Inside El Salvador’s brutal mega-prison home to the world’s most deadly gangs

Donald Trump has been offered the usage of El Salvador’s infamous mega-prison arsenic helium seeks to deport criminals from the US.

His caput of authorities Marco Rubio described Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s connection to incarcerate them astatine his notorious Terrorism Confinement Centre – oregon CECOT – arsenic ‘very generous’.

Bukele – who describes himself arsenic the ‘coolest dictator’ – said helium would adjacent instrumentality American criminals, though that mightiness beryllium legally difficult.

CECOT has drawn praise from hardline law-and-order politicians and despair from quality rights organisations.

Here is everything we cognize astir the harsh prison, which is location to thousands of the astir terrifying gangsters and killers successful the world.

What is the CECOT?

Bukele ordered operation of ‘Latin America’s biggest prison’ arsenic helium launched his purge against El Salvador’s gangs – including the dreaded MS-13 and Barrio 18 – successful aboriginal 2022.

It opened a twelvemonth aboriginal successful the municipality of Tecoluca, around45 miles eastbound of the superior San Salvador.

Able to clasp 40,000 inmates – astir fractional the full UK situation colonisation – the CECOT is made up of 8 sprawling pavilions.

Its cells clasp 65 to 70 prisoners each. None person visits.

There are nary programs preparing them to instrumentality to nine aft their sentences, nary workshops oregon acquisition programs. They volition ne'er spot daylight again.

The exceptions are occasional motivational talks from prisoners who person gained a level of spot from situation officials.

Prisoners beryllium successful rows successful the corridor extracurricular their cells for the talks oregon are led done workout regimens nether the supervision of guards.

Bukele’s justness curate has said that those held would ne'er instrumentality to their communities.

The prison’s eating halls, interruption rooms, gym and committee games are for guards.

Why is the mega-prison truthful controversial?

CECOT has attracted planetary attention, some affirmative and negative.

Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich praised the installation successful a June 2024 post, saying: ‘This is the way. Tough connected criminals.’

A US Republican Party delegation from the House of Representatives, led by past Congressman Matt Gaetz, visited the situation a period later.

Several YouTubers, including Luisito Comunica from Mexico, Lethal Crysis from Spain, and Araya Vlogs from Costa Rica, person generated millions of views for their situation sojourn videos, highlighting the prison’s harsh conditions.

Many quality rights organisations person spoken retired against the facility, and Bukele’s information argumentation much broadly.

A study from the Inter-American Commission connected Human Rights (IACHR), published successful September 2024, warned that the fig of inmates astatine the situation was overmuch higher than the latest authoritative figures released, and that overcrowding could scope 133%.

They concluded that each inmate had an mean abstraction of conscionable 0.60sq meters, a usurpation of planetary standards.

What bash quality rights advocates say?

Cristosal reported past summertime that astatine slightest 261 radical had died successful El Salvador’s prisons during the pack crackdown.

The radical and others person cited cases of abuse, torture and deficiency of aesculapian attention.

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