A Country Where 2% of the Adult Population Is Incarcerated... Built a Prison Half the Size of Yeouido

'Terrorist Detention Center'... Over 40,000 Scheduled for Forced Labor
"Will Transform into a Safe Country in the American Continent"

The government of El Salvador has completed the construction of the largest prison in the Americas and has begun full-scale operations. Since declaring a 'war on crime,' the El Salvador government has conducted gang eradication operations and maintained strict security policies for about a year.

According to AP and Reuters on the 2nd (local time), the Ministry of Justice of El Salvador opened the doors of the 'Terrorist Detention Center' established near Tecoluca on the 31st of last month. The center covers a site area of 1.65 million square meters with a building area of 230,000 square meters. In terms of site area, it exceeds half the size of Yeouido inside the Yunjungno embankment in Seoul, which is 2.9 million square meters, and is larger than 230 soccer fields (7,140 square meters each) combined.

The 'Terrorist Detention Center' established by the government of El Salvador.
[Photo by Reuters]

This facility is about a 1 hour and 30 minute drive from the capital, San Salvador, and is expected to house 40,000 terrorists who will perform labor. The prison is surrounded by concrete walls over 11 meters high and electric fences, and is equipped with facilities such as water supply. Osiris Luna, Deputy Minister of Justice of El Salvador, explained, "About 850 military and police personnel guard the facility day and night," adding that various surveillance systems, including closed-circuit (CC) TV, are also in operation.

With the operation of this center, the overcrowding problem that had been a headache for the El Salvador government is expected to ease to some extent. Previously, the largest prison in El Salvador, La Esperanza Prison, held about 33,000 inmates, far exceeding its capacity of 10,000.

Meanwhile, last year, President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador declared a state of emergency with the purpose of "protecting citizens from violent gangs," allowing warrantless arrests of suspects. During this process, there were controversies over human rights violations as ordinary citizens were indiscriminately detained. As a result, about 2% of the adult population was incarcerated, recording the highest incarceration rate in the world.

Regarding the completion of the prison, President Bukele emphasized on his Twitter, "Now there is enough (prison) space," and stated, "El Salvador has transformed from the most unstable country in the world to the safest country in the Americas."