What we know about the El Salvador ‘mega prison’ where Trump is sending alleged Venezuelan gang members

[kilroy69 1,215]

If Mexico wants to be serious about their cartel problem they should try El Salvadors plan. They went from one of the most dangerous countries in the world to likely safer than Canada now. If they are gang affiliated they go to prison for life. Same here. Cartel affiliated? Prison for life. 

 

 

 

What we know about the El Salvador ‘mega prison’ where Trump is sending alleged Venezuelan gang members

 

El Salvador’s Cecot mega-prison was notorious long before the Trump administration’s recent decision to deport hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members there.

The Center for Terrorism Confinement, to give it its full name, is considered the largest prison in the Americas – with a capacity of 40,000 inmates – and has been the biggest symbol in the Latin American country’s controversial crackdown on domestic crime.

It is now home to some of the country’s most hardened criminals, including mass murderers and gang members billed as the “worst of the worst” and is notorious for the spartan conditions in which they are kept.

In a recent visit, CNN’s David Culver and his team described cells “built to hold 80 or so inmates” where men are held for 23.5 hours a day and “the only furniture is tiered metal bunks, with no sheets, pillows or mattresses … an open toilet, a cement basin and plastic bucket for washing and a large jug for drinking water.”

Some 10,000 to 20,000 prisoners are currently thought to be housed there, with the most recent arrivals being the 261 people the Trump administration deported from the US over the weekend – 238 of whom it accused of belonging to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and 23 alleged members of the MS-13 gang.

El Salvador’s leader Nayib Bukele – a strongman president and self-styled “world’s coolest dictator” – offered to house the US deportees in Cecot as part of an unprecedented deal in which the US will pay $6 million dollars in return. The money will help sustain El Salvador’s penitentiary system, which currently costs $200 million a year.

Harsh conditions
Those deported by the US got a taste of the prison’s uncompromising policies as soon as they arrived Sunday morning.

Officers held their heads down to waist-level as they escorted them to the facility in shackles. The new inmates were then forced to kneel while prison guards shaved their hair and shouted commands.

In this handout photo obtained March 16 from El Salvador’s Presidency Press Office, Salvadoran police officers escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua recently deported by the US. - El Salvador’s Presidency Press Office/Handout/Reuters
In this handout photo obtained March 16 from El Salvador’s Presidency Press Office, Salvadoran police officers escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua recently deported by the US. - El Salvador’s Presidency Press Office/Handout/Reuters
More
“We are executing to the letter a regiment to which you will submit from this moment on, where prison security personnel will be treated with absolute respect! Is that clear?” one officer shouts at the visibly disturbed inmates in a video shared by the Salvadoran government.

Such brutal introductions have been a hallmark of the prison since it started housing inmates a few years ago.

Images published by the government in 2023 showed some of the first prisoners being transferred to the facility, stripped down to white boxer shorts, with their heads shaved, as they were forced to run into their cells.

The CNN team that visited in late 2024 described the deprivation as “deliberate,” noting the men were allowed out of their crowded cells for just 30 minutes a day, that “there is no privacy here, no trace of comfort” and the lights are on 24/7.

More in World

Iranian general responds to Trump threats against Houthi rebels
Fox News
Here's an Estimated Price for a 1-Day Walk-in Shower In 2025
HomeBuddy・Ad

Soccer Player Andrej Lazarov Dead at 25 After Reportedly Trying to Save Lives in Fatal Fire
Us Weekly

Turks and Caicos travel warning issued as migrants descend on popular vacation spot in droves
Fox News
“They do not work. They are not allowed books or a deck of cards or letters from home. Plates of food are stacked outside the cells at mealtimes and pulled through the bars. No meat is ever served. The 30-minute daily respite is merely to leave the cell for the central hallway for group exercise or Bible readings,” wrote CNN’s David Culver and his team.

Inmates are not allowed visits from family or friends and some of them must face the possibility that they will never be released.

“We believe in rehab, but just for common criminals,” Public Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro said at the time of CNN’s visit.

Prisoners, photographed by CNN in late 2024, are kept in group cells for 23.5 hours a day. - Evelio Contreras/CNN
Prisoners, photographed by CNN in late 2024, are kept in group cells for 23.5 hours a day. - Evelio Contreras/CNN
Civil liberties suspended
Cecot houses both convicted criminals and those still going through El Salvador’s court system. Some people have even been locked up without any due process, critics say.

The incarcerations have been part of Bukele’s controversial efforts to stem the high crime rates and gang violence that have plagued the country for years.

In 2022, Bukele, with the support of lawmakers, declared a state of emergency which allowed the government to temporarily suspend constitutional rights, including the right to legal defense provided by the state. The measure was intended to last 30 days but has been extended dozens of times and continues to this day.

In the three years since it was declared, security forces have arrested nearly 87,000 people nationwide, or more than 1% of the Salvadoran population, according to authorities.

The government insists the crackdown has made the country safer, but critics say it has violated people’s rights and resulted in countless cases of wrongful detentions.

Bukele has admitted that some innocent people have been detained by mistake but says several thousand of them have already been released. He argues that the tough measures have been necessary to transform the country from being dubbed the “murder capital of the world” to what he now considers one of the safest on Earth.

Previous reporting by David Culver, Abel Alvarado, Evelio Contreras, Rachel Clarke, Alison Main, Kevin Liptak, Jessie Yeung, Veronica Calderon and Merlin Delcid.

 

[seafoam1 2,799]

Gas them all. Human waste. 

[HellToupee 1,583]

Nayib Bukele Is a remarkable leader 

[Maximum Overkill 1,739]

It's amazing that Liberals actually want them here @Tebok 

They want their kids exposed to violent criminals and don't want them deported. @Tebok

[jbycho 581]

4 minutes ago, Maximum Overkill said:

It's amazing that Liberals actually want them here @Tebok 

They want their kids exposed to violent criminals and don't want them deported. @Tebok

Tim guy loves the illegals and he should be removed himself

 Rusty is just stupid. But really stupid for sure. 

[Tebok 298]

37 minutes ago, Maximum Overkill said:

It's amazing that Liberals actually want them here @Tebok 

They want their kids exposed to violent criminals and don't want them deported. @Tebok

I'm not liberal, and I've never said anything about wanting them here.

MAGAs love to make up stuff.

[HellToupee 1,583]

1 hour ago, Maximum Overkill said:

It's amazing that Liberals actually want them here @Tebok 

They want their kids exposed to violent criminals and don't want them deported. @Tebok

It’s amazing. These rubes are so messed up by Donald that they side with terrorists

[Tebok 298]

1 hour ago, HellToupee said:

It’s amazing. These rubes are so messed up by Donald that they side with terrorists

While MAGAs' beloved Trump sides with ruthless dicatators and billionaires who care only about themselves and getting richer at the expense of everyday hardworking Americans.

[HellToupee 1,583]

4 minutes ago, Tebok said:

While MAGAs' beloved Trump sides with ruthless dicatators and billionaires who care only about themselves and getting richer at the expense of everyday hardworking Americans.

False and btw what did the last administration do for hard working Americans? I know they spent billions upon billions on illegal aliens, hotels , medical, food, transportation, phones & spending money . Much better deal than people on welfare 

[Tebok 298]

22 minutes ago, HellToupee said:

False and btw what did the last administration do for hard working Americans? I know they spent billions upon billions on illegal aliens, hotels , medical, food, transportation, phones & spending money . Much better deal than people on welfare 

Soaring stock market, robust 401Ks, record-low unemployment, higher wages, surging GDP, slowing inflation ... pesky things like that.

We most certainly were better off in December than we are now.

MAGAs want a dictatorship.

Sick.

 

[Hardcore troubadour 14,920]

3 minutes ago, Tebok said:

Soaring stock market, robust 401Ks, record-low unemployment, higher wages, surging GDP, slowing inflation ... pesky things like that.

We most certainly were better off in December than we are now.

MAGAs want a dictatorship.

Sick.

 

The stock market soared in Trumps first term as well. Plus he gave us low inflation, cheap gas and a tax break. Trump for the win. You lose. 

[HellToupee 1,583]

9 minutes ago, Tebok said:

Soaring stock market, robust 401Ks, record-low unemployment, higher wages, surging GDP, slowing inflation ... pesky things like that.

We most certainly were better off in December than we are now.

MAGAs want a dictatorship.

Sick.

 

Come on Rusty, you went from one of the more entertaining posters to a sad sack. You’re on par with little squissy

[seafoam1 2,799]

5 hours ago, Tebok said:

I'm not liberal, and I've never said anything about wanting them here.

MAGAs love to make up stuff.

Classic pimpledoosh at it again. 

"I voted for Trump 273 times in a row but I love everything liberals do when they are running this country into the ground!!! I'm a JOURNALIST damnit!!!!! " 

What an idiot. 

[jonmx 2,424]

3 hours ago, Tebok said:

Soaring stock market, robust 401Ks, record-low unemployment, higher wages, surging GDP, slowing inflation ... pesky things like that.

We most certainly were better off in December than we are now.

MAGAs want a dictatorship.

Sick.

 

Trump is dismantling authoritarian bureaucies you focking bootlicking retard.  

[seafoam1 2,799]

19 minutes ago, jonmx said:

Trump is dismantling authoritarian bureaucies you focking bootlicking retard.  

That's his same schtick from 10 years ago. The idiot pimpledoosh keeps saying the same things for literally 10 years now. 

[Frozenbeernuts 2,114]

Where tf did Bukele really come from? Idk how he got elected or how he has survived.

[Voltaire 5,182]

9 minutes ago, Frozenbeernuts said:

Where tf did Bukele really come from? Idk how he got elected or how he has survived.

Dude's really cleaned up that county and its gang problem.

[avoiding injuries 1,505]

1 hour ago, Voltaire said:

Dude's really cleaned up that county and its gang problem.

I wonder if their liberals were against it like ours are?

[Frozenbeernuts 2,114]

9 minutes ago, avoiding injuries said:

I wonder if their liberals were against it like ours are?

The US did start targeting El Salvador along with the other 3 letter global groups. Stating that there may need to be an intervention because what Bukele was doing was dangerous. If Kamala had won I bet we would see the target on El Salvador grow. Which is ridiculous because it's one of the smallest countries on earth.

I believe at one point they had the highest murder rate in the world.

[Maximum Overkill 1,739]

10 hours ago, Tebok said:

I'm not liberal, and I've never said anything about wanting them here.

MAGAs love to make up stuff.

Say it, all ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS must be deported. 

I BET YOU CANT 

[kilroy69 1,215]

1 hour ago, Frozenbeernuts said:

The US did start targeting El Salvador along with the other 3 letter global groups. Stating that there may need to be an intervention because what Bukele was doing was dangerous. If Kamala had won I bet we would see the target on El Salvador grow. Which is ridiculous because it's one of the smallest countries on earth.

I believe at one point they had the highest murder rate in the world.

It was. They literally dropped from one of the most dangerous places in the entire world to one of the safest. 

[Maximum Overkill 1,739]

11 hours ago, Tebok said:

I'm not liberal, and I've never said anything about wanting them here.

MAGAs love to make up stuff.

Yeah, sure you aren't. 

You people have an obsession with ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS and violence. You tell me why Liberals are upset that Trump is deporting Violent Criminals. It's sickening 

 

[Alias Detective 1,389]

10 hours ago, Tebok said:

While MAGAs' beloved Trump sides with ruthless dicatators and billionaires who care only about themselves and getting richer at the expense of everyday hardworking Americans.

Your new nickname is flounder.  You flounder around like a fish out of water!

Bwahahahahahahahahahah

[Tebok 298]

2 hours ago, Maximum Overkill said:

Yeah, sure you aren't. 

You people have an obsession with ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS and violence. You tell me why Liberals are upset that Trump is deporting Violent Criminals. It's sickening 

 

I'm not upset about it, nor do I obsess over it. I think it's silly that Trump is transporting them in an unnecessarily expensive way just to make a big show of it. 

Illegal immigration is part of the hypercatastrophized MAGA obsession points, joining trannies, Hunter Biden, burning cities, Antifa, BLM, etc.

Meanwhile, MAGAs love inflation, plummeting 401Ks, recessions, soaring unemployment and finding things to hate.

[Maximum Overkill 1,739]

5 minutes ago, Tebok said:

2 hours ago, Maximum Overkill said:

 

I'm not upset about it, nor do I obsess over it. I think it's silly that Trump is transporting them in an unnecessarily expensive way just to make a big show of it. 

My question was, Why are LIBERALS upset to see violent Illegal Immigrants deported? 

If you think they're not then read an article or watch CNN, MSNBC, etc. They're losing their minds, but why???? Shouldn't we all be happy to see them go? 

[iam90sbaby 2,472]

17 hours ago, seafoam1 said:

Gas them all. Human waste. 

Agreed. 

[Hardcore troubadour 14,920]

They’re from Venezuela. Shouldn’t they be their problem? 

[Tebok 298]

6 hours ago, Maximum Overkill said:

My question was, Why are LIBERALS upset to see violent Illegal Immigrants deported? 

If you think they're not then read an article or watch CNN, MSNBC, etc. They're losing their minds, but why???? Shouldn't we all be happy to see them go? 

I don't see anyone losing their minds. 

[lickin_starfish 1,889]

7 minutes ago, Tebok said:

I don't see anyone losing their minds. 

Cat ladies can't smell cat piss, smelly people can't smell their B.O., and liberals can't see their lunacy.

[EternalShinyAndChrome 3,828]

1 hour ago, lickin_starfish said:

Cat ladies can't smell cat piss, smelly people can't smell their B.O., and liberals can't see their lunacy.

</endOfTebok>

[Tebok 298]

16 minutes ago, EternalShinyAndChrome said:

</endOfTebok>

It's a good thing ignorance doesn't smell.

</pwningEternalShittyAndChrome>

[listen2me 23 1,825]

We can sit back and let libs plus rusty spin this.  Here used to be cankles and what the Dems would say.   Little do Libs know is what the follow today are progressives.  Just watch.   Today cankles would be called Hitler.  

Like Musk said, America just keeps moving left at a huge rate and their voters dont even want to realize it.  

Sorry no idea how to embed these days.  Rarely try it.  

https://x.com/AncestralAces/status/1902033064697483622

[Voltaire 5,182]

8 minutes ago, listen2me 23 said:

We can sit back and let libs plus rusty spin this.  Here used to be cankles and what the Dems would say.   Little do Libs know is what the follow today are progressives.  Just watch.   Today cankles would be called Hitler.  

Like Musk said, America just keeps moving left at a huge rate and their voters dont even want to realize it.  

Sorry no idea how to embed these days.  Rarely try it.  

https://x.com/AncestralAces/status/1902033064697483622

Nice find. 

2025 Dems are wacko / nutso. Getting fully on board with not deporting violent criminal gangsters is the latest retarded hill they're happy to die on. Add in supporting wasteful government spending and trannies in girls sports, soft on crime, DEI, kneeling for the flag, and we can continue to play Pin the Tail on the Donkeys into the future.