Wolves to lambs: finding God behind bars in El Salvador

Wolves to lambs: finding God behind bars in El Salvador

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Pastor Manuel Rivera's voice echoes through the crowded courtyard in the notorious San Francisco Gotera prison in El Salvador, as hardened criminals weep and bow their heads in prayer.

Brutal 'mara' street gangs and chronic poverty have made El Salvador one of the most murderous countries on the planet, but the growth of evangelical Christianity behind bars is giving gangsters a way to break the spiral of violence.

. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas
Rivera poses for a photograph.

Rivera, an ex-hitman from the powerful Barrio 18 gang, speaks to rows of men with spidery black tattoos on their arms, necks and faces, delivering a message of salvation: God had rescued them from violence. Returning to gang life would mean death.

"We used to say that the gang was our family, but God took the blindfold off our eyes," says Rivera, 36, dressed like the other inmates in a white t-shirt, shorts and plastic sandals.

. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas
Former members of the Barrio 18 gang participate in a religious service.

Some weep silently while he reads from a black bible. Others sing hymns, clapping and waving arms enthusiastically. They chorus: "Amen."

By embracing religion, these men can leave their gangs without retaliation, Rivera says. But if they do not show real devotion, their former gang-mates may kill them, fearing they will join other gangs and become enemies.

. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas
Members of the Torre Fuerte evangelical church perform a drama.

Convicted murderer Rivera's own transformation came behind bars, when, battered by years of running from police and enemy gangs, unable to see his son, he turned to prayer.

When God appeared in a dream, prophesying Rivera would have his own flock, he became a pastor, he says. He is now half-way through an eight-year sentence for criminal association.

. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas
Former members of the Barrio 18 gang participate in a religious service.

Evangelical Christianity has grown rapidly in Central America in the past decade, coloring local politics. Dozens of lawmakers embrace it, defending hardline positions against gay rights and abortion.

The fervour has spilled into jails, where it is welcomed by officials who sense its potential for reforming ex-gangsters.

. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas
Luis Alfredo Alvarado Hernandez, member of the Torre Fuerte evangelical church, said: "I have been a gang member since I was 13 years old, but God showed me in dreams that there was a heaven and hell, for the love of my children I decided to leave the gang because there is no future in it."

President Salvador Sanchez Ceren's government plans to use Gotera as a model of religious rehabilitation it hopes can be replicated.

Two years ago the prison, located about 100 miles (166 km) east of capital San Salvador, was almost entirely home to active gang members. Now, the majority of its approximately 1,500 inmates want to find redemption, says prison director Oscar Benavides.

. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas
Members of the Final Trompeta evangelical church participate in a religious service.

The conversions "show the country that it is possible to rehabilitate those in the Mara Salvatrucha or other gangs," says Security Minister Mauricio Ramirez, dismissing criticisms that the government should do more.

The Mara Salvatrucha, a notorious cross-border crime group also known as MS-13, was founded by Salvadorans in Los Angeles in the 1980s.

. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas
Hammocks inside the San Francisco Gotera prison.

President Donald Trump has blamed MS-13 and illegal immigration from Central America as a major source of violence in the United States.

Outside the relative tranquility of the prison, danger permeates the streets of El Salvador.

Crime has fallen from a record high in 2015, but at 60 per 100,000 inhabitants last year, the murder rate is still one of the highest worldwide.

Inside Gotera, where some inmates are serving 100-year sentences for accumulated crimes, colorful drawings of angels and prophets decorate the walls alongside biblical quotations.

. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas
Members of the Final Trompeta evangelical church make hammocks.

Inmates wearing shirts emblazoned with "Soldier of Christ" and "Jesus Saved My Life" study prayer books, weave hammocks and tend to a garden.

. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas
Cornejo in the prison orchard.

Rodolfo Cornejo, 34, with intricate black tattoos circling his neck, started praying and growing cucumbers when he entered the prison on a 12-year sentence for carrying firearms, wanting to leave the rough life that had isolated him from his kids.

"People on the outside don't trust us very much: they think we can't change. But yes, we can show them."

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Slideshow

Members of the Final Trompeta evangelical church play ball.
. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Members of the Final Trompeta evangelical church play ball.

Members of the Torre Fuerte evangelical church participate in a religious service.
. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Members of the Torre Fuerte evangelical church participate in a religious service.

Members of the Torre Fuerte evangelical church participate in a religious service.
. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Members of the Torre Fuerte evangelical church participate in a religious service.

Former members of the Barrio 18 gang participate in a religious service at the Torre Fuerte Church.
. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Former members of the Barrio 18 gang participate in a religious service at the Torre Fuerte Church.

Members of the Torre Fuerte evangelical church take part in classes.
. San Francisco Gotera, EL SALVADOR. Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Members of the Torre Fuerte evangelical church take part in classes.

Pastor Edwin Mauricio Vasquez Chicas, head of the Final Trompeta evangelical church.
. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Pastor Edwin Mauricio Vasquez Chicas, head of the Final Trompeta evangelical church.

Members of the La Final Trompeta evangelical church work in a tailoring workshop.
. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Members of the La Final Trompeta evangelical church work in a tailoring workshop.

Members of the Final Trompeta evangelical church learn how to cut hair.
. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Members of the Final Trompeta evangelical church learn how to cut hair.

Former members of the Barrio 18 gang take part in a carpentry workshop.
. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Former members of the Barrio 18 gang take part in a carpentry workshop.

Roberto Carlos Valencia Cruz, a member of the Torre Fuerte evangelical church, said: "I was tired of living the disordered life of the gang. The Lord put me in the most appropriate place where he is pulling me out and teaching my brothers to read and write."
. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Roberto Carlos Valencia Cruz, a member of the Torre Fuerte evangelical church, said: "I was tired of living the disordered life of the gang. The Lord put me in the most appropriate place where he is pulling me out and teaching my brothers to read and write."

Michael Douglas Hernandez, Member of the Final Trompeta evangelical church, said: "I am the librarian at the church and my job is to give reading time to my brothers. I became a Christian two years ago because god touched my heart."
. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Michael Douglas Hernandez, Member of the Final Trompeta evangelical church, said: "I am the librarian at the church and my job is to give reading time to my brothers. I became a Christian two years ago because god touched my heart."

Oscar Alirio Montano Amaya, a member of the Final Trompeta evangelical church, was part of a hip-hop group called 'Gangster Fury'. Today he is a deacon of the church and has been a Christian for two years. "God spoke to me in my dreams to convert me. He tried twice but I kept returning to gangster life. The last time, I was resting in a hammock and could hear Christians singing hymns. Suddenly I stared crying and fell to my knees. I took out my earrings as a sign that I had left the gang," said Amaya.
. San Francisco Gotera, El Salvador. Reuters/Jose Cabezas

Oscar Alirio Montano Amaya, a member of the Final Trompeta evangelical church, was part of a hip-hop group called 'Gangster Fury'. Today he is a deacon of the church and has been a Christian for two years. "God spoke to me in my dreams to convert me. He tried twice but I kept returning to gangster life. The last time, I was resting in a hammock and could hear Christians singing hymns. Suddenly I stared crying and fell to my knees. I took out my earrings as a sign that I had left the gang," said Amaya.