The Center for the Confinement of Terrorism in El Salvador, which officials claim is the largest in the Americas, has begun receiving its first inmates.
The prison was built as part of President Nayib Bukele’s controversial war on gangs and is intended to hold as many as 40,000 inmates in eight buildings, each with 32 cells that can accommodate about 100 prisoners.
The first batch of prisoners, all of whom are gang members, were chained and forced to kneel shoulder to shoulder with their hands behind their heads. The inmates are housed in spartan conditions and are guarded by heavily armed personnel.
The prison is located in Tecoluca, approximately 46 miles from the country’s capital, San Salvador. Bukele, who is seeking to curb the country’s crime rates, has boasted that the prison is “impossible to escape” and will serve as a long-term solution to the threat posed by gangs.
Critics have argued that Bukele’s war on gangs violates constitutional rights, including the right to due process, and have expressed concerns about the large number of people arrested under the initiative. To date, over 64,000 suspected gang members have been arrested.
»El Salvador’s new mega-prison for gangs is impossible to break out of«
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