El Salvador has opened up one of the world’s largest prisons as it looks to crack down on violent crime in the country.
The ‘Terrorism Confinement Centre’ in the area of Tecoluca has been built in just seven months and looks to ease the pressure on some of the other prisons in the Central American country, which are seriously overcrowded.
The huge prison complex will house as many as 40,000 inmates, and it just might need to as arrests are soaring in the nation thanks to the government’s crackdown.
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The country’s president, Nayib Bukele, has described this new prison as ‘a fundamental piece to completely win the war against gangs’.
El Salvador declared a state of emergency in March 2022 as a result of the gang violence problem, and 62,000 suspected gang members and collaborators have been arrested since then.
The president shared a video online after he was taken for a tour of the new prison, highlighting several key features of the jail, including the seven ‘rings’ of security that will stop inmates from escaping.
That includes solid steel cells, a large perimeter wall, 19 watchtowers, electric fences, and patrol zones.
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Apparently, the prison is also ‘impossible to escape’.
Mr Bukele said that in previous prisons, inmates have been able to access ‘prostitutes, computers, TV screens, PlayStations and mobile phones’, describing this as ‘backwards’.
And it seems as if things are going to be completely different in the new prison as anyone causing trouble in the new facility will be locked away in solitary confinement where they ‘won’t see any daylight’, according to their president.
He tweeted: “El Salvador has managed to go from being the most insecure country in the world to the safest country in the Americas.”
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El Salvador has garnered a reputation as the world’s murder capital in recent times, with gang violence playing a huge role in that.
Currently, the country has the highest rate prison incarceration in the world, with nearly two percent of the total population behind bars.
The crackdown on violent crime has also seen certain constitutional rights temporarily suspended, meaning officers can currently make arrests without warrants and the government can access citizens’ communications.
At the moment, a person can be held for 15 days without charges, which was extended from three days.
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The Salvadorian prisons director Osiris Luna also told state television that prisoners will be ‘subjected to a severe regimen’ and guarded at the complex by about 600 troops and 250 guards.
Topics: World News, Crime, Politics
Tom Wood