Terrorism Confinement Center

The BBC has also indicated that prisoners are deprived of rights such as outside recreation and family visitation outlined by international guidelines.<ref name="BBC" /> Juan Carlos Sánchez, a program officer of the Due Process of Law Foundation, raised concerns about the quality of food served at CECOT. He also questioned the status of due process as the prison incarcerated both convicted criminals and individuals on trial for their alleged crimes. He warns that prisoners could become "sick physically, mentally" and "come out with rage".<ref name="CNN" /> Antonio Durán, a senior judge in Zacatecoluca, said that the conditions in CECOT amount to "torture".<ref name="BBC" /> Zaira Navas, a legal advisor at the Cristosal NGO, states that it is difficult to monitor conditions inside CECOT and that conditions "might become inhumane and degrading because no-one has access to that prison".<ref name="BBC" /> Doug Specht, a human rights scholar at the [[University of Westminster]], wrote in ''[[The SAIS Review of International Affairs]]'' that conditions in CECOT "fall significantly short of accepted norms for the humane treatment of prisoners".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Meyer|first1=Josh|date=22 March 2025|location=[[Washington, D.C.]], United States|title=Shackles, Shock Troops, Windowless Cells: How Bad is Trump's Favorite Salvadoran Prison?|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/03/22/cecot-trump-el-salvador-prison-deportation-video/82596983007/|work=[[USA Today]]|language=en|access-date=25 March 2025}}</ref>

The BBC has also indicated that prisoners are deprived of rights such as outside recreation and family visitation outlined by international guidelines.<ref name="BBC" /> Juan Carlos Sánchez, a program officer of the Due Process of Law Foundation, raised concerns about the quality of food served at CECOT. He also questioned the status of due process as the prison incarcerated both convicted criminals and individuals on trial for their alleged crimes. He warns that prisoners could become "sick physically, mentally" and "come out with rage".<ref name="CNN" /> Antonio Durán, a senior judge in Zacatecoluca, said that the conditions in CECOT amount to "torture".<ref name="BBC" /> Zaira Navas, a legal advisor at the Cristosal NGO, states that it is difficult to monitor conditions inside CECOT and that conditions "might become inhumane and degrading because no-one has access to that prison".<ref name="BBC" /> Doug Specht, a human rights scholar at the [[University of Westminster]], wrote in ''[[The SAIS Review of International Affairs]]'' that conditions in CECOT "fall significantly short of accepted norms for the humane treatment of prisoners".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Meyer|first1=Josh|date=22 March 2025|location=[[Washington, D.C.]], United States|title=Shackles, Shock Troops, Windowless Cells: How Bad is Trump's Favorite Salvadoran Prison?|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/03/22/cecot-trump-el-salvador-prison-deportation-video/82596983007/|work=[[USA Today]]|language=en|access-date=25 March 2025}}</ref>

After being returned to the United States,[[Kilmar Abrego Garcia]] alleged in court filings that he was subjected to "severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Neuman |first1=Scott |title=Abrego Garcia says he was severely beaten in Salvadoran prison |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/07/03/g-s1-75775/abrego-garcia-el-salvador-prison-beaten-torture |website=NPR |publisher=NPR |access-date=6 July 2025}}</ref> He alleges that he and 20 other inmates were made to kneel from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., with guards beating anyone who fell from exhaustion. Being denied bathroom breaks, he soiled himself. In two weeks, his weight dropped from 215 to 184 pounds. CECOT prison officials repeatedly told him that they would transfer him to the cells containing gang members who, they assured him, would 'tear' him apart. He repeatedly observed prisoners in nearby cells who he understood to be gang members violently harm each other with no intervention from guards or personnel.

[[Amnesty International]] raised concerns that CECOT "could threaten human rights" ("{{lang|es|podría amenazar DD.HH}}") and that the prison represented "politics of mass incarceration" ("{{lang|es|política de encarcelamiento masivo}}").<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bernal|first1=Daniel|date=3 February 2023|title=Amnistía Internacional Expresa Preocupación por Megapenal de El Salvador|url=https://www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/Amnistia-Internacional-expresa-preocupacion-por-megapenal-de-El-Salvador-20230203-0053.html|trans-title=Amnesty International Expresses Worry with El Salvador's Mega Prison|work=[[La Prensa Gráfica]]|language=es|access-date=3 February 2023}}</ref> Amnesty International further remarked that CECOT has "worsened the human rights situation in El Salvador" and set "an alarming precedent of repressive cooperation between governments" resulting in enforced disappearance, referring to the U.S. deportations of 261 Salvadorans and Venezuelans.<ref>{{cite web|date=15 April 2025|title=The Human Cost of the Repressive Cooperation Between the US and El Salvador|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/04/la-cooperacion-represiva-entre-eeuu-y-el-salvador/|work=[[Amnesty International]]|language=en|access-date=17 April 2025}}</ref> Miguel Sarre, a former member of the United Nations Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, described CECOT as a "concrete and steel pit" used to "dispose of people without formally applying the death penalty", citing that the government has not confirmed that inmates have been released from CECOT.<ref name="Ventas" /> Kavan Applegate, the chairman of the [[International Corrections and Prisons Association]]'s design committee, remarked that CECOT is "warehousing" people. Gustavo Fondevila, a professor of law at the [[Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas|Center for Economic Research and Teaching]], described CECOT as a "political campaign project, the typical campaign project of pure, hard penal [[populism]]".<ref name="Murray" />

[[Amnesty International]] raised concerns that CECOT "could threaten human rights" ("{{lang|es|podría amenazar DD.HH}}") and that the prison represented "politics of mass incarceration" ("{{lang|es|política de encarcelamiento masivo}}").<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bernal|first1=Daniel|date=3 February 2023|title=Amnistía Internacional Expresa Preocupación por Megapenal de El Salvador|url=https://www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/Amnistia-Internacional-expresa-preocupacion-por-megapenal-de-El-Salvador-20230203-0053.html|trans-title=Amnesty International Expresses Worry with El Salvador's Mega Prison|work=[[La Prensa Gráfica]]|language=es|access-date=3 February 2023}}</ref> Amnesty International further remarked that CECOT has "worsened the human rights situation in El Salvador" and set "an alarming precedent of repressive cooperation between governments" resulting in enforced disappearance, referring to the U.S. deportations of 261 Salvadorans and Venezuelans.<ref>{{cite web|date=15 April 2025|title=The Human Cost of the Repressive Cooperation Between the US and El Salvador|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/04/la-cooperacion-represiva-entre-eeuu-y-el-salvador/|work=[[Amnesty International]]|language=en|access-date=17 April 2025}}</ref> Miguel Sarre, a former member of the United Nations Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, described CECOT as a "concrete and steel pit" used to "dispose of people without formally applying the death penalty", citing that the government has not confirmed that inmates have been released from CECOT.<ref name="Ventas" /> Kavan Applegate, the chairman of the [[International Corrections and Prisons Association]]'s design committee, remarked that CECOT is "warehousing" people. Gustavo Fondevila, a professor of law at the [[Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas|Center for Economic Research and Teaching]], described CECOT as a "political campaign project, the typical campaign project of pure, hard penal [[populism]]".<ref name="Murray" />