This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 81%. (I'm a bot)

> The first 2,000 inmates of a new prison built in El Salvador to accommodate more than 40,000 suspected gangsters targeted in President Nayib Bukele's "War" on crime, have arrived at the facility.

> Built on Bukele's orders after he declared a "War" on gangs last March, the prison in Tecoluca, 74 kilometres southeast of the capital San Salvador, consists of eight buildings made of reinforced concrete.

> "There will be no mattresses in the cells," the prison warden - who wore a ski mask to protect his identity - told journalists when the project was unveiled.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Bukele^#1 cell^#2 prison^#3 new^#4 President^#5

Good. Let them rot .

The wealthy are the enemy, this is just a distraction.

I hope its different from what usually happens in Latin American countries where the gangs wreak absolute havoc on the country, including civilians, which eventually forces the leader to stop their war on crimes

Many are killers you know that right?

Why does this read like one gang is in charge and all other gangs are/will be imprisoned.

Then to hide the truth. The one remaining gang will be sophisticated and bend rules rather than kill and act violently.

It leads to a concern that anyone in the future that doesn't agree will be considered a gang member and imprisoned, without fair justice.

I say that based on the heavy restrictions imposed inside the prison. I hope I'm wrong and that it simply helps make the country safer.

Interesting you say that because I know someone who’s from El Salvador who got sentenced 15 years in those prisons for being an “accomplice” to a robbery by being the driver, but he was just a random dude who the gang members go into his car and made him drive. There is no justice system over there. It’s literally you’re guilty if they say you’re guilty.

America wants drugs.
Though a much needed action, all this does is clear out some dangerous anti social elements from El Sal; the root cause for their existence remains.

Who built this prison?
How are they paying for it all?

According to the article it was built as part of a “war on gangs” that is given political authority by a state of emergency called last march. The prison is neither state of the art nor does it look expensive. This is 8 cement buildings with large rooms that have 2 toilets and showers for 100 prisoners and 80 beds for 100 prisoners. This is arm chair conjecture but it seems like the operation to move the prisoners here which included helicopters and a lot of coordination was nearly as expensive as the building. It appears this was spearheaded and ordered by the president and his cabinet who is hoping to get the cartel violence under control and ran on that agenda.

The cynic in me expects the cartels will buy off or extort the guards eventually unless they maintain anonymity and have thorough security measures. I feel like these are going to turn into murder holes at the very least as these conditions do not help with violent tendencies.

I was appalled when i first heard about this, but apparently murders have dropped 57% in the short time since the crackdown began.

There have been problems such as innocents being carted up, but... 57% less murders.

I hope they all rot in there

Biden's going to get excited reading about this . He's got a long-term obsession with locking people in cages.

Here's a little backgrounder on his obsession with prisons:

Lock the SOB's Up

"Narrator: In 1988, the crime rate in the United States rises four hundred percent. The once great city of New York becomes the one maximum security prison for the entire country..."

Fuck ya

Taking bets on when the first mega riot will occur

I feel like now the gangs only have to hit one prison to get their boys out

Let's hope ES doesn't become the next Haiti.

The murder rate dropped over 50% since the crackdown started dipshit.

Did he have full body tattoos including the face, like every single one of these people they arrested? Everybody says this.

Step one: large meat grinder Step two: sell meat to Taco Bell Step three: profit

I met two Salvadorians recently and asked them what they thought of this president. They both said the exact same thing. Life is better now and the state is harder on crime. They are very hopeful for where the country is heading now. They also both said that western human rights groups come and fight hard for criminals in prison but are silent for the victims of their crimes. That last part was unprompted by me so it must be a common theme for them. Sad stuff no matter how you look at it.

Oh man, yeah -- these people murdered other people. Nobody's gonna fight for a real and actual victim? These murderers are honestly lucky that they're not given capitol punishment; with all of the dictators in the world, that could be a real possibility for them

But the prisoners are in their cells and will never leave them again. Except for legal hearings by video and for punishment in the isolation cells.

The biggest problem is thst with 100 prisoners per cell and only 80 bunks. They're going to be ultra-violently fighting for each bunk and food. As well as being bored out of their skulls. With the only entertianmnet being torturing the other prisoners.

You are literally just describing a government

Yup it's literally a army of 1 gang in 1 spot if there's a breakout the gov will need a missile to fix the situation up .

Haha you're probably correct. The question is, what type of government.

Oof.... this is NOT going to end well. Either bbn of 2 things will happen.... 1st, they escape... 2nd, they are executed. Keeping them long term? Not going to happen.

They tried. He threatened them on a Televised address, saying that if they went forward with wreaking havoc, the massive amount of gang members in jail would no longer be fed and left to starve. It was definitely heavy handed, so much so that the UN spoke for the rights of said gang members, but it avoided the response

> largest mega-prison in Americas.

Now there's something to be proud of.....

Oh I think this a human rights atrocity. I am not familiar enough with the situation to declare my takes as factual or one that should be used as evidence. It seems like this is a death trap. There will be a lot of violence. This is the kind of stuff nightmares are made of. I don’t know if everyone in there is evil but some will witness it, some will be victims of it, and some will become it. If I were in there I’d find the fastest way to kill myself.

Given thst there maybe some innocent people there but most will be gang members. Most of them will be evil.

'cause, ya know, that's something to be proud of.

I'm probably the only idiot who doesn't know what this is from, but I'll go ahead and ask anyway..what is this from? Escape from New York? I'd guess RoboCop but I thought that was Detroit..

Easy to think like this when your country isn't getting torn apart by gang violence. Especially when each gang is pretty much its own standing army. I say, props to them. Deal with these clowns so innocent people can live their lives and better their country.

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They should just turn off the ventilation in those prisons. It’s gonna get really hot really quick.

That should be bukele’s hidden card against the gangs.

Just to clarify I don’t judge them for this tactic. I am not informed enough about any of it. I was saying from a human rights perspective this could at best be judged problematic. But what the cartels are doing to their country is arguably (almost certainly) worse so this tactic is probably the only option to contain the violence. It makes sense on from a macro perspective but to be caught in there would be a nightmare.

No doubt on that. Sucks that it has to be done, but some people really can't be reasoned with. On top of that, you can make an argument that these gangs are a national security threat, rather than just a criminal one. Human rights violations are a guarantee here, but gotta pick your poison I guess.

Yeah, it’s the start of Escape from New York.

The last part is a near direct quote from Bukele I believe. He scolded those groups for speaking against his heavy handed methods against the gangs

The Washington Post has published several articles that reference allegations that the drop in murder rates in El Salvador is actually due to their president making a secret deal with gangs to reduce the murder rate.

This is just every country on earth though. It's usually better to have just one gang in charge, or ideally two going back and forth so neither gets too comfortable.

If they haven't thought this through I'd be surprised.

I get what you're saying. And when i reread my comment it also sounded like that. But he wasn't tatted, or in a gang and he was an older man, in his 50's. And my friend even sends him money for his little medical shop he has over there. But trust me Im all for being tough on crime since it's really bad in Latin America. But the way they're doing it in El Salvador should have a SIGNIFICANTLY better justice system. Especially since they're going to host Miss Universe next year, so they're in a rush to do things.

To clarify we are picking our poison between the poison of unnecessary sleep deprived territorial violence, and the spending 25% more on bed space

> capitol punishment

Having to live in Washington DC for the rest of their lives would be too inhumane, man.

Gang members are very wealthy, too. And the ones that aren't are in gangs to become the wealthy at the expense of innocent people

true. i had heard it from central americans before bukele as well.