Report: At least 153 people arrested under special powers have died in Salvadoran prisons

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — At least 153 people jailed since El Salvador instituted emergency powers in March 2022 to confront the country’s powerful street gangs have died in state custody. A report released Monday by the human rights group Cristosal said none of those who died had been convicted of a crime they were accused of at the time of their arrest. There were four women among the victims and the rest were men. The deaths were the result of torture, systematic and serious injuries. Nearly half of the victims suffered violent deaths. Some of the deaths showed signs they resulted from deliberate denial of medical assistance, medicine and food, including some deaths resulting from malnutrition.