They’re words that send chills down the spines of the world’s most hardened criminals: Alcatraz, Belmarsh and the “Supermax”.
A new name has now been added to the list: CECOT or Tecoluca.
El Salvador’s new prison was built at lightning speed last year by the country’s President, Nayib Bukele, to deal with the vast number of gang members he was rounding up.
On Wednesday, Bukele – praised by some for his ruthless stance on gangs and criticized by others for his ruthless crackdown – announced that a second wave of inmates had been transferred to CECOT. The first 2,000 arrived on February 24th.
“Today, in a new operation, we moved the second group of 2,000 gang members to the Terrorism Confinement Center (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo – CECOT),” he tweeted.
“That means there are now 4,000 gang members living in the world’s most criticized prison.”
Here, takes a look inside CECOT and see how it ranks among the most impenetrable prisons around the world.
CECOT, El Salvador
America’s largest mega-prison, the new CECOT prison was built to house more than 40,000 gangsters.
Bukele, whose current five-year term ends in 2024 but announced in September he would seek re-election despite a constitutional ban, has made bringing down the astronomical homicide rate his priority.
In March 2022, he declared “war” on the gangs plaguing his country and then began a top-secret process to build CECOT.
The prison was completed in just seven months.
In Tecoluca, 45 miles southeast of the capital San Salvador, it opened in February and the jailer – who wore a ski mask to hide his face – boasted of its strict facilities.
The inmates sleep without mattresses on four-story tin bunks and are chained together in extremely cramped conditions.
The last look at the facility revealed that the inmates are supposed to sleep on bare four-story tin bunks without mattresses
A mega-prison in El Salvador brought in a second wave of suspected gang members who will now serve their sentences at the notorious facility, which has been criticized for its “severe conditions”.
Each of the eight reinforced concrete buildings has 32 cells of about 100 square meters, which according to the Minister of Public Works Romeo Rodriguez are designed for “more than 100” occupants.
Each cell has only two sinks and two toilets for the 100 men.
There are only 80 metal bunks for every 100 prisoners, and human rights groups and observers have criticized the construction as violating incarceration standards.
Prisoners only leave the cell for court hearings via video conference or to be punished in a windowless and unlit isolation cell.
The guards are armed with weapons, with shields.
ADX Florence, Colorado
More than 100 miles south of Denver, the largest maximum security prison in the United States has held the most notorious criminals from across the country.
It was home to El Chapo, Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993.
The site was created by two leading Colorado Springs architectural firms and cost $60 million in 1994.
Prisoners are kept in their cells 23 hours a day in the 37-acre facility, with cubicle rooms made of poured concrete, so there’s nowhere to hide contraband.
ADX Florence, Colorado: Some of the world’s toughest centers have held its most notorious criminals, including Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and Unabomber Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, 79
Each inmate has access to a small radio and is rewarded for good behavior with a television with limited channel access.
There are small windows in each cell to prevent prisoners from finding out their location in the facility – to prevent escapes.
During the one hour they are allowed outside their cells, prisoners have access to a deep concrete pit where they can exercise.
In addition to 24-hour surveillance and a central hub that controls the doors, there is an additional layer of protection with barbed wire and armed guards.
So far, no escape attempts from the facility are known.
Prisoners are kept in their cells 23 hours a day in the 37-acre facility, with cubicle rooms made of poured concrete, so there’s nowhere to hide contraband
The site was created by two leading Colorado Springs architectural firms and cost $60 million in 1994
Terre Haute, Indiana
Located in Vigo County near the Indiana-Illinois border, Terre Haute was built in 1940 and began housing death row inmates in 1993.
It still has a separate facility for its death row inmates, 46 of whom are currently in the secure unit, which also has a death chamber.
One of two facilities that make up the city’s Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute has a minimum-security satellite camp connected to the medium-security prison.
The facilities were upgraded in 2005 to keep up with the latest technology to keep prisoners inside – with doors controlled from a central room.
A number of inmates were able to escape the 2005 upgrades, but there has not been a single violation of the new measures in the last 18 years.
To date, the last federal prisoner to be executed at the facility was Dustin Higgs, 48, who killed three women at a Maryland animal shelter. He died in prison on January 16, 2021.
Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who killed nine people when he opened fire at a church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015, is being held in Terre Haute after being sentenced to death in 2017.
One of two facilities that make up the city’s Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute has a minimum-security satellite camp connected to the medium-security prison
To date, the last federal prisoner to be executed at the facility was Dustin Higgs, 48, who killed three women at a Maryland animal shelter
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, California
Alcatraz, known as The Rock, was America’s premier maximum-security prison from 1934 to 1963, and the island that houses it is now one of San Francisco’s best-known landmarks and tourist attractions.
Each cell in Block B & C was 5 feet by 9 feet and had a small sink with cold running water, a small bunk bed, and a toilet.
Some of Alcatraz’s most famous inmates were James “Whitey” Bulger, Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and the “Birdman of Alcatraz” Robert Stroud.
Inmates were allowed one visit per month and each visit had to be approved directly by the warden, but no physical contact was allowed and talking about current events was also forbidden.
Any minor violation of the rules earned them ten days of solitary confinement in the “dungeon.”
In this hellhole, consisting of six damp and freezing basement cells, each sealed off from the outside world by a heavy steel door, they were chained to walls painted inky black to deepen the darkness and fed on bread and water.
Alcatraz, known as The Rock, was America’s premier maximum security prison from 1934 to 1963 and is now one of San Francisco’s most recognizable landmarks and tourist attractions
Some of Alcatraz’s most famous inmates were James “Whitey” Bulger, Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and the “Birdman of Alcatraz” Robert Stroud
Several inmates attempted to flee the island, but the majority of those who made their way to the sea outside the walls did not survive.
Of the 36 escapees, two made it off the island but were captured, seven were shot and killed, two drowned, and five others were missing but believed to have drowned.
As is well known, there are three fugitives who managed to survive the escape from Alcatraz – to this day they are being hunted by US Marshals.
Clarence Anglin, John Anglin and Frank Morris remain wanted fugitives for their June 11, 1962 escape, where they are serving time for armed bank robberies.
The trio would now be in their 90s and have spent more than a year preparing to escape – but have never been found and it’s unclear if they drowned in the process.
They dug around a metal vent in their prison cells, climbed poles to cross the roof and sneak past guards before maneuvering 50 feet of plumbing down to the floor of the prison’s shower area, where they planned to raft back to the prison to drive mainland.
HMP Belmarsh, London
HMP Belmarsh was built on part of the site of the former Royal Arsenal at Thamesmead, south-east London and commissioned on 2 April 1991.
The Category A prison is known for its high security feature and has a population of at least 900 inmates.
There are four different residential units, sixty percent of which are apartment buildings.
It is also known for holding prisoners charged or convicted of terrorist offenses in the 2000s.
Prison staff are known to be particularly strict, and prisoners are rewarded for good behavior.
The prison’s notorious inmates include Ali Harbi Alio, who murdered MP David Mess, Michael Adebolajo, who killed British soldier Lee Rigby, Charles Bronson and terrorist Abu Hamza.
The Category A prison is known for its high security feature and has a population of at least 900 inmates
The prison’s notorious inmates include Ali Harbi Alio, who murdered MP David Mess, Michael Adebolajo (left), who killed British soldier Lee Rigby, Charles Bronson and terrorist Abu Hamza (right).
La Sante prison, France
Opened in 1867 in Paris, France, La Santé Prison is one of the three main prisons in the country.
It has a capacity of up to 2000 prisoners and until 1981 was the place where the death penalty was carried out by guillotine or firing squad.
The controversial prison also segregated inmates by geography and ethnicity, housing them in separate wings until 2000.
As part of a restoration project, the prison has been upgraded to include some of the most advanced security in the world.
Only five people have ever managed to escape the walls, with one being killed and four captured shortly thereafter.
Its inmates included Jean Genet, Carlos the Jackal, corrupt businessman Bernard Tapie, renegade financier Jérôme Kerviel, Manuel Noriega and – most popular with Parisians – boastful gangster Jacques Mesrine.
In 1978, Mesrine climbed over the walls and made his escape, but despite being a master of disguise, he was eventually caught.
As part of a restoration project, the prison has been upgraded to include some of the most advanced security in the world
It has a capacity of up to 2000 prisoners and until 1981 was the place where the death penalty was carried out by guillotine or firing squad
Arthur Road Prison, India
Mumbai’s largest and oldest central prison is Arthur Road Jail, which was built in 1926 and was only designed for 1000 prisoners.
It has been upgraded several times since it opened, but often the crowded space now accommodates at least 2000 people – resulting in crowded and dirty conditions.
A 22-foot fence surrounded the walls, and those who managed to get out of the prison far enough to jump over suffered serious injuries before being captured.
The prison, which stretches over 2 hectares, was built as an impregnable fortress where the authorities keep their maximum security prison secrets to themselves.
Raj Kundra, the husband and businessman of Indian actress Shilpa Shetty, has been arrested and spent two months in Arthur Road Prison after being arrested in 2021 in connection with a pornography case.
He was accused of producing porn films and distributing them via online apps but was later released on bail by a Mumbai court.
It’s been upgraded several times since it opened, but often the crowded space accommodates at least 2,000 — resulting in crowded and dirty conditions
Qincheng Prison, China
Located 3,000 feet above sea level in a secluded valley, Qincheng Prison is the most secure prison in Beijing and all of China.
It has housed Tiananmen Square protesters, political figures and, more recently, corruption allegations.
The prison is divided into three areas, the prison house – where the prisoners are separated according to their previous social status, their work in the outside world and the seriousness of their crimes.
In the second block, the inmates are put to work, with washrooms, factories and a farm where they can do their jobs.
The final building houses staff and families, which helps keep prison security under wraps.
Prisoners are designated by a number when housed in the facility, with health care provided at different levels based on importance and conduct.
More than 5,000 security guards guard the country’s most notorious prisoners.
Built in 1958 with help from the Soviet Union, Qincheng was originally used to incarcerate Kuomintang war criminals. The prison boasts the tallest watchtower in the world, overlooking a complex surrounded by valleys on all sides.
Located 3,000 feet above sea level in a secluded valley, Qincheng Prison is the most secure prison in Beijing and all of China
It has hosted Tiananmen Square protesters, political figures and, more recently, those accused of corruption
Fuchu Prison, Japan
Fuchu Prison is the largest prison in Japan and was opened in Tokyo in 1935 to replace the previous prison that had been destroyed a decade earlier.
It boasts some of the most advanced security measures prisons have ever put in place, although few details are known about the facility.
The prison historically housed World War II prisoners and is now home to Japan’s most notorious criminals – with at least 2,000 inmates.
Some of the better-known prisoners were communists Kyuichi Tokuda, Yoshio Shiga, and Kim Chon-hae.
The building is surrounded by a 1.6 km, 5.5 m perimeter wall, the interior of which was modernized as part of a 10-year project.
No one has ever been able to escape from the prison, with a central command room and a purpose-built platform for armed guards.
It boasts some of the most advanced security measures prisons have ever put in place, although few details are known about the facility
The prison historically housed World War II prisoners and is now home to Japan’s most notorious criminals – with at least 2,000 inmates
Klong Prem Prison, Bangkok
In Klong Prem’s cramped prison, disease spreads fast and inmates are tattooed to ward off boredom.
The prison was originally a temporary prison established in Lat Yao District in 1944 as a result of demands during World War II when Thailand was at war with Britain and the United States.
It houses 6,000 inmates, 64 percent of whom were convicted of drug-related offences.
A typical cell measures 1.5 x 3 meters and sleeps five inmates side by side on dark blue mattresses on the floor.
Jake Mastroianni, 26, a Melbourne DJ, and Lance Whitmore, 28, of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, are two of the inmates jailed for selling ecstasy.
Surveillance observers cover most of the corridors where there is access to cells in the prison, and guards stand at the gates in the long-term sentence zone.
However, visitors are allowed inside the prison, with a gap between them and the inmates, meaning they must speak by phone.
The prison was originally a temporary prison established in Lat Yao District in 1944 as a result of demands during World War II when Thailand was at war with Britain and the United States
A typical cell measures 1.5 x 3 meters and sleeps five inmates side by side on dark blue mattresses on the floor