the same prisons as adults, albeit in separate areas.
The measure would apply to children under 18 who belong to gangs and have been prosecuted for major crimes such as homicide, kidnappings and arms trafficking, Congress said.
WHY IT MATTERS
The new law is part of a controversial war on organized crime led by President Nayib Bukele. Since 2022, he has launched a state of emergency suspending some constitutional rights, implemented mass trials and built a so-called “mega prison.”
Rights groups say prisoners – including children – have been been subjected to torture. The government has said torture does not happen in its prisons.
The United States is also assessing housing U.S. citizens convicted of crimes in Salvadoran prisons.
KEY QUOTE
“This will prevent them from receiving the same criminal treatment as those who have committed less serious crimes or have committed isolated or occasional offences,” El Salvador’s Congress said in an official press release.
BY THE NUMBERS
El Salvador’s government does not regularly provide information on the number of children held in prison or who are in pre-trial detention. It said in February last year 1,065 children had been convicted during the state of emergency.
According to Human Rights Watch, numbers surged during the state of emergency. More than 3,300 were detained between March 2022 and December 2023, which compares with an annual average of 805 children held in juvenile detention centers between 2018 and 2021.
(Reporting by Nelson Renteria; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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