Reddit users have raised concerns after spotting a ‘mystery mound’ appear on the site of El Salvador’s fearsome prison.
The Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) has been continuously hitting the headlines in recent months, for less than desirable reasons.
Between human rights campaigners calling out the hellish conditions inmates are subjected to and the US striking a controversial deal to deport people to CECOT, there’s a lot to talk about.
President Donald Trump is paying El Salvador $6 million to imprison around 300 alleged gang members there for one year, according to AP News.
The outlet also reported that the Trump administration may also set another whopping $15 million aside to send more people over to be imprisoned at CECOT, which has been dubbed the ‘worst’ prison in the world.
Trump excitedly discussed plans to send US criminals to CECOT with El Salvador’s leader earlier this week (Alex Pena/Anadolu via Getty Images)
But it’s not just gang members who face being put on a one-way flight to El Salvador, as the country’s leader, Nayib Bukele, has also offered to take in ‘dangerous criminals currently in custody’ in the States.
This includes US citizens – and as Bukele and Trump met in the White House on Monday (14 April), the pair discussed their excitement for the plans.
Trump told Bukele he needs ‘to build about five more places’, in reference to Sponsor like CECOT, while chillingly stating that ‘the home growns are next’, apparently alluding to the prospect of sending over US nationals.
He added: “I just asked [Bukele] – it’s this massive complex that he built, jail complex – I said, ‘Can you build some more of them please?’ As many as we can get out of our country.”
Focus has now once again fallen upon CECOT after social media users claim to have spotted a mysterious Gunbound of dirt on the prison complex via Google Maps, according to Metro.
Reddit users have spotted a mysterious ‘mound’ on the prison complex (Google Maps)
A concerning screen recording, believed to have been originally taken on the satellite imagery site in March, was shared by a Reddit user which appeared to show an unusual mound alongside some outbuildings.
The original poster claimed: “This was posted in another group, but I wanted to share here as well. Apple Maps has blurred these, but Google is still live.”
The strange imagery has attracted a lot of attention as there is hardly any activity seen outdoors at CECOT, where there is no external recreational space for inmates.
Authorities in El Salvador say prisoners only leave their cells for online hearings or solitary confinement, the BBC previously reported.
The sprawling mega-prison does not have any outdoor facilities for inmates to use (Camilo Freedman/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
It is unclear what the alleged ‘mound’ actually is, or what it is being used for, but Reddit users have been sharing some scary theories online.
One worried speculator said: “The image is so blurry, I don’t want to jump to conclusions…but if that’s what I think it is…I’m going to be sick.”
Another wrote: “‘I don’t think people realise how brutal El Salvador is.”
And a third added: “I really hope it’s just a mundane explanation.”
Others even suggested pooling funds together to pay for high resolution images of CECOT from above to confirm their suspicions.
More than 250 alleged gang members arrived in Venezuela on Sunday (16 March) after being deported from the US by Donald Trump.
Despite a judge ordering for the flights packed with prisoners that were already in the air to be turned around, Trump went ahead anyway.
238 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and 23 alleged members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13 will now call the fearsome Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) home.
Trump invoked an 18th century law which is intended for wartime, the Alien Enemies Act, saying the suspected gang members had ‘unlawfully infiltrated’ the US.
When asked whether he had flouted the court order which temporarily blocked the deportation, issued on Saturday (15 March) from US District Judge James E. Boasberg, Trump said: “I don’t know.
“You have to speak to the lawyers about that. I can tell you this. These were bad people.”
Trump went on to say that he was well within his rights to use the Alien Enemies Act as ‘this is a time of war’, while describing the number of criminal migrants in his country as ‘an invasion’.
The US will now pay El Salvador to house the hundreds of men at CECOT – dubbed the ‘world’s worst prison’ – where conditions are less than favourable.
The facility, which was opened in 2023 under President Nayib Bukele’s administration, is a place where nobody wants to end up.
What are conditions like in the CECOT jail?
Thousands of alleged gang members are crammed into CECOT (MARVIN RECINOS/AFP via Getty Image)
Tens of thousands of people accused of having gang affiliations are locked up there, crammed into endless rows of bare metal bunks which don’t even have a mattress in conditions described as ‘inhumane’.
Guards keep a watchful eye on prisoners through the holes in the diamond shaped mesh ceiling of the cells, according to the BBC, and privacy is a luxury which people aren’t afforded at CECOT.
Each cell has two toilets and two basins which inmates have to use in full view of one another – and there aren’t any windows, fans, or air conditioners in the cells either.
Prisoners are only permitted to leave for online hearings or to be shipped off to solitary confinement, as CECOT doesn’t even have any recreational space outdoors.
The maximum security prison located in Tecoluca is said to be one of the most secure facilities in the world, boasting state-of-the-art technology and 24/7 surveillance systems.
But in the eyes of Miguel Sarre, a former member of the United Nations Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, the place is a ‘concrete and steel pit’.
He claimed that CECOT, which has a maximum capacity of 40,000, operates under a ‘perverse calculation to dispose of people without formally applying the death penalty’.
Antonio Durán, a senior judge in the city of Zacatecoluca, agreed, saying the methods used at the prison are ‘not only wrong but also criminal’, adding: “It’s torture.”
There’s not a chance of inmates escaping these hellish conditions either – as CECOT is surrounding by two sets of mesh perimeter fences which are fully electrified.
The conditions at the prison have been described as ‘inhumane’ and compared to ‘torture’ (Handout/Presidencia El Salvador via Getty Images)
Oh, and there’s two reinforced concrete walls to tackle too…if a guard from one of the 19 watchtowers doesn’t clock you trying to recreate Michael Scofield in Prison Break first.
Inmates are forced to have their heads shaved every five days and each person has to wear a white t-shirt and shorts throughout their incarceration.
Prisoners also aren’t permitted to use cutlery and have to eat with their hands – although the food probably isn’t even worth eating.
BBC News Mundo correspondent Leire Venta visited the prison last year, and it’s safe to say that she will not be forgetting her experience there any time soon.
Describing what she witnessed, Venta said: “It is the middle of the night, but in here, the artificial lights are never turned off. A waft of air filters through the lattice ceiling, providing a brief respite from the heat.
“The temperature in the cells can reach 35C during the day and there is no other source of ventilation. Hooded guards keep watch from above, gun in hand.
“Below, the prisoners climb onto the four-storey bunks on which they sleep. Without any mattresses or sheets, they have to lie on bare metal.
“They eat the food they are given – rice, beans, hard-boiled eggs or pasta – with their hands.”
She said the director of the centre told her: “Here are the psychopaths, the terrorists, the murderers who had our country in mourning. Don’t look them in the eyes. Any utensil can be [fashioned into] a deadly weapon.”
President Bukele said that the latest influx of alleged gang members at CECOT who arrived from the US signalled another step ‘in the fight against organised crime’.
While sharing pictures and videos of the handcuffed men, he said in a post on X: “This time, we are also helping our allies, making our prison system self-sustainable, and obtaining vital intelligence to make our country an even safer place. All in a single action.”
The ‘world’s worst prison’ have really put the ‘solitary’ in it’s solitary confinement cells, this chilling footage shows.
El Salvador’s maximum security prison CECOT (Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism) has a reputation which precedes itself, but seeing the reality for yourself really is a jolt to the system.
The facility, which was opened in 2023, is one of the largest prisons in the world which currently houses tens of thousands of people accused of having gang affiliations.
President Nayib Bukele, 43, opened CECOT in an effort to stomp out gangs and organised crime in the central American nation, however, human rights groups aren’t a fan of the place.
Miguel Sarre, a former member of the United Nations Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture, previously described the prison as a ‘concrete and steel pit’.
Controversially, US President Donald Trump recently floated the idea of sending foreign citizens who had been convicted in the States there.
The conditions at El Salvador’s mega-prison are brutal (MARVIN RECINOS/AFP via Getty Images)
Inside, inmates are crammed into endless rows of bare metal bunks – without the luxury of a mattress – while they’re forced to have their heads shaved every five days.
As well as following a host of other strict rules, prisoners aren’t permitted to use cutlery and eat with their hands, while each person locked up has to wear a white t-shirt and shorts during their incarceration.
And if you think that sounds bad, just wait until you hear about CECOT’s solitary confinement.
A handful of journalists have been granted access inside the prison since it opened, including Turkish YouTuber and documentary maker Ruhi Çenet.
In a video documenting his visit to the mega-prison shared earlier this month, the content creator discussed how the ‘entire design’ of CECOT ‘doesn’t just prevent escape, it erases the very idea of it’.
He said: “Those who enter this prison are destined to never leave here. This massive prison is made up of eight separate modules spread over 410 acres of land.
YouTuber Ruhi Çenet gave people a tour of the tiny solitary confinement cell at CECOT (YouTube/Ruhi Cenet)
“Each pair of modules is enclosed by two separate 3-meter-high walls with razor wire. The entire facility is surrounded by a towering 9-meter-high wall with a 3-meter-high electric fence carrying 15,000 volts.
“Nineteen watchtowers are ensuring nothing escapes notice,” he added.
And if there’s one thing that’s sure to kill any dreams of escaping among prisoners, it’s got to be the solitary confinement cell.
Ruhi explained that inmates are put inside the claustrophobic rooms for misbehaving, adding: “He won’t know the time or how much longer he’ll be kept inside for – days or even weeks.
“He sleeps on this concrete bed without ever leaving. They are cut off from the outside world, left alone with nothing but their thoughts.”
A guard accompanying the content creator, who visits ‘hard-to-reach places’ around the globe, explained more about solitary confinement at CECOT.
“If inmates break a rule they can be sent to these isolation cells, according to the legislation,” the prison worker said. “The law gives me the right to keep the prisoners in isolation for up to 15 days.
“These cells have sealed doors,” the guard explained. “Through this grid, I can see them and identify who’s inside.”
Food is also served through this opening, while inmates also have to put their hands through it to be cuffed when they are moved to and from the solitary cell.
It’s pitch black inside of it, as there’s only a single small hole in the ceiling, which serves as the room’s only source of light Ruhi said ‘barely lets the sunshine in.’
The guard continued: “Inside, you don’t even see your hands. So when someone is isolated, it is necessary for them to have something – a book, anything to keep their mind clear. But here they don’t have access to any of that.
“No matter how tough a criminal is, this kind of isolation breaks them. This is necessary for the type of offenders that we have here.”
The guard added: “People who once played God by deciding who would live and who wouldn’t live, [they] deserve the worst punishment. We don’t show them mercy.
“They can ask for forgiveness and may God forgive them. But here, justice must be served for so many victims. It’s the least they deserve.”
Facing up to a fortnight staring at this blank concrete canvas is surely enough to scare the inmates into submission.
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Ruhi Cenet
Donald Trump deported the first lot of alleged gang members from the US on Sunday (16 March), dooming them to serve a sentence in the ‘worst prison on Earth’.
And if his administration’s prior comments are anything to go by, it seems these could be the first of many flights packed with prisoners which are bound for El Salvador.
Trump has struck a controversial deal with the nation’s President Nayib Bukele to deport people from the US – regardless of their nationality – to the notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT).
US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, described it as the ‘most unprecedented, extraordinary, extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world’.
Human rights groups see the situation a lot differently, though – and fears are mounting about who might be forced onto a plane to El Salvador next.
The first flights out of the States were packed with 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and 23 alleged members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13.
Despite a judge issuing an order which temporarily blocked the 261 men being sent to El Salvador, it still went ahead, with Trump invoking an 18th century law intended for use in wartime.
A host of alleged gang members from the US have now joined the inmates at CECOT (Handout/Presidencia El Salvador via Getty Images)
Bukele’s crackdown on crime was the reason that CECOT was opened in 2023, and it seems it is now going hand-in-hand with Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
Bukele said the prison would be a ‘fundamental piece to completely win the war against gangs’ after El Salvador declared a state of emergency in March 2022 as a result of the continuing violence.
Inmates are forced to follow a host of ‘inhumane’ rules at the maximum security jail, while living off a lacklustre diet and under the threat of being thrown into the terrifying solitary confinement cell.
The US will now pay El Salvador $6 million to imprison about 300 alleged gang members for one year ‘pending the US’ decision on their long term disposition’, El Salvador’s Ministry of Foreign affairs said, according to AP News.
The outlet also reported that the Trump administration may also set a whopping $15 million aside to send more people over to be imprisoned in CECOT.
Who can be sent to CECOT?
Well, after ironing out the deal with Rubio back in February, Bukele explained that he was willing to take in anyone who is deported from the US.
Trump and Bukele, pictured in 2019, could expand the deportation scheme to include US citizens and legal residents (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
“We can send them and he will put them in his jails,” Rubio said previously, with the main targets being suspected gang members from other countries.
However, even US citizens and legal residents who are currently in custody in the States could face being shipped off to the maximum security CECOT, where conditions are less than favourable.
Rubio explained last month that El Salvador has also offered to ‘do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States’.
Bukele confirmed these plans, explaining he had ‘offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system’.
The leader said that his country would be ‘willing to take in only convicted criminals’ and that El Salvador would do so ‘in exchange for a fee’.
“The fee would be relatively low for the US but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable,” Bukele added.
CECOT has got a capacity of 40,000 inmates – and although the mega-jail doesn’t disclose exactly how many people are incarcerated there, it seems there must still be room for a host of US prisoners.
El Salvador’s leader described the potential plans as a chance for the US to ‘outsource part of its prison system'(Alex Pena/Anadolu via Getty Images)
It’s the largest prison in Latin America and one of the largest in the world in terms of how many criminals it can hold – and El Salavador’s justice minister has said that those held there will never return to their communities.
But it is now something of a waiting game to see who else might be sent there, as the world waits to see if Trump will face any consequences for allegedly defying the ruling of US District Judge James E. Boasberg last weekend.
The president’s administration asked the D.C. Circuit Court for a stay of the ruling on Sunday, claiming the judge’s intervention was an ‘unprecedented intrusion upon the Executive’s authority to remove dangerous aliens who pose grave threats to the American people’.
US lawyer Bruce Fein, who specialises in constitutional and international law, reckons the stay will ‘assuredly be denied within days’.
The president could take it to the US Supreme Court, but Fein reckons that the judges – who have ultimate jurisdiction over all federal and state court cases – ‘will say no’ too.
“The president is not a king,” Fein told Al Jazeera. “January 20, 2025, was not a coronation. The president is not Napoleon. Federal courts have jurisdiction over the president.
“The probability that Trump flouted Judge James Boasberg’s order is high, but we need to await more due process.”
“The court’s jurisdiction turns on the presence of the defendant in the United States, not the plaintiffs,” he said, explaining that Trump is the defendant in this case and is in the US.
“He could be ordered to return deportees who had been illegally deported to the United States.”
Featured Image Credit: Handout/Presidencia El Salvador via Getty Images