El Salvador said it imprisoned roughly 2,000 more inmates on Wednesday who are suspected of being gang members and have promised that they will never be released from the "impossible to escape" facility.
The additional inmates landed in the new Center for the Confinement of Terrorism last month as the country continues to crack down on its war on raging street gangs. President Nayib Bukele revealed new video footage of the mega prison and the new prisoners who were seen being hustled off buses and taken into the facility.
El Salvador's Mega Prison Gets New Inmates
The tattooed men were seen wearing white shorts inside the prison while barefoot and handcuffed. They were huddled together while crouching down and hanging their shaved heads before running into their jail cells.
In a Twitter post, Bukele said there were now 4,000 gang members imprisoned in the world's "most criticized prison." The latest arrests come as the mega prison has a capacity of 40,000 inmates, as per the New York Post.
Previous reports said the mega prison, which is 46 miles from the Central American capital, would hold inmates in eight separate buildings. Each of these was said to have 32 cells that could hold up to 100 prisoners. It was revealed that these cells only had two toilets and two sinks.
The global community considers El Salvador's mega-prison to be the largest of its kind in the Americas. The country's president also bragged about the facility being "impossible to escape" from.
While Bukele has recently taken a proactive approach to fighting against gangs in the country, the initiative has caused concerns among human rights observers. They argue that basic constitutional rights are being violated inside the mega prison. They are also worried that people are being detained without a warrant.
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"Impossible to Escape" Facility
The country's minister for justice and peace, Gustavo Villatoro, said that the imprisoned individuals would never return to the communities, the neighborhoods, the barrios, or the cities of El Salvador, according to Fox News.
Government officials have swept up roughly 65,000 gang members since the approval of Bukele's emergency powers in March last year. The decision also allowed him to approve and build the massive facility.
Roughly 3,500 detained individuals were set free, and the remaining 57,000 suspects are still waiting for their trials. El Salvador's government has widely publicized the massive prison, posting video footage of prisoner transfers and giving a detailed tour of the inside of the facility.
The situation comes as Bukele has also asked for another extension of the anti-gang emergency measures that he received. This would bring the crackdown into its 13th month. However, Congress must still approve the request, but many expect legislators to do so as they have already done so a dozen times before.
Bukele's initial request for emergency powers came after a surge in gang violence that led to the death of 62 people in a single night across El Salvador. For a long time, various street gangs, such as MS-13 and Barrio 18, have killed and extorted money from the country's residents, said Yahoo News.
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