Dramatic images have emerged from inside El Salvador’s mega gang prison, showing its concrete confinement cell and impenetrable security.
The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in Tecoluca houses 40,000 of the world’s most dangerous men who will never be released, each of them with at least one murder conviction.
And now YouTuber Nick Shirley has offered one of the most in-depth looks inside the prison so far.
He also takes a tour of the solitary confinement chamber, a cramped cell consisting only of a raised concrete platform used as a bed alongside a rudimentary sanitary sink.
There is no mattress on the bed and those in solitary confinement are not provided with sheets to sleep on.
A sink is filled with cold water for inmates to wash in, and natural light comes from a small round hole drilled into the thick concrete ceiling.
Nick Shirley gives a tour of the solitary confinement chamber, a cramped cell consisting only of a raised concrete platform used as a bed alongside a rudimentary toilet sink.
“So far we haven’t had any escape attempts or any disruption inside the prison,” a security guard told YouTube content creator Nick Shirley, as he showed off a massive hidden arsenal designed to deal with rioters.
Shirley also offered a first look at the measures prison workers have taken to quell the unrest. There is a huge room at the prison filled with assault rifles, waiting to be used should unrest occur in the future.
Images taken from inside show topless and heavily tattooed inmates lined up under the watchful eye of heavily armed guards at the institution that has been a key part of a concerted effort to reduce El Salvador’s murder rate.
The number of homicides in the Central American nation fell by 70 percent last year as authorities under the leadership of President Nayib Bukele cracked down on criminals both inside and outside prison.
“So far we haven’t had any escape attempts or any disruption within the prison,” a security guard told YouTube content creator Nick Shirley, as he showed off a massive hidden arsenal designed to deal with rioters.
The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in Tecoluca houses 40,000 of the world’s most dangerous men who will never be released, each with at least one murder conviction.
Dramatic images have emerged from inside El Salvador’s mega gang prison showing its concrete confinement cell and impenetrable security detail.
The guard also displays ankle chains and handcuffs used to shackle the 40,000 prisoners in case any of them are moved between the eight football-field-sized buildings at the site.
CECOT is a high-security fortress where artificial light shines 24/7, and inmates are only allowed out of their cells for 30 minutes a day and are forced to eat with their hands, as knives and forks are considered potential weapons.
Guards said prisoners at Shirley have no contact with the outside world because the facility is a black hole for cellphone service.
They are stripped of much of their clothing and privacy, and even the toilets are visible to dozens of prisoners.
Shirley’s video shows MS-13 gang members who have been involved in murders, kidnappings and drug crimes exercising using only their body weight for fear of hitting each other with dumbbells.
Life outside the cell is not much better, as prisoners live on a diet devoid of meat and vegetables. Guards told Shirley that most meals consist only of beans and tortillas with cheese or cream.
Prisoners are forced to sleep in cramped quarters, each occupying a bed, which is nothing more than a metal sheet on top of a four-tier bunk bed.
Images from inside show topless and heavily tattooed inmates under the watchful eye of heavily armed guards at the institution that has been a key part of a concerted effort to reduce El Salvador’s homicide rate.
The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in Tecoluca houses 40,000 of the world’s most dangerous men who will never be released, each with at least one murder conviction.
Prisoners are forced to sleep in cramped quarters, each occupying a bed, which is nothing more than a metal sheet on top of a four-tier bunk bed.
In each 100-square-metre cell, the notoriously dangerous prisoners are forced to share just two toilets and two sinks.
Charities have criticised the CECOT facility, calling it a “human rights black hole”
In each 100-square-metre cell, the notoriously dangerous inmates are forced to share just two toilets and two sinks.
They have a brief 30-minute period where they are allowed to exercise, using only their own body weight due to fear of hitting each other or the guards with dumbbells or barbells.
No one who enters the CECOT has ever left. Prisoners go through a full-body scanner, making it impossible to smuggle in anything, and once inside they are subject to surveillance by guards in 27 watchtowers.
Escape is impossible thanks to two layers of 8-metre-high walls, topped by a 2.7-metre-high electric fence with 15 bolts. Beneath it, the floor is made of rough pebbles, so the slightest movement would make a noise.
Charities have criticised the facility, calling it a “human rights black hole”, while UN officials have described it as a “concrete and steel pit” built to dispatch prisoners without carrying out the death penalty.
Critics say some of the men housed at the prison are innocent and were caught up in a broader anti-gang crackdown.
But the policies remain popular with locals, relieved to finally discover their streets are much safer.
El Salvador incarcerates at three times the rate of the United States, according to Bloomberg, and by the end of 2023, 1.6 percent of its 6.3 million citizens will be living behind bars.