President Donald Trump has shown enthusiasm for sending convicted criminals of any nationality to a notorious ‘mega-prison’ in El Salvador, where inmates are denied visitation rights and are not permitted to go outside.
On Monday, February 3, the Trump administration and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele announced an agreement to send undocumented detained migrants and imprisoned citizens from the US to Central America.
Trump, at 78 years old, voiced his interest in transferring convicts of all nationalities to El Salvador during a ceremony in the Oval Office for signing an executive order.
“If we had the legal right to do it, I would do it in a heartbeat,” he stated.
“I don’t know if we do or not. We’re looking at that right now, but we could make deals where we’d get these animals out of our country,” he added.
According to the BBC, the 43-year-old Salvadoran leader clarified his willingness to accept only convicted criminals, who would be housed at the maximum security Terrorism Confinement Centre, or CECOT, “in exchange for a fee.”
“The fee would be relatively low for the US but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable,” Bukele further explained.
Discussing the proposed arrangement, Michael E. Shifter, a senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue research institute in Washington, noted, “It’s quite extraordinary and unprecedented and alarming in many ways.
“I know a lot of experts have raised questions about the constitutionality and legality of this deal, but Bukele is a leader who has absolute power in El Salvador and it seems Trump seems to be moving in a similar direction in trying to reduce or eliminate any checks on his power,” he mentioned to The New York Times.
Bukele confirmed offering the US an opportunity to outsource part of its prison system. He has governed El Salvador since succeeding Salvador Sánchez Cerén, 80, in June 2019.
In March 2022, Bukele launched a crackdown on gang-related crimes, leading to over 84,000 people being arrested, as reported by PBS.
Less than a year into his campaign, the $100 million CECOT was inaugurated in Tecoluca, San Vicente.
This facility covers 410 acres and can accommodate up to 40,000 inmates, making it one of the world’s largest in terms of prisoner capacity, according to government data.
The jail comprises eight expansive blocks divided into modules, with AFP reporting that inmates remain with 65 to 70 others in their cells for up to 23-and-a-half hours a day.
The cells include an open toilet, a cement basin, and tiered metal bunks, compelling those incarcerated to sit atop one another.
Inmates at CECOT are not allowed outside, and they exercise for only 30 minutes daily within the prison’s hallways.
The New York Post reports that the facility also contains wide dining halls, break rooms, a gym, and board games exclusively for the 2,000 guards at the maximum security center.
Unlike other detention centers, there are no workshops or educational programs, according to PBS. Personal items and books are banned, but each cell contains two Bibles.
Those under 24-hour surveillance at the facility are never served meat. Newsweek reports that inmates’ meals typically include beans, rice, and plantains.
The Mirror notes that prisoners in CECOT must eat with their hands, as guards view cutlery as potentially dangerous weapons.
If prisoners commit violations, they face solitary confinement in isolation cells “completely dark except for a small shaft of light from a ceiling hole.”
Miguel Sarre, a former United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture member, described the prison as a “concrete and steel pit.”
He claimed that CECOT is used “to dispose of people without formally applying the death penalty,” as no inmate has ever been released from the facility.