Largest Prison in Latin America Looks Like a Walled City: It Has 40,000 Slots, Windowless Cells, Lights On 24 Hours, and Deportees from the U.S. Arriving Directly

Written by Bruno Teles

Published on 03/10/2025 at 21:59

O maior presídio da América Latina, o CECOT em El Salvador, abriga 40 mil presos, recebe deportados dos Estados Unidos e levanta polêmicas sobre direitos humanos e encarceramento em massa.

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The Largest Prison In Latin America, The Terrorism Confinement Center In El Salvador, Was Inaugurated In 2023 With Capacity For 40 Thousand Inmates, Total Surveillance Routine And Received Even Deportees From The United States Amid Criticisms Of Human Rights Violations

The largest prison in Latin America is not just a prison, but a symbol of a security policy that divides opinions. Inaugurated in 2023 by the government of Nayib Bukele, the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), located in Tecoluca, El Salvador, was built to house up to 40 thousand inmates in extreme incarceration conditions.

Designed as part of the “war on gangs,” the CECOT gained international attention for its unprecedented dimensions and for its strict regime: cells without windows, lights on 24 hours a day, and total isolation from the outside world. Since 2025, the prison has also started receiving deportees from the United States, further expanding the controversies surrounding its operation.

The Origin Of The Largest Prison In Latin America

The Largest Prison In Latin America Looks Like A Walled City: It Has 40 Thousand Slots, Cells Without Windows, Lights On 24 Hours A Day And Deportees From The U.S. Arriving Directly

The CECOT was born from the zero tolerance to gangs strategy adopted by Bukele.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Structure And Operation Of The Prison

With capacity for 40 thousand inmates, the prison functions like a true walled city.

There are giant pavilions connected by monitored corridors, overcrowded collective cells, and constant monitoring by cameras and armed guards.

There are no rehabilitation or social reintegration programs: the proposal is total isolation of the inmates.

One of the most criticized points is the absence of windows in the cells.

The inmates live with artificial light on 24 hours a day, in metal bunk beds without mattresses, sharing a collective bathroom and receiving limited food, usually just rice and beans.

The conditions resemble more a permanent confinement center than a traditional prison.

Human Rights And International Controversies

Since its inauguration, the CECOT has been the target of allegations of human rights violations. Reports from organizations like Amnesty International point to cases of torture, deaths in custody, and absolute restriction of external contact.

There are no family visits, no books or letters are allowed, and cell phone signals are blocked for kilometers around.

From 2025, the prison also began receiving deportees directly from the United States, raising questions about the legality of these procedures.

Critics claim that many of those sent did not receive proper trial, while supporters of the measure argue that the CECOT is the necessary response to deal with international criminals linked to gangs.

Before the CECOT, the title of largest prison in Latin America had already belonged to Carandiru, in São Paulo, which housed more than 8 thousand inmates in the 1990s, until it was deactivated after the 1992 massacre.

The difference is that, while Carandiru operated under precarious conditions, the CECOT was planned to be a maximum security mega-complex from its conception.

For part of the Salvadoran population, the creation of the prison is seen as a success, as homicide rates have fallen in recent years.

However, the social and political cost of mass incarceration remains under debate, with experts warning of the risks of maintaining a model based solely on repression without space for reintegration.

The largest prison in Latin America represents one of the largest mass incarceration experiments in the current world.

Its monumental scale, strict rules, and the arrival of deportees from the United States place the CECOT at the center of a discussion that involves public safety, international politics, and human rights.

And you, do you believe that a prison model like the CECOT is effective in reducing violence or do you understand that it simply transfers the problem without solving it? Leave your opinion in the comments and participate in the debate.

Largest Prison in Latin America Looks Like a Walled City: It Has 40,000 Slots, Windowless Cells, Lights On 24 Hours, and Deportees from the U.S. Arriving Directly

The Largest Prison In Latin America, The Terrorism Confinement Center In El Salvador, Was Inaugurated In 2023 With Capacity For 40 Thousand Inmates, Total Surveillance Routine And Received Even Deportees From The United States Amid Criticisms Of Human Rights Violations

The Origin Of The Largest Prison In Latin America

Structure And Operation Of The Prison

Human Rights And International Controversies

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Largest Prison in Latin America Looks Like a Walled City: It Has 40,000 Slots, Windowless Cells, Lights On 24 Hours, and Deportees from the U.S. Arriving Directly

The Largest Prison In Latin America, The Terrorism Confinement Center In El Salvador, Was Inaugurated In 2023 With Capacity For 40 Thousand Inmates, Total Surveillance Routine And Received Even Deportees From The United States Amid Criticisms Of Human Rights Violations

The Origin Of The Largest Prison In Latin America

Structure And Operation Of The Prison

Human Rights And International Controversies

Historical Comparisons And Social Impact

A Chinese factory in Guangdong is assembling a humanoid robot every 30 minutes while Tesla, Figure, and Boston Dynamics still struggle to deliver 10 thousand per year.

While an average building in London or New York takes three years to be completed, in China a 26-story tower went up in five days with about 100 workers, and the global modular construction market already moves US$ 95 billion per year.

Australia installs giant concrete structures on the seabed 800 meters from the shore to create an ocean intake for desalination that will draw in saltwater and produce 30 million liters of drinking water per day.

Secret chamber sealed 4,500 years ago found in the Pyramid of Khufu, and Hawass announces its opening to the world in 2026

A public school student single-handedly created a machine capable of treating water for up to 50 people using only solar energy. It was awarded third place at one of the most important science fairs in the world.

Germany installed vertical solar panels on a lake in Bavaria, and the result broke conventional logic: instead of producing energy at midday peak, the plant generates more early in the morning and in the evening, exactly when families turn on appliances and factories are in full swing.

China has begun the second phase of energy assistance to Cuba with a 120 MW solar generation plan, and the first result is a photovoltaic park with batteries that regulates voltage, controls frequency, and provides local autonomy to an island suffocated by chronic blackouts.

Boeing takes off in Everett with the first production 777-9 for Lufthansa, measuring 76.72 meters in length and equipped with GE9X engines of 220,000 pound-feet.

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