El Salvador · San Salvador Department · San Salvador
La Esperanza (Mariona)
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date.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.
For families
How to send mail, money, and visit La Esperanza (Mariona)
Step-by-step guidance using the El Salvador system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.
El Salvador's main male penitentiary. Hugely overcrowded since the start of the 2022 State of Exception.
Capacity
5,200
Current population
33,000
Occupancy
635%
Year opened
1980
Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology
Facility profile
Population held
male
Opened
1980
Region
San Salvador Department
Security level
Maximum
Death-row facility
No
Conditions
Severe overcrowding at ~6Ã capacity. Reports of inmates sleeping in shifts and acute medical access shortages.
Visiting
Visits suspended since March 2022. No formal reinstatement date.
Mailing
Limited acceptance of personal effects via family drop-off; no general mail system.
Practical info
Family inquiries routed through DGCP, but information flow is severely limited.
Known issues
Multiple documented in-custody deaths during the State of Exception. IACHR has requested information from the government.
Contact & address
No public contact details available.
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
- Overcrowding
- 30/30
- Oversight reports
- 6/30
- Structural flags
- 5/15
- Death signals
- 10/15
- Conditions text
- 3/10
What the score is responding to:
- · Extreme overcrowding at 635% of capacity
- · 1 oversight report in the last 5 years
- · Substantial documented known-issues record
- · Multiple in-custody-death signals in sources
- · Severe-conditions keyword in sources
This facility scores 54. The national average across 34 scored El Salvador facilities is 44 — 10 points above national average.
Trend over time
Population and occupancy by year. Source: official corrections statistics + oversight reports.
Population held
Occupancy %
Related facilities
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
- Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT)TecolucaMaximumMega-prison36% occupancy
- Centro Penal de ApopaPrison
- Centro Penal de San VicenteSan VicentePrison
- Penal de Ciudad BarriosPrison
- Centro de Reeducacion de Menores de IlobascoIlobasco
- Ex Penal de Cojutepeque
Compared to other facilities in El Salvador
33 peersHigher risk than 100% of peer facilities in El Salvador.
Reports
- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights11 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.
Data completeness
92%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- Cristosal â One Year of Exception
- Cristosal — Cristosal
- Human Rights Watch â World Report — Human Rights Watch
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.
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). La Esperanza (Mariona). Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/la-esperanza-mariona
"La Esperanza (Mariona)." World Prisons. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/la-esperanza-mariona.
@misc{worldprisons-la-esperanza-mariona,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {La Esperanza (Mariona)},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/la-esperanza-mariona},
urldate = {2026-10-20}
}