Americas · Central America
El Salvador
Population surged under the 2022 State of Exception. World's highest incarceration rate. CECOT mega-prison opened January 2023.
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
Prison population
109,519
Year: 2024
Rate per 100,000
1,659
Per 100,000 residents
Occupancy
162.8%
Severely overcrowded
Pre-trial / remand
23.1%
Share not yet sentenced
Female prisoners
7.4%
Foreign nationals
1.3%
Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology
Conditions risk — across 34 facilities
Average of our computed Conditions Risk Score across the country's facilities. Methodology · Browse highest-risk
How El Salvador compares
vs Americas (9) & global averagesThe vertical ticks mark the global (grey) and regional (amber) means. Bars are clipped at the high end for readability.
Prison population over time
Annual figures, latest survey yearSource: World Prison Brief / unodc
What we know — and don't
Transparency about the boundaries of this data. Click sources where linked.
What we know
- CECOT (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo) holds 14,000+ alleged gang members with no visits, no mail, no outdoor recreation.
Notable concerns
- State of Exception has suspended due-process protections since March 2022.
What we don't know
- Independent monitoring access to CECOT and other facilities has been denied since 2023.
- Death-in-custody figures not officially disclosed; HR groups have documented 200+ since March 2022.
Reform in El Salvador
All reform →Laws, programmes, and pilots changing how El Salvador incarcerates — plus relevant research.
sentencing · active
Since March 2022 El Salvador has been under a continuous 'state of exception' that suspends key procedural rights, allowing mass arrest of suspected gang members. The prison population has tripled, making El Salvador the world's most-incarcerated country (per capita) by a wide margin. The mega-prison CECOT, opened in 2023, holds 40,000+ people in conditions widely criticised by Human Rights Watch and the UN.
Prisons in El Salvador
Browse all 34 →34 facilities in our database — showing the first 24.
Carcel de Mujeres
El Salvador
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT)
El Salvador
Type
Mega-prison
Capacity
40,000
Held
—
Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT)
El Salvador · Tecoluca
Type
Mega-prison
Capacity
40,000
Held
14,500
Centro de Reeducacion de Menores de Ilobasco
El Salvador · Ilobasco
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Centro Industrial de Cumplimiento de Penas y Rehabilitacion Santa Ana
El Salvador
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Centro Penal
El Salvador
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Centro Penal de Apopa
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
3,000
Held
—
Centro Penal de Chalatenango
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
1,000
Held
—
Centro Penal de Cojutepeque
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
800
Held
—
Centro Penal de Ilopango
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
800
Held
—
Centro Penal de Izalco
El Salvador
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Centro Penal de Izalco (Fase I)
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
2,000
Held
—
Centro Penal de Izalco (Fase II)
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
2,000
Held
—
Centro Penal de La Unión
El Salvador · LA UNION
Type
Prison
Capacity
500
Held
—
Centro Penal de Menores de Tonacatepeque
El Salvador · Tonacatepeque
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Centro Penal de Metapán
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
400
Held
—
Centro Penal de Quezaltepeque
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
1,000
Held
—
Centro Penal de San Miguel
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
2,000
Held
—
Centro Penal de Santa Ana
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
1,500
Held
—
Centro Penal de San Vicente
El Salvador · San Vicente
Type
Prison
Capacity
700
Held
—
Centro Penal de Sensuntepeque
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
500
Held
—
Centro Penal de Sonsonate
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
600
Held
—
Centro Penal de Usulután
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
500
Held
—
Centro Penal de Zacatecoluca (La Esperanza Zacatito)
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
960
Held
—
Data completeness
100%Score based on how many fields are populated. We surface this so you know where the gaps are.
- National population
- 6,600,0002024
- Source-verified
- 20 May 2026
- Source links
- 3 cited
Sources
Direct citations for the figures on this page.
- Primary reference
- World Prison Brief (ICPS, Birkbeck) — Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research
- Cristosal — Cristosal
- Human Rights Watch â World Report — Human Rights Watch
- See /data-sources for our methodology.
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
- SLV
Recent reports
Documents 235 deaths in custody during the State of Exception across El Salvador's prison system; no families have been informed of cause of death or location of remains.
Cristosal — One Year of Exception · source
- La Esperanza (Mariona)11 May 2023
IACHR requested information from the Government of El Salvador on conditions at Mariona including overcrowding, deaths in custody, and access to legal counsel.
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights · source
Conditions inside CECOT, based on government-released video, satisfy the definition of incommunicado detention. No legal access, no family contact, no daylight in cells.
Human Rights Watch · source
Cite this page
Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
World Prisons. (2026). El Salvador — prison statistics. Retrieved October 15, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/el-salvador
"El Salvador — prison statistics." World Prisons. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/countries/el-salvador.
@misc{worldprisons-el-salvador,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {El Salvador — prison statistics},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/countries/el-salvador},
urldate = {2026-10-15}
}