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The harsh Salvadorian prison holding US deportees

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[El Salvador’s CECOT — Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or Center for the Confinement of Terrorism —] is probably the most famous prison in the world. 

I was inside last month. I wanted to get in and experience for myself what has become the biggest symbol of this tough-on-crime model that [Salvadoran President] Nayib Bukele established under a State of Exception, where certain rights were suspended [by the government] so that they could carry out these massive detentions. El Salvador has detained around 2 percent of their population, becoming the country with the highest rate of incarceration in the world. 

Of course, that’s translated to a significant drop in crime. Which has gained Bukele an unparalleled level of popularity, not just in his country, but in the entire region. I have heard from countless different nationalities, “We need a Bukele.” And when people think of Bukele, they're thinking about this prison.

When you walk into the prison, it's clear that this is the ultimate in maximum security. There are multiple layers of gates. The first thing you notice when you approach the prison, about a mile outside of the prison gates, is that cellphones stop working. 

[Once you arrive, you see] it's massive and you see dozens of towers with surveillance and everything you can expect from a prison. Imagine a big airplane hangar. Inside that hangar is where the cells are. 

The thing that's really striking is just how quiet everything is. The inmates are all within these modules that contain a number of cells. Inside each cell, there is anywhere from like 80 to 100 or even more prisoners. But you can't hear a thing. 

That's when you really come to understand the level of force and strength that the guards impose. 

There's no communication, no visits, ever. Prisoners never leave the module, so they never see the light outside. There's no outside time. They can only be outside the cell in the hallway that divides all the cells for about 20 to 30 minutes per day. 

I was struck by how clean it was. They don't have mattresses, they don't have sheets. They just sleep in these metal cots. It's these multiple dozens of bunk beds, and that's where they are all the time. 

What's striking is that it feels like the human beings who are in there are stripped — outside of their tattoos, of course, because they can't take away the tattoos — of anything that makes them stand apart. It's a mass of shaved heads, everyone dressed the same, in all white uniforms [with] shoes that are kind of like Crocs. And they're all staring from within the cell. 

I asked, “Why are they so quiet? What happens if they talk?” 

And [the officials] said, “If they speak out of line, they're going into solitary.” 

They only made one prisoner available for me to talk to, who said he was from LA. And he said, “You know, you have to act tough, but you can't fight. And at night, we just kind of cry.”

For more check out Noel's full interview, and Lilia's report for CBS.

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