At the beginning of February, a prison complex was opened in Tecololuca, El Salvador, which will accommodate up to 40,000 prisoners on an area of 165 hectares. There are currently approximately 12,000 accused or convicted gang members in the mega prison.
El Salvador has a major problem with gang crime. Gangs have been terrorizing the Central American country for years. Conservative President Nayib Bukele therefore applied for a state of emergency in March last year and was simultaneously given special powers that suspended a number of constitutional rights. The right to assembly is limited, arrests are possible without a warrant and surveillance of communications is extensive.
More than 70,000 people have already been arrested
Since then, more than 70,000 people have been arrested for suspected links to criminal gangs. While investigations show that the president’s security policy can count on popular approval, activists denounce human rights violations. However, the murder rate has dropped significantly recently.
The Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), also known as a terrorism lockdown center in German-speaking countries, is a high-security prison in the municipality of Tecololuca and is part of the government’s efforts to combat increasing violent crime, especially by gangs, in El Salvador.
Aimed at relieving overcrowded prisons
The mega prison can accommodate up to 40,000 prisoners, making it the largest of its kind in Latin America. The facility’s original purpose was to relieve pressure on the country’s already overburdened and overcrowded prisons.
The prisoners in CECOT are not allowed to visit and are never allowed to go outside. In each cell, 65 to 70 prisoners share the limited space. About 850 soldiers and police officers oversee the massive detention center. According to the mega prison’s website, the prison was built far away ‘from the population’.
Source: Krone
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