Mega prison holding 40,000 gang members in El Salvador turns one year old

San Salvador.- The Salvador Megajail, which houses 40,000 gang members convicted or detained in the context of the controversial emergency regime measure implemented by the government of President Nayib Bukele to combat these gangs, celebrates one year of operation this Wednesday Yes, the Presidency said.

“It is January 31, 2024 that one year of operation of the Terrorism Detention Center (SECOT), where criminals are serving sentences for their crimes,” the Press Secretariat published in a message on the social networks of the Presidency.

“The most dangerous criminals are held in this prison,” he stressed in another message, adding that the prison is listed by President Bukele’s government as “the largest in Latin America.”

Now, he added, imprisoned gang members who are serving sentences for crimes committed “can no longer attack the population.”

Seacott was presented by Bukele during a broadcast on a national radio and television network on the night of February 1, 2023, who visited the location, and on the 24th of the same month the first group of 2,000 gang members were transferred to the second Was transferred from. prisons

According to information provided by prison authorities in October 2023, the prison operates at 30% of its capacity and does not record deaths inside.

The prison director, whose name was not revealed for security reasons, told a group of journalists at the time that the center then housed 12,000 prisoners, which represents 30% of its capacity, which according to the government is 40,000. . ,

To date, the total number of gang members in prison is unknown.

El Secot is located in the central city of Tecoluca, more than 75 kilometers from the capital San Salvador, and is a labyrinth of concrete, iron, asphalt and steel, guarded by prison guards and soldiers from towers more than 15 meters high. To reach there, vehicles are required to cross two security checkpoints and are not allowed there.

The organization Amnesty International (AI) expressed its concern a few days after the prison’s inauguration and warned of the continuation of human rights violations.

“Amnesty International expresses its deep concern about the opening of a ‘terrorism detention center’ in El Salvador, the largest prison in the Americas, according to government officials,” the organization published on social networks.

He said that “the construction of the new prison is a clear signal that the El Salvador authorities plan to continue implementing a public security policy of mass incarceration” and assured that “it does not address the causes and roots of violence , and will not help overcome the problem in the long term.

The construction of the prison facility, criticized by the opposition and national and international human rights bodies, takes place in the context of emergency rule, which suspends constitutional guarantees and which has become the main action of the Bukele government against Marais.


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