In the mega-prison for 40 thousand people began to populate prisoners

The President of El Salvador showed toughness in curbing rampant crime

Created by the authorities of the Central American state of El Salvador, the “mega-prison” with a capacity of 40 thousand people is beginning to be populated. Authorities transferred about 2,000 prisoners suspected of gang membership to the facility as part of a presidential crackdown on crime.

The El Salvadorian government has transferred thousands of suspected gang members to a newly opened “mega-prison” in the latest step in a controversial fight against crime that has seen the Central American country’s prison population skyrocket.

“This will be their new home, where they will no longer be able to cause any harm to the population,” tweeted the President of the Republic of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.

On Friday, about 2,000 accused gang members, including members of the MS-13 and Barrio 18 criminal gangs, were transferred to the 40,000-capacity “Terrorist Detention Center” (Cecot), which is considered the largest prison in the Americas. The prison is equipped with 37 watchtowers and eight cell blocks, from which it will be “impossible to escape,” as the authorities promise.

By the way, the US Attorney’s Office linked the MS-13 gang mentioned above to dozens of murders in the New York area and on Long Island over the past decade, and 14 gang leaders were charged with terrorism in 2021, reports the New York Times.

In a video released by President Bukele, inmates, dressed in white shorts and with shaved heads, are seen running through the new prison to their cells. Many of the prisoners are adorned with bandit tattoos, notes The Guardian. You can see how the prisoners are sitting close to each other on the floor of the prison, with their hands behind their heads and staring at their feet.

President Nayib Bukele asked his allies in El Salvador’s congress last year to impose a state of emergency, which has since been extended several times, suspending some constitutional rights after a spike in murders attributed to violent gangs.

State prison security officers stand guard inside a prison designed to hold 40,000 alleged gang members in a secluded rural area in a valley near Tekoluka February 2.

Since then, more than 64,000 suspects have been arrested as part of the fight against crime. Arrests can be made without a warrant, the government has access to private correspondence, and detainees no longer have the right to a lawyer.

Human rights organizations claim that innocent people have fallen into the millstones of such a policy, including dozens who have died in police custody.

But President Bukele’s anti-gang campaign remains widely popular among Salvadorans, and the country’s security minister told Reuters that the government’s crackdown will continue until all the perpetrators are caught. A poll conducted by Cid Gallup last year found that 91% of the country’s residents surveyed supported a more aggressive crackdown on the underworld, Bloomberg reported.