Another 2,000 suspected gang members have been transferred to El Salvador’s revered mega prison, the country’s president announced Wednesday, releasing further footage of the “impossible to escape” facility.
The new arrivals join another 2,000 accused gangs who landed at a new terror detention center last month as El Salvador looks to emerge victorious in its fight against raging and violent street gangs. .
President Naib Bukele has detonated new footage showing the prison being surrounded by heavily armed guards and its new inmates being dragged from buses into the facility.
Inside the prison, barefoot, handcuffed, tattooed men in white shorts are seen rushing into their cells with their shaved heads dangling, huddled together and crouched.
“There are now 4,000 gang members in the world’s most criticized prison,” Bukele said in a tweet.
The prison capacity is 40,000.
The prison, located 46 miles from the Central American nation’s capital, was previously reported to house inmates in eight buildings with 32 cells each holding 100 prisoners.
Each cell has only two toilets and two sinks.
The prison is believed to be the largest in the Americas.
Bukele boasts that “escape is impossible.”
While Bukele has taken a proactive approach in its fight against gangs, the initiative has been criticized by human rights observers for violating basic constitutional rights, including concerns that people are being detained without warrants. has caused concern among
Over 60,000 gang members were arrested by the country’s military or police last year.
The government’s minister of justice, Gustavo Villatro, said alleged gang members would never return to the streets, even though some 57,000 detainees were still awaiting formal indictment or trial. Declared.
“They will never return to our beloved Salvadoran communities, neighborhoods, barrios and cities,” Villatro said.
with post wire