According to Infobae news website, the prisoners, albeit in a rather extravagant fashion, were in fact celebrating the Day of the Virgin of Mercy (Día de la Virgen de las Mercedes) – the patron saint of criminals and of the accused, according to local beliefs.
Rodil Hernández, El Salvador’s prisons director, said that the scandalous 'party' involving a host of strippers and a DJ took place on September 24 and 25, 2012. The country’s Attorney General Douglas Meléndez has already met the then-President Mauricio Funes, seeking to obtain more information on that time period.
The Izalco prison holds members of the notorious 18th Street Gang, also known as Barrio 18 or Mara 18. The video clearly depicts how naked dancers cavort and give inmates lap dances while a warden films the ongoing 'festivities' on camera.
