During the night of this Tuesday, the President of the Republic, Nayib Bukele, inaugurated the Terrorism Confinement Center, which is a mega prison built in Tecoluca, San Vicente, and which will serve to detain gang members captured under the exception regime and the Territorial Control Plan (PCT).
The ruler traveled to the mega prison to tour the prison with his Public Security Cabinet, built with the highest security standards to prevent the entry of prohibited objects by visitors and disorders or brawls among inmates.
The construction of the project was announced by the president on June 21, 2022, and according to the technical specifications, it has the capacity to keep 40,000 gang members behind bars who previously committed crimes against the Salvadoran population.
The prisoners will not be able to communicate with the outside because the prison was built far from the city; it has 33 blocks of construction and is designed with several levels of walls and electrified fences. 19 watchtowers have also been built where the security personnel of the mega-prison will be located, who, like the rest, will be fully equipped with helmets, boots, shields, and weapons to maintain order and discipline in the prison.
In addition, there will be 600 members of the Armed Forces who, together with 250 police officers, will provide security inside and outside the 33 blocks of construction. In the event of an emergency, soldiers from the Fifth Infantry Brigade and Military Detachment Number 9 will be called in.
The Ministry of Public Works (MOP) participated in the construction of the entire project, reported the head of that state portfolio, Romeo Rodríguez, who accompanied the president at the inauguration of the prison. Personnel from that ministry also collaborated in the drilling of two drinking water wells, a wastewater treatment plant, a room for virtual audiences for inmates, an administrative building, and two resting places for guards, police, and soldiers who will provide security in prison.
The construction of the mega-prison was rejected by the political opposition, led by ARENA and FMLN, traditional parties that, according to different lines of investigation by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), negotiated with the gangs. The president of the republic, as well as the director of Penal Centers, Osiris Luna, said that this government will not give prison benefits to gang members, as happened with the FMLN governments, in which televisions entered prisons and had parties with prostitutes.
