A giant prison, with an area of 166 hectares, has opened to house some 40,000 suspected gang members in El Salvador.
President Nayib Bukele on Tuesday unveiled the sprawling “Terrorism Confinement Center” located in an isolated rural area near Tecoluca, 74 kilometers southeast of the capital San Salvador, Minister of Public Works Romeo Rodriguez said, according to Agence France-Presse.
The TCC won’t be as appealing as the existing prisons as residents would be forced to work, Deputy Justice Minister Osiris Luna.
Gangs jailed in existing prisons can get “prostitutes, PlayStations, screens, mobile phones and computers” Bukele said.
The new jail, dubbed “the largest prison in all of America,” will be guarded day and night by 600 soldiers and 250 police.
The country’s 20 prisons have a total capacity of 30,000 inmates, without the new mega-prison.
Bukele had initially announced that the giant jail should be finished in September. Authorities have not given any reason for the delay.