Americas · Central America
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Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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
Average of our computed Conditions Risk Score across the country's facilities. Methodology · Browse highest-risk
The vertical ticks mark the global (grey) and regional (amber) means. Bars are clipped at the high end for readability.
Source: World Prison Brief / unodc
Transparency about the boundaries of this data. Click sources where linked.
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.
34 facilities in our database — showing the first 24.
El Salvador
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Mega-prison
Capacity
40,000
Held
—
El Salvador · Tecoluca
Type
Mega-prison
Capacity
40,000
Held
14,500
El Salvador · Ilobasco
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
3,000
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
1,000
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
800
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
800
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
2,000
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
2,000
Held
—
El Salvador · LA UNION
Type
Prison
Capacity
500
Held
—
El Salvador · Tonacatepeque
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
400
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
1,000
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
2,000
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
1,500
Held
—
El Salvador · San Vicente
Type
Prison
Capacity
700
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
500
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
600
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
500
Held
—
El Salvador
Type
Prison
Capacity
960
Held
—
Score based on how many fields are populated. We surface this so you know where the gaps are.
Direct citations for the figures on this page.
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
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
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 August 30, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/el-salvador
"El Salvador — prison statistics." World Prisons. Accessed August 30, 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 = {2026-08-30}
}