Prisoners at the the maximum-security Izalco Prison in western El Salvador. Photo: EFE.
A total of 482 individuals have died in state custody in El Salvador since the implementation of the State of Exception on March 27, 2022, according to records released this Wednesday by the non-governmental organization Socorro Jurídico Humanitario (SJH). The NGO has reported 12 deaths so far in 2026 in El Salvador’s prisons due to deteriorating health conditions and denial of basic rights.
Similar to a “state of emergency,” El Salvador’s State of Exception allows the regime to temporarily suspend certain Constitutional rights and has now been in force almost four years. The alleged aim of the measure is to aid the state in re-establishing order, and many of those arrested since its implementation have not received a proper hearing nor access to legal defense.
SJH, an organization that emerged in the context of this measure and that provides free legal assistance to families of prisoners, reported on the social media network X that “10 people died in January alone” and that “two more have already died in February.” The organization warned that the deaths are occurring “due to deteriorating health under a regime that denies basic rights” and emphasized that “impunity kills; silence does too.”
According to data collected by SJH, 94% of the deceased “did not have a gang-member profile.” The organization also warned that the real number of deaths in state custody “could exceed 1,000,” although it noted that “there is information that is being hidden in the mass trials.”
Salvadorans have taken to the streets to condemn the repressive and neoliberal policies of President Nayib Bukele. The symbolic march took place on the 34th anniversary of the Chapultepec Peace Accords, which officially ended the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War in 1992.
A recent SJH report compiled using testimonies from family members due to the lack of official information—classified as secret—details the causes of death: physical violence accounts for 32% of cases, followed by 31.8% classified as “violent deaths,” and 31.6% attributed to “lack of medical care for illnesses.” In 31.1% of cases, the cause is “unknown,” while 4.7% of deaths occurred due to “terminal illness” and 0.9% to “apparent suicide.”
More than 190 deaths have occurred in the Izalco Prison, in the western part of the country, making it the penitentiary center with the highest number of recorded fatalities. In contrast, at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a maximum-security megaprison for gang members, SJH reports four deaths, although security authorities claim that no deaths have occurred at that facility.
The State of Exception was implemented after a surge in violence attributed to gangs that left more than 80 people dead in a single weekend. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has defended its continuation with the backing of the Legislative Assembly, dominated by the Nuevas Ideas party, which has renewed the special State of Exception dozens of times since it was first implemented.
CECOT: The Torture Center at the Heart of Trump’s War on Immigrants
(Telesur) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/CB/SL
Cameron Baillie is an award-winning journalist, editor, and researcher. He won and was shortlisted for awards across Britain and Ireland. He is Editor-in-Chief of New Sociological Perspectives graduate journal and Commissioning Editor at The Student Intifada newsletter. He spent the first half of 2025 living, working, and writing in Ecuador. He does news translation and proofreading work with The Orinoco Tribune.
