INCREDIBLE images show thousands of violent skinhead gangsters crammed into the inescapable mega-prison.
More tattooed inmates have arrived at El Salvador’s new ultra secure facility which can house up to 40,000 criminals.
GettyGang members are brought together for transfer in the presence of authorities in Tecoluca[/caption]
ReutersPrison guards lead inmates for processing at the new facility in El Salvador[/caption]
AFPTattooed gang members made to strip to just white shorts as they line for the transfer[/caption]
AFPMore than 2,000 arrived at the Terrorism Containment Centre in Tecoluca[/caption]
At least 2,000 prisoners have been brought in a huge convoy to the so-called Terrorism Containment Center in Tecoluca today.
Pictures show rows and rows of prisoners sitting with their hands behind their shaved heads at the high-tech prison.
Other images reveal gang members stripped down to only white shorts running in the rain to the facility’s entrance.
Meanwhile, prison officers armed with assault rifles are guarding the new batch of inmates.
Prisoners can be seen marching to the cells while leaning forward with their feet and hands cuffed behind their backs.
Tattooed thugs have been transferred to the new jail from the Izalco, Ciudad Barrios and San Vicente prisons, according to the country’s president.
El-Salvador’s leader, Nayib Bukele, boasted the nation’s efforts to tackle the rampant violence in the murder capital.
He wrote in a post on X: “This morning, we transferred more than 2,000 gang members from the Izalco, Ciudad Barrios and San Vicente prisons to the CECOT.
“There they will pay for the crimes committed against our people; cut off from the outside, without the possibility of leaving or ordering crimes from prison.”
The gigantic facility was opened last year in a bid to crack down on gang violence in one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
The Terrorism Containment centre is guarded by 600 soldiers and 250 police officers who make it “impossible to escape.”
The facility can house up to 40,000 prisoners who are cut off from the outside world without any phone signal in the remote area.
Inmates also have no access to entertainment and pleasure such as prostitutes, PlayStations, screens, mobile phones and computers.
The 166 hectares facility is believed to be the largest prison in the world.
AFPThe inmates were transferred from the country’s overcrowded prisons[/caption]
GettyAround 850 armed prison officials guard and watch the inmates[/caption]
GettyGang members brought to the jail will be cut off from the outside world[/caption]
GettyConvoys of buses full of skinhead criminals can be seen arriving today[/caption]
According to Public Works Minister Romeo Rodriguez, the jail consists of eight buildings, each housing 32 cells to hold more than 100 inmates.
In each 100 square-metre cell, crammed prisoners sleep on metal cabins and are forced to share just two toilets and two sinks.
The country’s Deputy Justice Minister Osiris Luna said the inmates would be made to work to “compensate for some of the damage they did to society.
He said: “All the terrorists who (caused) grief and pain to the Salvadoran people will serve their sentences… under the most severe regime.”
The World’s Biggest Prisons
New Bilibid Prison, Philippines – 28,500 inmates
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Tihar Jail, India – 19,500 inmates
The mega-prison is packed with 12,000 bitter rivals from two of the most feared gangs MS-13 and Calle 18, born on the streets of Los Angeles in the early 1980s.
José Hurquilla Bonilla, from the Barrio 18 gang, said from inside his cell: “Here we are persevering day by day, trying to change with the help of our God.”
Under Bukele’s rule, El Salvador suspended some constitutional rights to battle a dramatic spike in murders in recent years.
The government can now access private communications and refuse detainees the right to a lawyer.
Since President Bukele has launched his merciless war on gangs, more than 64,000 suspects have been arrested without a warrant.
Cops stormed into neighbourhoods arresting suspected criminals – a move that has been slammed by human rights organisations.
Human Rights Watch has denounced the country’s “severe prison overcrowding” as a result of the mass arrests.
El Salvador’s largest prison, La Esperanza, currently holds 33,000 people despite having a capacity of 10,000.
With nearly two percent of its adult population behind bars, the country has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
GettyInmates will sleep on bare metal bunk beds in a 100-square foot cells[/caption]
GettyPrisoners are forced to sit close to each other during the transfer[/caption]
AFPHundreds of members of the rival MS-13 and 18 Street gangs are being held at the high-tech jail[/caption]