Events

🇸🇻 On 21 April 2026, a Salvadoran court began the mass trial of over 400 alleged leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha criminal gang, commonly known as MS-13, in a case involving more than 47,000 crimes prosecutors say were committed between 2012 and 2022. The Tribunal Sexto contra el Crimen Organizado initiated what prosecutors described as…

🇱🇻 I had the great honour and privilege of speaking with staff from the Prison Service of the Republic of Latvia. Words can hardly capture my gratitude — and genuine delight — at the warmth of what I encountered when I visited the newly established Training Centre for Prison Officers and met with so many…

🇮🇹 Benedetto Santapaola, one of Italy’s most feared and ruthless Mafia bosses, has died in prison at the age of 87. Widely believed to have orchestrated the assassination of one of Italy’s most celebrated anti-mafia prosecutors in 1992, “Nitto” Santapaola spent over three decades behind bars after being captured in 1993 following years as a…

🇻🇪 More than 252 Venezuelans expelled to El Salvador under Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy suffered systematic and prolonged torture and abuse, including sexual assault, during their detention, according to a report published on Wednesday. The report, compiled jointly by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Cristosal – a group investigating violations in Central America –…

🇲🇽 Massive protests swept through Mexico City on Saturday, resulting in violent clashes that injured at least 120 people, including 100 police officers. The demonstrations, organized primarily by Gen Z youth groups, focused on escalating violent crime and dissatisfaction with President Claudia Sheinbaum’s handling of cartel violence. The Spark: Mayor’s Assassination The protests were catalyzed…

🇪🇨 At least 31 inmates were found dead in El Oro prison in southern Ecuador on Sunday, in one of the deadliest incidents in the country’s recent history of prison violence. Officials confirmed that 27 of the victims had been hanged, while four others were killed during clashes between rival gangs. The violence erupted in…

🇿🇦 The National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale, has revealed details of a deadly gang-related stabbing at Pollsmoor Prison that left three inmates dead and two correctional officers injured on 29 October 2025. The brutal attack is believed to have been a coordinated act of defiance against recent security interventions aimed at dismantling…

🇲🇩 “Makena”, the notorious leader of the criminal organization, has received a definitive 25-year prison sentence. This comes after the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) successfully argued in court that the defendant orchestrated the 2008 assassination of a rival crime boss. While the Chișinău Court initially sentenced him to 21…

🇺🇸 Three California prisoners with alleged ties to organized crime are suspected of killing an Aryan Brotherhood member at Salinas Valley State Prison. Todd “Fox” Morgan, 57, of Santa Clara County, was fatally attacked with improvised weapons by Todd Givens, 56, Ray Waldron, 51, and Robert England, 61, on a prison yard shortly before 10…

🇧🇷 The police operation was one of the most violent in Brazil’s recent history, with human rights organisations calling for investigations into the deaths. A massive raid on a drug-trafficking gang in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday sparked shootouts that left at least 60 suspects and four police officers dead, officials said. The operation included…