Welcome to Hell: Inside El Salvador mega prison where 12,000 gang members are held... and plead for mo

[Judi Lynn]

Welcome to Hell: Inside El Salvador mega prison where 12,000 gang members are held… and plead for more food and medicine for the terminally ill dying around them

More than 12,000 suspected gang members locked in mega-prison in Tecoluca
It opened in January with rights groups comparing it to a concentration camp

By RACHAEL BUNYAN and AFP

UPDATED: 07:25 EDT, 22 August 2023

For six months, more than 12,000 suspected members of El Salvador's most feared gangs have been confined to their cells in the country's notorious mega prison.

Life in the vast Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) in Tecoluca is dire, with prisoners pleading for officials to give food and medicine for the terminally ill dying around them.

The prison is packed with an astonishing 12,114 prisoners - many of whom are bitter rivals from two of the most feared gangs MS-13 and Calle 18, with history showing how their foot soldiers will take any opportunity to kill their enemies.

. . .

In each 100 square-metre cell, there are around 75 notoriously dangerous inmates who sleep on metal cabins and are forced to share just two toilets and two sinks.

They have no mattresses, no chance to step outside into the fresh air, and they are regularly beaten and tortured by the guards, human rights groups say.



Inmates remain in a cell at the Counter-Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT) mega-prison, where hundreds of members of the MS-13 and 18 Street gangs are being held in Tecoluco on Monday



Life in the vast Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) in Tecoluca is dire, with prisoners pleading for officials to give food and medicine for the terminally ill dying around them

More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12432283/Welcome-Hell-Inside-El-Salvador-mega-prison-12-000-gang-members-held-plead-food-medicine-terminally-ill-dying-them.html