Prisons in El Salvador are already notorious for being very bad places to be, but they are now much more well-known since they have taken in members of a gang who were sent back to the US by Donald Trump in a contentious decision.
The Center for the Containment of Terrorism (CECOT) is a huge maximum-security jail that can hold up to 40,000 convicts. It has gotten a lot of attention throughout the world because of its strict rules and suspected human rights abuses, according to The Independent.
Miguel Sarre, a former member of the United Nations Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, dubbed the facility “a concrete and steel pit” in 2023.
He said that the prison, which has electric fences, barbed wire, and cameras that watch it 24 hours a day, is now a tool that the El Salvador government uses to get rid of prisoners without officially giving them the death penalty.
Trump’s order to deport hundreds of detainees has increased the prison’s population. This was done under a little-known 18th-century rule that was employed during wartime, even though a federal judge tried to stop it while planes were in the air.
El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, tweeted videos and pictures of the newest immigrants being carried to CECOT in handcuffs.
Trump took his time on Truth Social to thank Bukele. He wrote, “Thank you to El Salvador and, more specifically, President Bukele for understanding this horrible event that happened in the United States because of Democrat leadership.” We shall always remember.
In a statement, Bukele confirmed the move by saying, “The first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization have landed…” The US will pay them a very small amount, but we will pay them a lot.
He remarked, “As always, we are making progress in our fight against organized crime.” But this time we’re also helping our partners make our prison system self-sufficient and get important information that will make our country safer. In one move. It’s all one thing. May God bless El Salvador and the United States.
Trump also stood by his choice to deport persons he thought were part of the Tren de Aragua. Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan group accused of drug trafficking, human trafficking, and contract killings, said, “These are monsters sent into our country by Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats.” That’s too bad!
He also said that the act was justifiable since, over the years, Venezuelan municipal and national governments had given transnational criminal groups like TdA increasing power over their land. This has formed an illegal state hybrid that has attacked and invaded America in a violent way. United States, which is a major threat to the United States.
Even though a judge said it was okay to remove the people, the Trump administration said it wasn’t guilty, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from US soil.”
Conditions for detainees inside CECOT remain still bad. There are more than 100 prisoners in cells with 80 bunks, and each module only has two toilets and two sinks.
There are no mattresses on the bunks, so convicts sleep on metal frames with sheets that don’t fit. This makes every night a battle.
Prisoners can only consume a few types of food, usually pasta and beans, and they have to eat with their hands because they can’t use utensils.
There are only two Bibles in each cell, and the convicts are only allowed to complete 30 minutes of chained exercises each day. The rest of the time, they are stuck in their little cell. You can’t have family visits or phone calls.
Prisoners also have to follow severe personal rules, such as wearing a white shirt and shorts and shaving their heads every week for five days.
Human rights groups have regularly spoken out against the facility, saying that it is cruel and meant to punish people instead of helping them get well. But there are stories that say other governments might think about building similar facilities soon, using CECOT as an example of how to deal with organized criminals.