The Worst Prison in America

The world's toughest and largest prison is located in El Salvador. It tells the story of a country that might have sacrificed its democracy in a fight against gangs.

Thanks to Ashley Batastini for the insightful interview.

Sources:

Music:

Every Track an Essay - Dark Dark Internet
Every Track an Essay - Nexus

Artlist:
Or Chausha - Void
Grisly Brill - Duty Calls
Lance Conrad - Going to a Dark Place
Lance Conrad - Killer on the Loose
Gal Lev - My Dark Side
Alon Peretz - A Forest Dark
Yehezkel Raz - Fata Morgana - Instrumental Version

Lens Distortion:
Anthology
Rematch - No Texture

_____

Armchair documentaries, almost weekly

[fern-tv]

Many in this comment section are upset by us bringing the Norwegian prison system into the discussion of CECOT. We cut that part from the video. We definitely did not manage to bring our point across here and failed to mention important context. We are not comparing the economic or social situations of Norway and El Salvador, trying to argue El Salvador should "just do it like this much richer country with way less crime on the other side of the world". We brought up Norway for its much celebrated approach to prioritise reintegration into society, which is proven to drastically lower recidivism rates, which in turn benefits society. Now especially CECOT currently has no reintegration plans whatsoever - the starkest contrast imaginable. And this total lack of reintegration plans is questionable, we stand by that point - especially keeping in mind mass trials of up to 900 people, likely a high percentage of prisoners being wrongfully convicted, the police having to meet arrest quotas, etc.

Nonetheless, bringing up Norway as a "positive example" this way did not help make this case and we apologize. We hope this blunder won't overshadow the other important questions this topic raises. What is happening to El Salvador's democracy? Is that a potential price worth paying? We are curious to hear your opinions.

[JD-tjrt]

Comparing El-Savador criminals with Norwegian criminals is downright absurd

[gustavoramos]

As a salvi American who has visited when it was peak gang violence, and after, I can tell you that it has changed soooo much, people can now wonder the streets without any worries in the world and also not have to worry about the gangs coming in into their neighborhood asking for ransom and death threats. Bukele has done an excellent job the People were tired of the violence

[cholachanclada]

As a Latin American myself, El Salvador was known to be incredibly dangerous - it was well known that due to corruption, the gangs were running the country AND prisons. Corruption in Latin America is the biggest problem.
This is a last resort - the amount of innocent people murdered in the country was shocking. As Bukele said, El Salvador had already taken the advice of the Americas but their ideas to reform the country have never worked. So he stopped listening to them. El Salvador does not tell the US what to do, so why the US feels the need to involve themselves is beyond me. They have their own things to worry about - like healthcare and homelessness.

It also seems strange that westerners with zero experience with south american culture believe they have the answers...

We only discuss the rights of the prisoners, but what about the victims and their families?

This video doesn't seem to fairly discuss the true horrors experienced by El Salvadorians. But then again, this is only my opinion.

[MrTolcher]

I work with an el Salvadoran who’s mother and father are still back home and their words are they’re very happy with the change. His father is a taxi driver and for the first time in 20 years has not had to pay extortion money to the local gangs, mother who runs a food stall the same, even better they’re both the busiest they’ve been in as long as they can remember. Tourist are back in El Salvador because it’s safer, law abiding citizens are happier as a result.

[ac]

1 thing to note 11:45. This is Norway we’re talking about. Its crime was low even before it started these policies. But El Salvador literally had enough gangsters to make armies.

Norway is rich, and it only has to accommodate like a few thousand prisoners at most

[iamdanyc]

It’s never people from El Salvador advocating for prisoners human rights.

[rwsvri]

oh yeah rehabilitating an entire chain of gangs that go up to 50k people as a third world country is definetely something comperable to one of the richest nations in the world rehabilitating a much smaller amount of criminals that dont come from organised gangs.Solid take mate.

[johnmayerislovee]

Funny how Ashley Batastini discusses the horrors of CECOT and its treatment of the inmates inside the safety of her secure home and thousands of miles away from the violence.

[thebluecatz]

Professor from Melbourne commenting on El-Salvador and directly comparing it to Norway... yeah... you lost me there fern...

[thekiminthenorth]

Comparing Norway to El Salvador is insane😂😂😂

[Jordan-erbx]

This video didn’t hit the mark. Comparing El Salvador to Norway is insane. Completely different breed of criminal

[julian]

i love your videos but as a Salvadorian myself i feel like you really needed to experience all the gang violence and the fear of hearing shots ring all night to properly make this assumption about Bukele some may say he's corrupt but so was our last president but all he did was stuff his pants full of money at least Bukele is trying to make change for the citizens even if he has to bends so rule to stay in power .

[hrhyitq]

This is the most western video I’ve ever seen, its genuinely funny

[DerpsWithWolves]

Decades ago, my aunt's family had to flee the purges in El Salvador.
If you were educated, too influential, or in any way perceived as a possible alternative to the regime; they wanted you dead. Her dad was just a college professor, but they put him on a hit list.

So, I'm not surprised that this is where the country is at, from a social or demographic standpoint. Previous administrations made all the high-earning middle-class, academics, and pro-democracy citizens fear for their lives, and most of them left. The country is now mostly full of the grandchildren of people who either didn't want to leave, or couldn't, and mass-scale incarceration and death already have a precedent there.

[Umbreedon]

the irony of human rights organizations caring about human rights of gang members, gang members who do not care at all about human rights to begin with

[LucinaMeow]

El Salvador doesnt have the resources and also has too high of a crime rate to not handle this in a extreme manner. Without extreme actions their country wouldve only gone down worse.

[PerfectZeroMusic_]

Wasn't the "1/3 people arrested were innocent" a number that was unconfirmed and came out of nowhere?

I swear i remember them basing this out of nothing

[WokeKanda]

I like you Fern, I really like you. This video has been a complete miss. These prisoners made the country utter chaos.
It's like if someone with a good, yet strong will took over Haiti today (a country you literally cannot visit), arrested all the gang members and made the country somewhat livable again, then you attack that leader for dealing with the problem the only way it could be dealt with.
Think about the families these guys ruined too. Bruh

[pandaboy]

This is the exact definition of desperate times call for desperate measures.