Blogging from El Salvador #3

Met today with “Ella” (a pseudonym),  a graduate of a Jesuit university in the United States in 2010. Ella grew up in the Midwest and first came to El Salvador as a high school student, then later as a college student on a public service program.

Ellsa works in juvenile detention centers here in El Salvador, where she and a friend have started a poetry project with girls and an art therapy program for boys. These efforts provide a space for the detainees to share what’s in their hearts and minds. Ella types up the projects for the youth, helping them to maintain their own portfolios. The programs provide a terrific outlet for the detainees.

While gangs existed in the country after the peace agreement in 1992, their ranks have swelled because of the deportation of gang members from the United States. There are two principal gangs here: Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the 18th Street Gang.

El Salvador is increasingly using repressive measures of enforcement, criminalizing youth. In prison, they are separated by gang affiliation, making prisons essentially into graduate schools for gangs so that the members can come out stronger and more violent.

The government appears to have given up on any hopes of rehabilitation; any reference to prevention programs is only lip service.

The system also is corrupt. Police beat kids, then throw them into holding cells randomly.  People with money can pay their way out of the system. SO the ones they work with are poor. Public defenders are overwhelmed.

One of Ella’s acquaintances had been released from prison eight years ago, go married, and a son, and was leading a straight and narrow life. But one day he was stopped on his bicycle and thrown in jail for six weeks for not having proper papers for the bicycle. During his incarceration, the only food he got was what was brought to him by his family. He lost weight and came out skinny. For 45 days slept standing up. Fungus was all over his feet, because he stood in water up to his ankles.

Unfortunately, gang prevention programs are supported by funders who do not allow counseling individuals who have been incarcerated.

bh