Cecot is the world’s largest, newly built mega-prison located in El Salvador. Since its hurried completion in under a year, it has drawn global attention with fierce criticism. Cecot welcomed its first prisoners in February 2023. This facility is intended to hold up to 40,000 prisoners, targeting mainly members of the infamous gangs MS-13 and Barrio 18. President Nayib Bukele takes pride in touting Cecot as the largest prison in the Americas. Yet the controversial construction and deplorable conditions at the facility have drawn widespread condemnation from human rights activists and local community members.
Situated on a huge 23-hectare (57-acre) site, Cecot started construction in 2022 without any public consultation. When construction trucks showed up, local residents were caught off guard, leading to questions over transparency and community engagement. César Cañas, local councillor and activist from the neighbourhood, specifically pointed to the prison’s planning process thus far as a blatant disregard for public engagement and the community’s input.
The jail’s new cells are outfitted with three levels of metal bunks. What’s truly outrageous is that it doesn’t even provide sheets and a mattress. According to reports, the cells are meant to accommodate a maximum of 20 prisoners. These prisoners are sometimes forced to use barebones, communal toilets, and wash with only one basin of water. Those conditions have raised major civil rights alarms over the treatment of their inmate population. They only get 30 minutes outside their cells each day to use a small shared outdoor space.
At present, the government asserts that about 15,000 inmates are currently detained at Cecot. Despite the administration’s reassurances, a coalition of human rights organizations have expressed alarm about the facility’s intended use. Noah Bullock, executive director of Cristosal, who has made several trips to Cecot, said the purpose of Cecot is not rehabilitation.
“It is meant for permanent exile, permanent punishment.” – Noah Bullock
Bullock further emphasized the prison’s implications on human dignity, asserting that it communicates a message of dehumanization:
“And that’s what is being communicated: that finally we have a leader strong enough to deal with these people how they should be dealt with, which is as something less than human.” – Noah Bullock
The extreme circumstances at Cecot have prompted its comparison with some of the world’s other high-security institutions. Juan Pappier, deputy director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, took Cecot to task. He referred to it as “Guantánamo on steroids” and especially focused on the absence of legal oversight from its operations.
“These people are outside the US, in a country with no separation of powers. They’re in a space essentially ungoverned by law.” – Juan Pappier
As a result, Cecot has been able to seize the imagination of local and foreign media. U.S. Republican politicians and social media influencers have raced to visit the federal detention facility. The prison has been at the center of major controversies in U.S. immigration policy. Under the Trump administration, officials diverted taxpayer dollars to transport 238 Venezuelan migrants to Cecot.
It is understandable that local residents should feel scared and angry about the government’s heavy-handed response to dissent. One local man from Tecoluca remarked on the atmosphere of intimidation surrounding public discourse:
“If you criticise them, they accuse you of being a criminal.”
These fears are indicative of a larger trend regarding civil liberties in El Salvador under Bukele’s current administration.
“All you can say is amen, amen – otherwise they might take you from your home.”
Human rights advocates will keep sounding the alarm about Cecot and its assault on human dignity and justice. The conditions described by inmates and their families corroborate the growing concerns regarding the treatment of individuals within the facility. Bullock noted that the Venezuelan migrants sent to Cecot were subjected to particularly harsh conditions:
Human rights advocates continue to raise alarms about Cecot and its implications for human dignity and justice. The conditions described by inmates and their families corroborate the growing concerns regarding the treatment of individuals within the facility. Bullock noted that the Venezuelan migrants sent to Cecot were subjected to particularly harsh conditions:
“The Venezuelans don’t have the names of gangs tattooed on their chest. And when they had their heads shaved and their backs bent double, they looked sad. It generated some sympathy.” – Noah Bullock