The prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration has sent alleged gang members for detention has a reputation for human rights violations and corruption, with civil rights groups challenging the removals calling it “one of the worst prisons in the world.”
In court cases, the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward filed declarations from experts that describe how prisons in El Salvador, and specifically Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, go beyond the generally accepted standards for penalizing and imprisoning convicted criminals.
The director of prisons there was indicted by the United States for arranging meetings in prison for negotiations with MS-13, a violent gang, and deemed corrupt by the U.S. Treasury Department for helping to develop a scheme to embezzle millions of dollars from the prison commissary system, one expert’s testimony points out.
