The Women of the Prison Ilopango

This project documents the lives of women held in Ilopango, a prison near San Salvador. The facility was built for 220 inmates but now holds more than 2 200 women.

Ilopango is known internationally for “Las 17,” women serving long sentences for abortion. Since 1998, abortion has been banned in all situations in El Salvador, even when a pregnancy risks the mother’s life. Miscarriages are often treated as suspected abortions or homicides. At least 25 women are currently imprisoned for what courts classify as second-degree murder. One of them is 33-year-old Teodora del Carmen Vásquez who was sentenced to 33 years after a miscarriage.

Many other cases are tied to the country’s widespread gang violence. Women are often pressured to take responsibility for crimes committed by their partners, and extortion remains the most common charge. Gangs coerce women into carrying out these acts by threatening them or their families, creating conditions in which refusal is rarely a real option.

The documentation and research reflects the broader conditions facing women in El Salvador, where violence and institutional control over women’s bodies are embedded in the legal system.