New report reveals the shocking conditions that members of El Salvador's violent and bloody MS-13 and M18 gangs are forced to live in
Huddled in holding cells designed for 72-hour stays - some men have been exposed to unsanitary and diseased conditions for over a year
An uneasy truce has existed since March 2012 between the two gangs
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.
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.
Huddled in holding cells designed for 72-hour stays - some men have been exposed to unsanitary and diseased conditions for over a year
An uneasy truce has existed since March 2012 between the two gangs
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.
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.
