Images of members of El Salvador's most dangerous gang turn to book

Now in September, British publisher Paul Belford Ltd. published a book called "MS-13", with images taken by photographer Adam Hinton during his stay in El Salvador in 2013. He was there working on a long-term project when heard that the country's two main gangs - Mara Salvatrucha (MS) and 18th Street (Barrio 18) - had made a truce.

Wanting to know more closely why so many people get involved in the crime, he got permission to visit and photograph the prisoners in Ciudad Barrios Criminal Prison, where only members of MS, considered the largest and most dangerous of the two organizations, are together. In the gallery above you can check out some of the records made by Hinton inside the prison.

According to reports the prisoners themselves gave to the English photographer, life within gangs is one of the few ways out for those who grow up in the slums and extreme poverty of El Salvador. The prison Hinton visited has a capacity of about 800 detainees, but currently holds 2, 600, all affiliated with Mara Salvatrucha. Due to lack of space, some sleep in old doors hanging from the ceiling, among other arrangements.

Human beings, after all

The guards are just outside the penitentiary and receive help from the army in patrolling. The interior, however, is completely managed and policed ​​by the detainees themselves, who set up a bakery, a gym and even a ward, although there was no medicine there on the day of Hinton's visit.

The Englishman remained at the scene for about 4 hours and asked permission from some prisoners to take pictures of them - none refused. The photographer would like people to see beyond the gang tattoos, criminal history and stereotypes attributed to these men and see the humans behind all these things.

According to him, it is very simple for someone to point the finger and say that they are a bunch of mindless killers. This is certainly easier than considering what is so wrong with society in that country to make so many people embrace a life of crime.

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