Photos: A tour of Nayib Bukele’s mega-prison

The Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), El Salvador's maximum security prison and one of President Nayib Bukele's flagship projects, has completed one year in operation. In the image, an exterior view of the Cecot, in Tecoluca, on February 6, 2024. Gladys Serrano

It never gets dark at Cecot. Artificial light fills the cells and the interior patio 24 hours a day. Prisoners sleep on the metal sheeting of iron beds that are stacked up to the ceiling. In the photo, inmates are seen inside a Cecot cell.Gladys Serrano

A closed circuit watches the prisoners like a silent god. They eat beans and rice with their hands because forks and knives could become deadly weapons. In the photo, six inmates are pictured inside their cell at the Cecot. Gladys Serrano

In addition to the cameras, hooded policemen armed with rifles watch the inmates from the roof at all times. Gladys Serrano

"It's impossible to escape. These psychopaths are going to spend their whole lives behind these bars," says the prison director. In the image, a policeman guards one of the outer corridors of the prison.Gladys Serrano

In just 20 months, Nayib Bukele has fulminated El Salvador's two main gangs, the Mara Salvatrucha and the Barrio 18. With an exceptional regime that has taken the army to the streets and suspended constitutional freedoms, more than 70,000 people have been arrested. In the image, the armory inside Cecot. Gladys Serrano

The president has become immensely popular for this heavy-handed policy, at home and abroad. On Sunday, he swept the country's presidential elections, with 85% of the votes, which will keep him in power for another five years. In the picture, some of the handcuffs used by Cecot agents to transport prisoners. Gladys Serrano

There is practically no opposition. Salvadorans, relieved after decades of violence, have given absolute power to Bukele. He has used this notoriety to perpetrate an authoritarian drift with which he controls the judiciary branch and the country's armed forces, which will soon be multiplied by five. In the image, two inmates awaiting transfer to their cells.Gladys Serrano

To access the Cecot, one must pass through four stalls placed in large concrete rooms with a desolate air. In the picture, an exterior view of the Cecot. Gladys Serrano

Officers with their faces covered frisk anyone who enters the facility. They ask you to place your hands on your hands. They ask if you have tattoos. The security arches are equipped with X-rays that expose your intestines. In the picture, a journalist is checked in a scanner before entering the Cecot.Gladys Serrano

A screen shows the image obtained by a scanner that checks those who enter the Cecot. Gladys Serrano

Inside the Cecot there are eight modules with an undetermined number of prisoners that the authorities refuse to specify. The capacity is 40,000 people. In the image, agents guard the prison cells.Gladys Serrano

Behind bars are the most dangerous prisoners in the country. Hitmen with dozens of murders under their belts are serving sentences of 700 years. In the image, one of the inmates incarcerated in Cecot.Gladys Serrano

No one who has entered the facility handcuffed has ever seen daylight again. Only a rush of air seeps through an opening in the ceiling. In the picture, an inmate shows the tattoos on his back. Gladys Serrano

The prison director takes roll call of some of the inmates incarcerated at Cecot.Gladys Serrano

The inmates have their heads shaved every five days. Almost all of them have their heads tattooed. In the image, Cecot agents transport an inmate to his cell.Gladys Serrano

They will never again know love or freedom. They have no right to calls or visits. They have slipped into a cold, dreary, black hole. In the picture, an inmate inside his cell. Gladys Serrano