First video from inside notorious El Salvador prison shows chilling reality for inmates

Footage from inside El Salvador's Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) has provided more evidence of what conditions in the prison are like for inmates.

CECOT has been controversial ever since it opened, leading it to be dubbed the 'world's worst prison' where conditions have been described as 'inhumane' and a 'black hole of human rights'.

Inmates have their heads shaved every five days and live in cells that hold up to 100 people but only have 80 beds, which are metal frames which have no mattresses.

They eat with their hands and have nothing to do all day besides 30 minutes of supervised exercise, just stay behind bars with little chance of getting out.

Among the prisoners are people deported from the US by the Trump administration, which sent people into CECOT despite judges ruling that he couldn't do that.

A video posted from inside CECOT has shed more light on what it's like for prisoners there.

It shows men pressing themselves up against their prison bars trying to get the attention of the cameras

.@OANN EXCLUSIVE

FIRST LOOK at the deported Tren de Aragua gang members in El Salvador’s CECOT Prison with @realannapaulina @RepGonzalez @RepOgles

Full report Monday 9pm est pic.twitter.com/PVC0frnjFh

— Former Congressman Matt Gaetz (@FmrRepMattGaetz) May 10, 2025

The footage was posted online by Matt Gaetz, an ally of Donald Trump who last year was the subject of a House of Representatives ethics committee which found 'there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favours or privileges, and obstruction of Congress'. He denies any wrongdoing.

In addition to the cells you can see, CECOT also has solitary confinement cells which are little more than concrete boxes.

Why is Donald Trump deporting people to the 'world's worst prison'?

The Trump administration has claimed that the people deported were part of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, though there was no due process involved with them being rounded up, sent to another country and incarcerated in CECOT.

The people sent there are alleged gang members, but many of their families have protested the innocence of their loved ones.

One such case is that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an El Salvadorean man living in Maryland who was deported in March, with the US Supreme Court ruling that he was deported in error and the US government should work to secure his release.

The mega-prison currently has a capacity of 40,000 inmates, but there are plans to double its size.

Trump has also spoken of exploring the possibility of deporting US citizens to CECOT.