We are not the typical Christian.
We have done a lot of things...
Bad things.
The hundreds of men you see here,
enthusiastically praying in prison,
were once were part of the brutal street gang
MS-13 in El Salvador.
Spearheaded by a burgeoning evangelical movement in the country,
they have all converted to Christianity.
For those caught up in the cycle of El Salvador's vicious gang wars,
the church is the only way out.
Christians receive much better treatment than active gang members in prison.
It is one of the many reasons it is easy to convert inside.
Distrito Italia is one of the most notorious MS-13 controlled neighbourhoods.
It is so violent that government employees refuse to enter to provide services.
Pastor William Arias, a long time member of MS-13,
who converted to Christianity runs a small church inside the community.
William was one of the first members of MS-13
in El Salvador.
He joined the gang in 1990 at 11 years old,
brought in by one of the founding members in the country.
He spent nine years in MS-13
but was arrested and locked up when he was caught with a grenade.
After surviving an attempt on his life in prison,
William prayed and promised God that he would convert
if he got out alive.
William now sees it as his duty
to reach others in gang life.
These two boys, barely teenagers,
are prime recruitment age for gangs.
They had been lurking near the church and were persuaded to go inside.
The boys accept Jesus, a small victory for Pastor William.
El Salvador's decade-long battle with gangs has its origins in the civil war
that tore the country apart in the 1980s.
Hundreds of thousands of Salvadorians fled with many ending up in Los Angeles
and settling in poor neighbourhoods.
Targeted by black and Mexican gangs, Salvadorian refugees formed their own,
giving rise to MS-13 and their rivals, 18th Street.
Stricter immigration laws passed in the US in the 1990s,
saw hundreds of these gang members deported
back to a country still recovering from the civil war.
The gangs took advantage of a power vaccum and as they grew
so did El Salvador's murder rate,
to the highest in the world.
The gangs have wreaked havoc across the country
controlling massive extortion rackets and killing anyone who gets in their way.
Members of MS-13's rival, the 18th Street gang,
have also turned to God to escape gang life and seek forgiveness.
Some former gang members have sought refuge in the Ebenezer church
where they operate a bakery to survive.
Right now I have 11 guys living here.
All of them ex-gang members.
This is like a temporary housing.
They come over here, they get strength,
they eat, they get clothes,
and if they have family then they leave,
they start their own life.
Just like a helping place.
If they have no family, they have no economy, no one to help them,
then they stay.
And that's the reason why these 11 guys are over here.
The program is the brainchild of Alfredo Gomez.
Gomez joined 18th Street in Los Angeles and spent time in prison before being deported.
Locked up in El Salvador for armed robbery,
he found God in prison after surviving tuberculosis.
When I first got out, I didn't have a place to go.
The rector and the guards, they were telling me,
'There's someone here waiting for you. They're here to pick you up.'
So I come out the door and I see them, they're telling me
they were sent by a church...
Next time you know, when I got here, they had a meal...
Then comes the pastor and he was like,
'We heard what God is doing in there, we're here to help you.'
And I was like, 'Wow, I never had a family.'
And I had no one waiting for me when I got out of prison.
Not even in the States.
And over here people that don't even know me,
they were waiting for me.
The way they received me, inspired me.
They gave me strength to continue on the right path.
So, that lesson right there gave me the idea,
'Why not do the same with others?'
On this day Juan has just arrived,
freshly released from prison after serving time on a host of charges,
including murder and extortion.
That night, Juan is welcomed to the program during a church service.
We are not the typical Christian,
over here you have people that have done a lot of things.
Bad things.
So in order for us to have a control or a secureness,
we got to make sure that these people are really Christian
and how do we do that?
By having rules based on the bible.
Like over here you're not allowed to do no crime.
If I find out that you're doing something illegal, you are getting out of here.
Such as robbing, if you smoking cigarettes or doing drugs...
That will get you out of here.
Though there are programs in prison, the government provides little to no help
once these men are released.
Despite the lack of resources, Alfredo is hopeful.
For me , this is what worked.
When I first became Christian, it was only about 90 of us.
70 of us, probably less.
Now it's over 1,500 ex-gang members worshiping God in prison.
A whole prison now is Christian.
Something's happening...
Something's really happening...
For him, the church is the only way to bring peace
to El Salvador's long-running gang wars.
I used to hate the MS.
I used to think about destroying them, dropping a bomb on them,
like Hiroshima.
But now all I want to is preach to them and tell them, 'Jesus loves them.'
I dream one day having an area, building our house
where I could house both of them
like having MS and 18th together worshiping the Lord
without any restrictions, without any fear in their hearts...
And build their faith.