Look inside El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, where the Trump administration is sending some deported immigrants

Over the weekend, the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, where they are being held in a maximum security mega-prison called the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT).

El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said in a post to social media on Sunday that those deported to his country included 238 members of the Tren de Aragua gang and 23 members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13. “They were immediately transferred to CECOT,” Bukele wrote, adding that they would be held at that facility “for a period of one year (renewable).”

On Saturday, President Trump signed a proclamation invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act as justification for deporting the migrants, but has not identified any of them by name or provided any evidence that they are members of a gang.

Conditions at the prison

CECOT is a 40,000-capacity jail located roughly 47 miles from San Salvador that was opened in 2023. The prison is made up of eight different pavilions and each of its cells can accommodate 67 to 70 inmates.

CECOT does not allow those held there to receive visitations from the civilian population. It offers no educational opportunities and does not allow inmates to go outside. Those held at the prison “shower with water from a large basin inside their cells and collect water from a large plastic barrel to drink,” France 24 reported.

A crew from CNN was recently allowed to enter the prison.

“The only furniture is tiered metal bunks, with no sheets, pillows or mattresses … an open toilet, a cement basin and plastic bucket for washing and a large jug for drinking water,” CNN senior correspondent David Culver said of what he saw at the prison, adding that the inmates “do not work. They are not allowed books or a deck of cards or letters from home. Plates of food are stacked outside the cells at mealtimes and pulled through the bars. No meat is ever served. The 30-minute daily respite is merely to leave the cell for the central hallway for group exercise or Bible readings.”

U.S. deal with El Salvador

In November, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reached an agreement with Bukele that cleared the way for El Salvador to accept deportees from the U.S., including some violent American criminals in exchange for millions of dollars in annual compensation.

“We can send them, and he will put them in his jails,” Rubio said of migrants detained in the U.S. “And he’s also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States even though they’re U.S. citizens or legal residents."

It is not known whether any U.S. citizens are being held at CECOT.