Salvadoran prison that may house US inmates ‘worse than Guantanamo’

The prison where Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has offered to put convicted US criminals and expelled migrants is worse than the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Daily Mail journalist David Jones said in an article published on Saturday after he visited the facility.

Bukele said on Tuesday that El Salvador had offered the United States to use its mega-prison, Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), to hold convicted criminals, including American citizens, in exchange for a fee. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US would consider the offer.

“I can imagine no greater torment than being consigned to CECOT, with no hope of ever being released … Death would be infinitely more merciful,” Jones, the first British journalist to visit the jail, said.

CECOT opened in February 2023 after the government declared a state of emergency to combat gang violence. The prison can hold 40,000 inmates.

Jones reported that, unlike at Guantanamo, prisoners at CECOT are not allowed to read, write or communicate with their family members. They are held in small cells, sleep on metal bunks without mattresses, permitted to speak only in whispers and may leave their cages only for a small number of reasons.

“Having visited the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and the Robben Island prison where Nelson Mandela was held, the system at CECOT certainly seems harsher,” the journalist concluded.

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, which the US has leased from Cuba for over 100 years, serves holds those suspected of being involved in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Guantanamo also operates a separate detention center for migrants of all ages who are caught trying to enter the US.

In September 2024, the New York Times reported that migrants held at Guantanamo were living in inhumane conditions, suffered abuse and often had no opportunity to advocate for themselves. The Cuban government does not recognise the legality of the lease and refuses to cash in annual checks of about $4,000.

Image credit: Ahmet Oktem