They’re phrases which ship a shiver down the spines of the world’s most hardened criminals: Alcatraz, Belmarsh, and the ‘Supermax’.
A brand new identify has now been added to the listing: CECOT, or Tecoluca.
The brand new jail, in El Salvador, was constructed at lightning pace final 12 months by the nation’s president, Nayib Bukele, to take care of the large numbers of gang members he was rounding up.
On Wednesday Bukele – who has received reward by some for his cruel line on gangs, and been criticized by others for his ruthless method – introduced {that a} second wave of inmates had been transferred to CECOT. The primary 2,000 arrived on February 24.
The brand new jail in El Salvador, often known as the ‘Terrorist Confinement Centre’ (CECOT) in Tecoluca, 45 miles south of the capital San Salvador
Riot police and masked guards encompass inmates at CECOT as the primary prisoners arrive on February 25
‘At present, in a brand new operation, we moved the second group of two,000 gang members to the Terrorism Confinement Middle (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo – CECOT),’ he tweeted.
‘Because of this there at the moment are 4,000 gang members dwelling inside essentially the most criticized jail on the planet.’
Right here, DailyMail.com takes a glance inside CECOT, and see the way it ranks among the many impenetrable prisons around the globe.
CECOT, El Salvador
The brand new CECOT jail, the biggest mega-prison within the Americas, was constructed to accommodate greater than 40,000 gangsters.
Bukele, whose present five-year time period ends in 2024, however who introduced in September he would search re-election regardless of a constitutional ban, has made decreasing the astronomical homicide charge a precedence.
In March 2022 he declared ‘battle’ on the gangs that plague his nation, after which started a highly-secretive course of to construct CECOT.
The jail was accomplished in simply seven months.
Located in Tecoluca, 45 miles southeast of the capital San Salvador, it was opened in February, and the jail warden – carrying a ski masks to cover his face – boasted about its austere amenities.
Inmates sleep with out mattresses on four-story sheet-metal bunks, and are chained collectively in intensely crowded circumstances.
The most recent look inside the power revealed that inmates are anticipated to sleep on naked four-storey sheet steel bunks with out mattresses
A mega-prison in El Salvador introduced in a second wave of suspected gang members who will now serve out their sentences on the infamous facility that has been criticized over its ‘extreme circumstances’
Every one in all eight reinforced-concrete buildings has 32 cells of about 100 sq. meters, designed to carry ‘greater than 100’ inmates, based on Public Works Minister Romeo Rodriguez.
Every cell has solely two sinks and two bathrooms, for the 100 males.
There are solely 80 steel bunks for each 100 prisoners, and rights teams and observers have criticized the development as a violation of incarceration requirements.
Prisoners will depart the cell just for authorized hearings by videoconference, or to be punished in a windowless and unlit isolation cell.
Riot police act as guards – armed with weapons, helmets, batons and riot shields.
Bukele, confronted with worldwide condemnation over the brutal new jail, was unrepentant.
‘The US Authorities is placing PROVEN INNOCENTS in jail and is, on the similar time, involved about us placing PROVEN CRIMINALS in jail,’ he tweeted on March 7.
ADX Florence, Colorado
ADX Florence, recognized colloquially as ‘Supermax’, is the biggest most safety jail in america.
The jail, dwelling to 326 male inmates, is dubbed the Alcatraz of the Rockies and is the one degree six super-maximum safety jail within the nation.
It has held essentially the most infamous criminals from everywhere in the nation – amongst them Mexican drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman; Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who bombed the World Commerce Middle in 1993.
The 37-acre web site was designed by two main structure companies in Colorado Springs, and value $60 million to construct in 1994.
Prisoners are held of their cells for 23 hours a day, with the rooms created with poured concrete so there may be nowhere to cover contraband.
ADX Florence, Colorado: A few of the hardest facilities on the planet have held essentially the most infamous criminals, together with Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, the chief of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, and Unabomber Theodore ‘Ted’ Kaczynski, 79
Every inmate has entry to a small radio, and are rewarded for good habits with a TV which has restricted channel entry.
Cells don’t have any home windows, solely small skylights, in a bid to forestall prisoners from determining their location within the advanced and stop any breakouts.
In the course of the one hour they’re allowed exterior of their cells, prisoners have entry to a deep concrete pit the place they’ll train.
The ability is surrounded by 12-foot razor-wire fencing and its 1,400 metal doorways, movement detectors, and cameras are all remote-controlled.
So far there have been no recognized profitable escapes from the power.
And even when they breached the fencing, they’d battle to get away: the realm is stuffed with watchtowers, sharpshooters, strain pads, laser beams, and guard canines able to cease any prisoner courageous sufficient to aim to flee.
Prisoners are held on the 37-acre establishment of their cells for 23 hours of a day, with the boxed rooms created with poured concrete so there may be nowhere to cover contraband
The location was created by two main structure companies in Colorado Springs and value $60 million to construct in 1994
Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute is in Vigo County, near the Indiana and Illinois border and was inbuilt 1940, and started housing dying row prisoners in 1993.
It nonetheless has a separate facility for these inmates on dying row, with 46 at present within the safe unit, which additionally has a dying chamber.
Terre Haute is one in all two amenities that make up town’s Federal Correctional Complicated, and has a minimum-security satellite tv for pc camp internet to the medium-security jail.
The amenities had been upgraded in 2005 to maintain up with essentially the most innovative know-how to maintain prisoners inside – with doorways managed from a central room.
Quite a lot of inmates escaped previous to the upgrades in 2005, however for the final 18 years there has not been a single breach of the brand new measures.
So far the final federal prisoner executed on the facility was Dustin Higgs, 48, who killed three girls in a Maryland Wildlife refuge. He died contained in the jail on January 16, 2021.
Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who killed 9 individuals when he opened fireplace in a Charleston, South Carolina church in 2015, is being held in Terre Haute after being sentenced to dying in 2017.
Terre Haute is one in all two amenities that make up town’s Federal Correctional Complicated, and has a minimum-security satellite tv for pc camp internet to the medium-security jail
So far the final federal prisoner executed on the facility was Dustin Higgs, 48, who killed three girls in a Maryland Wildlife refuge
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, California
Alcatraz, often known as The Rock, was America’s premier maximum-security jail from 1934 to 1963, and the island which homes it’s now one in all San Francisco’s most outstanding landmarks and vacationer sights.
Every cell in B & C block was 5 ft by 9 ft and had a small sink with chilly working water, a small sleeping cot and a rest room.
A few of the most well-known inmates at Alcatraz had been James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, Al Capone, George ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly and the ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’ Robert Stroud.
Inmates had been granted one go to per 30 days and every visitation needed to be permitted straight by the Warden, however no bodily contact was permit and present occasions had been additionally banned from being mentioned.
Any minor infringement of the laws earned them ten days’ solitary confinement in ‘the dungeon’.
On this hellhole comprising six damp and freezing basement cells, every closed off from the world by a heavy metal door, they had been chained to partitions painted inky-black to deepen the gloom and consumed a weight-reduction plan of bread and water.
Alcatraz, often known as The Rock, was Americas premier maximum-security jail from 1934 to 1963, and is now one in all San Francisco’s most outstanding landmarks and vacationer sights
A few of the most well-known inmates at Alcatraz had been James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, Al Capone, George ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly and the ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’ Robert Stroud
A number of inmates tried to flee the island, however the majority of those that made their means exterior of the partitions and into the ocean didn’t survive.
Of the 36 who made their escape, two made it off the island however had been captured, seven had been shot and killed, two drowned and 5 others had been unaccounted for however presumed to have drowned.
Famously there are three fugitives who managed to outlive escaping Alcatraz – with US Marshals nonetheless searching them to this present day.
Clarence Anglin, John Anglin and Frank Morris stay wished fugitives for his or her June 11, 1962 escape the place they had been serving time for armed financial institution robberies.
The trio could be of their 90s now, and spent greater than a 12 months getting ready for the escape – however have by no means been discovered and it’s unclear in the event that they drowned within the course of.
They dug round a steel air vent of their jail cells, shimmied up poles to traverse the rooftop and sneak previous guards earlier than maneuvering down 50-feet of piping to the bottom of the jail’s bathe space the place they deliberate to take a raft again to the mainland.
HMP Belmarsh, London
HMP Belmarsh was constructed on a part of the location of the previous Royal Arsenal in Thamesmead, south-east London and have become operational on April 2 1991.
The class A jail is understood for its high-security perform and has a inhabitants of at east 900 inmates.
There are 4 completely different residential items, of which sixty per cent are a number of occupancy cells.
It is usually well-known for holding prisoners accused or convicted for terror-related offenses within the 2000s.
Employees on the jail are recognized to be significantly strict, with prisoners being rewarded for good habits.
Notorious inmates on the jail embody Ali Harbi Alio who murdered MP David Mess, Michael Adebolajo, who killed British solider Lee Rigby, Charles Bronson and terrorist Abu Hamza.
The class A jail is understood for its high-security perform and has a inhabitants of at east 900 inmates
Notorious inmates on the jail embody Ali Harbi Alio who murdered MP David Mess, Michael Adebolajo (left) , who killed British solider Lee Rigby, Charles Bronson and terrorist Abu Hamza (proper)
La Santé Jail, France
The La Santé Jail opened it is doorways in 1867, in Paris, France, is likely one of the three primary prisons within the nation.
It has capability of as much as 2000 prisoners and was once the place the dying penalty was carried out by guillotine or firing squad up till 1981.
The controversial jail additionally used to separate inmates by geographic origin and ethnicity and home them in their very own wings up till 2000.
As a part of a restoration undertaking, the jail has been upgraded to have a number of the most high-tech safety measures on the planet.
Solely 5 individuals have ever managed to flee it is partitions, with one being killed whereas doing so and 4 being captured quickly after.
Its inmates have included Jean Genet, Carlos the Jackal, the crooked businessman Bernard Tapie, the rogue financier Jérôme Kerviel, Manuel Noriega and – most beloved by Parisians – the swaggering gangster Jacques Mesrine.
In 1978, Mesrine climbed over its partitions and went on the run however regardless of being a grasp of disguise he was finally caught.
As a part of a restoration undertaking, the jail has been upgraded to have a number of the most high-tech safety measures on the planet
It has capability of as much as 2000 prisoners and was once the place the dying penalty was carried out by guillotine or firing squad up till 1981
Arthur Street Jail, India
Mumbai’s larges and oldest central jail is Arthur Street Jail, which was inbuilt 1926 and was designed to solely maintain 1000 prisoners.
It has been upgraded plenty of instances because it has been opened, however usually the crowded area now homes no less than 2000 – creating crowded and filthy circumstances.
A 22 foot perimeter fence surrounded the partitions, with those that do managed to get far sufficient out of the jail to leap over it struggling severe accidents earlier than being captured.
The jail, spanning over 2 acres, was constructed to be an impenetrable fortress, with authorities retaining their secrets and techniques of the maximum-security jail to themselves.
Indian actress Shilpa Shetty’s husband and businessman Raj Kundra was arrested and spent two months in Arthur Street jail after being arrested in reference to a pornography case in 2021.
He was accused of manufacturing porn movies and distributing them by way of on-line apps however was later granted bail by a Mumbai court docket.
It has been upgraded plenty of instances because it has been opened, however usually the crowded area home no less than 2000 – creating crowded and filthy circumstances
Qincheng Jail, China
Positioned at 3000 ft above sea degree in a desolate valley, Qincheng Jail is the best safety jail in Beijing and the whole lot of China.
It has housed Tiananmen Sq. protestors’, political figures and extra just lately these accused of corruption.
The jail is break up into three sections, the jail home – the place prisoners are separated primarily based on their earlier social standing, job within the exterior world and the severity of their crimes.
Within the second block is the place the inmates are put to work, with a washroom, factories and a farm the place they’ll full their labor.
The ultimate constructing is the place workers and households are primarily based, on aspect, which helps retains the safety measures of the jail underneath lock and key.
Prisoners are referred to by a quantity when they’re locations within the facility, with healthcare supplied at completely different ranges relying on significance and habits.
There are greater than 5000 safety personnel guarding essentially the most infamous prisoners of the nation.
Qincheng was constructed with assist from the Soviet Union in 1958, and was initially used within the detainment of Kuomintang battle criminals. The jail boasts of the tallest watchtower on the planet, trying over a facility that’s surrounded by valleys on all sides.
Positioned at 3000 ft above sea degree in a desolate valley, Qincheng Jail is the best safety jail in Beijing and the whole lot of China
It has housed Tiananmen Sq. protestor’s, political figures and extra just lately these accused of corruption
Fuchu Jail, Japan
Fuchu Jail is the biggest jail in Japan, and opened in Tokyo in 1935 to interchange the earlier jail which was destroyed a decade earlier.
It has one of the vital advances safety measures that prisons have ever taken, with few particulars recognized concerning the facility.
The jail performed host to World Conflict II prisoners up to now and is now dwelling to essentially the most infamous criminals in Japan – housing no less than 2,000 inmates.
A few of the better-known prisoners included communists Kyuichi Tokuda, Yoshio Shiga, and Kim Chon-hae.
Surrounding the constructing is a one mile lengthy 18 ft perimeter wall, with the within of the power upgraded as a part of a 10-year undertaking.
Nobody has ever been capable of escape the jail, with operated central command room and function construct platform for armed guards.
It has one of the vital advances safety measures that prisons have ever taken, with few particulars recognized concerning the facility
The jail performed host to World Conflict II prisoners up to now and is now dwelling to essentially the most infamous criminals in Japan – housing no less than 2,000 inmates
Klong Prem Jail, Bangkok
Contained in the cramped Klong Prem jail, ailments unfold rapidly and prisoners are tattooed to stave off boredom.
The jail was initially a short lived jail established in 1944 within the Lat Yao District as a consequence of calls for throughout World Conflict II when Thailand was at battle with Britain and america.
It’s dwelling to 6000 serving inmates, with 64 per cent of these convicted of drug-related crimes.
A typical cell measures 1.5 x 3 meters and sleeps 5 inmates, side-by-side on darkish blue mattress on the ground.
Jake Mastroianni, 26, a Melbourne DJ and Lance Whitmore, 28, from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire are two of the inmates who’re incarcerated for promoting ecstasy.
Surveillance screens cowl the vast majority of the hallways the place there may be entry to the cells within the jail and guards stand by gates within the long-term sentence zone.
Nonetheless guests are allowed on the jail, with a spot between them and the inmates which means that they’ve to talk by way of cellphone.
The jail was initially a short lived jail established in 1944 within the Lat Yao District as a consequence of calls for throughout World Conflict II when Thailand was at battle with Britain and america
A typical cell measures 1.5 x 3 metres and sleeps 5 inmates, side-by-side on darkish blue mattress on the ground