The practice of keeping people confined in a facility against their will and under severe restrictions began as far back as the 18th century BC. The birth of prisons curiously coincided with the invention of the first wheel with spokes — on one hand, distance was going to be tamed and, on the other, some were being condemned to stillness. From then, much has changed but prisons are considered as integral a part of modern society as any parliament.

The institutionalisation of punishment is often cited as a deterrent for crime but the ground reality would seek to determine otherwise. Countries with some of the highest number of incarcerated citizens also have a high rate of crime. On the latter count, a nation in Central America more than 16,000 km from India has earned the ignominy of being the most violent in the world — El Salvador.

Although 2012 UN estimates put Honduras on the top of the world&’s chart when it came to countries with the highest murder rate, experts believe El Salvador has surpassed it now. It&’s a country that has witnessed some of the bloodiest gang wars and even today not a day passes without the number of murdered people crossing double digits. In August this year, the country recorded its highest number of murders ever.

And such a bleak situation is mainly due to the gangs, one of which has earned unprecedented notoriety. The Mara Salvatrucha, popularly called MS-13, from El Salvador is considered the most brutal in the world and, going by what security pundits say, that notion is not unfounded. It began in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1980s when Salvadorian expats began forming gangs to protect themselves from other violent groups. It was the height of the Civil War in El Salvador then and many fled to the USA only to swell the numbers of the MS-13. But thousands were deported and in the years after the Civil War ended in 1992, the MS-13 took over the ganglands in their native country. The authorities, in a bid to control their activities, devised a novel solution — a maximum security prison meant only for their members.

Located in the capital, San Salvador, the Penas Cuidad Barrios is a prison unlike any other. The army is at hand to man the sentry points on the outer boundaries but, once inside, there are no guards and the inmates run the joint. The MS-13&’s reputation is that fearsome! London-based photographer and filmmaker Adam Hinton dared to enter the Penas Cuidad Barrios in 2013 during a truce between the gangs of El Salvador and his time there has resulted in a startlingly beautiful book of portraits.   Comprising 20 pictures of the prisoners, the book, called MS-13, has been published by Paul Belford Limited.

It has been garnering rave reviews throughout Europe but the first question that crops up is why Hinton decided to photograph members of the infamous MS-13. He says, “I’d been working on a long-term project about the lives of people in urban slums when I learned about their influence. I’d deliberately avoided photographing gangs as I felt the main stories we hear about such places are about the criminality. I wanted to show that 95 per cent of the people there are everyday people like you and me, who are trying to make the best of their lives.”

And going by what Hinton has portrayed in a short film he directed, their lives are harder than what even we in India can possibly imagine. Ordinary Salvadorians get practically no benefits from the government and those in the barrios (slums) are the worst off. As a slum dweller says in Hinton&’s short film, “There is no support from the government or private institutions. There are no social programmes or community development initiatives.”

In such a dire scenario where poverty, marginalisation and lack of economic opportunities are the norm, youngsters see no better than join gangs like the MS-13. Hinton says, “The poverty and hopelessness in the barrios of El Salvador is so extreme that these kids feel there is little other option for them — it is the only possible route out of the slum.” But it&’s not what it seems like at face value. He says, “The relationship between the gang and community is more complex than the stereotype of them all being mindless thugs. The extreme violence of the gangs and their extortion cut into the fabric of the communities, but many of the people I spoke to say they also give protection against the police and rival gangs.”

But what of MS-13 itself? An incarcerated member in the Penas Cuidad Barrios says in the film, “They say becoming part of the gang is no game. One has to think long and hard before committing to it. If we have nothing, then we all have nothing. If we have something and a pal nothing, we all go without.” Such bonds of brotherhood, however, do not stand in the way when a member deviates from the command of his superiors — the MS-13 is known for its cruel retributions and brutal internal punishments. But in the prison, they all stick together as conditions are so squalid that anything otherwise would, possibly, spell death. Hinton says of the Penas Cuidad Barrios, “It was designed to hold 800 prisoners. On my visit it was holding over 2,500. Once inside, you soon realise there are no guards, the prisoners police themselves.

“One of the first things you notice is how overcrowded it is. There are men hanging around everywhere, the corridors are all packed with them, hanging around with nothing to do except kill endless amounts of time. The sanitation situation was appalling — pools of stagnant water covered with thick scum were everywhere. The prisoners had to set up their own hospital, if you could call it that. It was basically an old hall in the prison with a dozen stained mattresses to lie on. They had no medication on the day I visited. They sleep in dormitories. Because of the overcrowding they have to hang old doors from the ceiling to create extra beds.”

But given the conditions, as Hinton says, they do a great job of it. The prisoners have a bakery and a gym of their own. But it&’s like going to a place that doesn’t exist for the rest of the world — for the prisoners, being there means they are as good as dead for the authorities. They can do nothing but wait for what seems like eternity. They have each other for company and share stories about the tattoos adorning their bodies, which narrate tales of their childhood, loves and killings.

And, of course, they are a mark of allegiance to the MS-13 and a personal chronicle of loss and violence. When Hinton asked for a picture, nobody refused.

The last word belongs to a gang member who perfectly encapsulates the philosophy of the MS-13. “We take care of the people here in El Salvador. We take care of them till we die,” he says.