Inside El Salvadors mega-prison where president has offered to hold dangerous US citizens and criminal migrants

Migrants deported from the US, and even “dangerous” American citizens convicted of heinous crimes could be headed to a notorious hellhole prison in El Salvador, where inmates live in over-crowded cells and rival gang members fight to the death over food and water.The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) has been hailed as the Central American nation’s solution to rampant gang violence, but human rights groups says the 15,000 inmates face inhumane treatment — and up to a third are believed to be innocent.After a meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in San Salvador Monday, Rubio announced that the mega prison could begin accepting inmates from the US.“We can send them and he will put them in his jails,” Rubio said of migrants set to be deported from the US.He added: “And, he’s also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States even though they’re US citizens or legal residents.”The CECOT prison lies 47 miles southeast of the capital city, with gangbangers from MS-13 and rival Barrio 18 held inside its walls, according to the governmentThe prison boasts wide dining halls, break rooms, a gym, and a plethora of board games, but all those amenities are reserved for the nearly 2,000 guards patrolling the facility.The inmates are instead crammed into their cells for 23-and-a-half hours a day, with each cell holding 65 to 70 prisoners.Rival gang members are often kept in the same cells, the AFP reports.

The prisoners are only allowed out of the cells to exercise for 30 minutes every day inside the hallways, or to attend court hearings via video from a prison room.The inmates shower from a large basin inside their cells, and they collect water from a large plastic barrel to drink from.A steel walkway above the cells and surveillance cameras ensure the prisoners are watched 24/7.

Salvadoran President Bukele’s government prohibits meat...