Life in the vast CECOT ‘Terrorism Confinement Centre’ complex – which opened only in January – is dire, with rights groups already comparing it to a concentration camp.
As of February 2023, more than 64,000 alleged gang members had been rounded up whom are destined for the new mega prison.
Early photographs from the prison show the inmates with their hands tied behind their backs, forced to stand or sit with their heads on the prisoner in front of them – leaving little room for movement – treated more like cattle than people.
Inside 36-feet walls, guarded by 15,000-volt fences, the first cohort of prisoners now find themselves subject to a miserable life, overcrowded conditions, human rights ‘abuses on a large scale’ and deaths in custody.
All contact with the outside world is cut off. Jammers block all phone signals in and out. Prisoners leave their cell only for legal hearings, which are conducted by video conference, and to be punished.
Punishment involves being locked in a dark, windowless cell in total isolation – something UN human rights experts say amounts to torture.
More than 100 inmates share a cell, each of which has just two toilets. All are given a little under one-metre squared to live and sleep. They have no mattresses, no outdoor spaces, and they are regularly beaten, abused and exploited.
In a country with a GDP per capita of about $4,500, relatives are reportedly expected pay $170 a month ($2,040 per year) for food, hygiene products, clothing and other essential items for prisoners.
Reports suggest anything sold within the prison is sold at a premium, a bottle of Coca Cola costing as much as $10.
To make matters worse, thousands of innocent people are thought to have been rounded up in Bukele’s crackdown on gangs, simply for ‘resembling’ criminals. Some reports say minors are also among those arrested.
Bukele also targets reporters who detail the excesses of his government.
And more than 100 people have since died behind bars after the crackdown.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11807479/Will-El-Salvadors-new-mega-prison-turn-bloodbath.html
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