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Richard Madeley gains access inside one of the most controversial prisons in the world, El Salvador's Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT). The vast maximum security prison has become the cornerstone of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele's war on gangs. Richard talks to the inmates living under one of the strictest prison regimes in the world.
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00:00:16This road that we're on from the capital, San Salvador, to the world's toughest prison,
00:00:22housing the world's most dangerous prisoners, this is the last journey that most of these
00:00:28guys will have made.
00:00:33I suppose what I'm wondering is, if this prison and the way it's run is something that we
00:00:38would like to see back in Britain, or if it's so harsh, its rules are so unrelenting and
00:00:45bleak, that it's a step, maybe more than a step, too far.
00:00:53And what's that to the right?
00:00:54I think I'm just coming, it's coming into the air.
00:00:58Wow, it's big.
00:01:10It is actually quite intimidating.
00:01:13Holy cow.
00:01:16This is full on.
00:01:28El Salvador was a killing field during its civil war.
00:01:32Now there's a fresh horror.
00:01:35El Salvador used to be a battlefield where three gangs fought for supremacy.
00:01:42Is this where guys were lined up and shot?
00:01:44Yes.
00:01:45So this is an execution war.
00:01:48Every ten yards, you go to a haunted spot where men were killed.
00:01:53Under emergency measures, more than 20,000 people have been arrested.
00:01:57It was an unprecedented crackdown on ganged by El Salvador's authoritarian president, Nayib Kelly.
00:02:04Sometimes they say that we present thousands. I like to say that we actually liberated millions.
00:02:09Because they have one hell of a president.
00:02:15These guys are serious, serious gangsters. Look at them now.
00:02:21This man's killed 12, 12 people.
00:02:24And he tortured them and killed them. There were kids, pregnant women.
00:02:27You killed 30 people.
00:02:29Yeah.
00:02:31The country's new mega prison is the largest in Latin America.
00:02:34Space for 40,000.
00:02:37I mean, this is like no other prison I've ever seen. It's profoundly shocking.
00:02:43We are here patrolling because there are some guys who they were able to escape.
00:02:48You haven't got them all?
00:02:49Yeah.
00:02:50But with almost 2% of the entire population now behind bars, some say the cost in human rights is
00:02:58very high.
00:02:59It's a heck of a price, isn't it?
00:03:01And I just wonder if anything like this could happen in the UK.
00:03:25I'm in El Salvador, a country in Central America
00:03:29that recently was seen as the murder capital of the world.
00:03:35Just 10 years ago, it was ravaged by gang violence.
00:03:39And it had a murder rate 90 times higher than the UK.
00:03:44Today, those figures have plummeted.
00:03:47It's now one of the safest countries in Latin America.
00:03:50And statistically, it's even safer than the United States.
00:03:58The one thing I was able to tell my family before I got on a plane here
00:04:02was that I was coming to a safe country.
00:04:04This is not the El Salvador of five years ago, 10 years ago.
00:04:08It's not.
00:04:09It's the safest country in Central America.
00:04:15But what price have they paid to attain that?
00:04:19And is it a price that you can really live with?
00:04:24It's under the leadership of their self-proclaimed dictator, President Nayib Bukele,
00:04:29that El Salvador has been transformed.
00:04:32Thousands of gang members have been labelled as terrorists and locked up.
00:04:39Tomorrow is the start of my visit to the prison
00:04:42that is the centrepiece of his war on gangs.
00:04:50The next morning, we follow government officials
00:04:53who strictly control access inside the prison.
00:05:01We're not being naive here.
00:05:02It doesn't matter what country on the planet you live in.
00:05:05We all live with a degree of government spin.
00:05:08I'm going to do my best to look past that.
00:05:11We're driving 90 minutes outside of the capital, San Salvador,
00:05:15to the prison that's gained a reputation as the most controversial in the world.
00:05:22I mean, it's incredibly strict, but they say it's not cruel.
00:05:25They say there's no torture, there's no violence.
00:05:28It seems somewhat improbable that there's no violence in the prison housing
00:05:32tens of thousands of incredibly dexterous criminals.
00:05:37And there we've seemingly got armed guards about every,
00:05:42what, 50, 60 yards, stationed on both sides of the road.
00:05:46It is actually quite intimidating to see so many, so many armed guards.
00:05:52I mean, I guess we must have passed 50 on the way here in about a space of half a
00:05:57mile,
00:05:58three quarters of a mile.
00:06:01Located at the foot of the San Vicente volcano,
00:06:04this is the centre for the confinement of terrorism, otherwise known as CICOT.
00:06:16Opened in 2023, it was built to hold up to 40,000 violent gang members.
00:06:24After months of negotiations with the authorities,
00:06:27we are set to be the first British documentary film crew inside the prison.
00:06:32We've been working with Alejandro, a local translator, to gain access.
00:06:38What do you think?
00:06:40I'm taken aback at the amount of security.
00:06:43I didn't expect there'll be so many armed soldiers.
00:06:46Yes.
00:06:47All the way back to the main road.
00:06:57I'm taken through the state-of-the-art security measures by prison director Belamino Garcia.
00:07:04He says it's impossible to smuggle anything in.
00:07:09Has anyone ever managed to smuggle a phone in?
00:07:12No, nadie.
00:07:13Nadie.
00:07:14Drugs?
00:07:14Drogas?
00:07:16Nada.
00:07:17Can he come to England, please?
00:07:19He says he can ask to England too.
00:07:24Even if mobile phones could be smuggled in, they wouldn't work.
00:07:29The whole of the prison is protected by a kind of dome of an electronic bubble,
00:07:34which stops any phone signals getting in or getting out.
00:07:38I begin to notice that many of the guards are covering their faces.
00:07:42Even my local film crew insists on wearing masks.
00:07:45It says a lot about the sense of fear that still lingers, even with the gang members firmly locked up.
00:07:53Why do your security people have face masks on?
00:07:57Si bien es cierto, tenemos cierta cantidad de estructuras criminales ya en el contexto de
00:08:04encierro, pero todavía hay remanentes fuera.
00:08:08Why doesn't he wear a mask?
00:08:11Eh, bueno, considero que no es necesario.
00:08:14Tengo que decirles qué hacer, cuándo hacer, cómo hacerlo.
00:08:18Entonces yo tengo que ir hacia ellos, hablar cara a cara con ellos.
00:08:23We're going now to the cells.
00:08:26To the actual prison.
00:08:27Yes, we're going to get in the bus.
00:08:29The bus?
00:08:29Yes.
00:08:34I can't conceive of a jail in the UK so big that you have to get into a bus once
00:08:41you've got inside
00:08:42the prison walls.
00:08:45This sprawling complex is the size of 32 football pitches.
00:08:50I count that as the fourth, no, the fifth steel gate that we've gone through.
00:08:57And this is the sixth double steel gate we've gone through.
00:09:02Finally, we arrive at one of the eight prison blocks.
00:09:06Inside each one, there are 32 cells housing the inmates.
00:09:12Are those the cells?
00:09:13Okay, they look like huge aircraft hangars.
00:09:17But what will it be like to be in the same room as 3,000 highly violent men at such
00:09:24close quarters?
00:09:27I'm apprehensive.
00:09:40It's hard to grasp the scale of it.
00:09:46In front of me are multiple cells, each with over a hundred prisoners staring back at me.
00:10:00It's more of a shock than I expected.
00:10:07Whatever the reason that these men are here, we accept that they're very, very dangerous criminals.
00:10:14This is a terrible sight.
00:10:17It plucks at the heart.
00:10:22These lights stay on all night.
00:10:25We have a 24-7-24 hours.
00:10:2924 hours.
00:10:30Why?
00:10:30Why?
00:10:32Why?
00:10:32It's simply part of the security protocol, because I need to be able to see what they're doing in the
00:10:51context of the sea.
00:10:52Inside this giant hangar, there is a low hum, but it's eerily quiet.
00:10:59Why aren't any of these men calling out?
00:11:03Nobody has a book, or a newspaper, or a screen of any kind.
00:11:10There is nothing.
00:11:12Is that strictly necessary?
00:11:14They can have a Bible.
00:11:18Yes.
00:11:18But that's it.
00:11:19That's it.
00:11:20Everyone here, all of these men, are going to die here.
00:11:26None of them are ever coming out.
00:11:32So this is their present, and their future, and their death.
00:11:41I've never seen anything like this in my entire life.
00:11:45And it's going to take a while to process it, because the reality of seeing
00:11:533,000 men in cells, on metal bunks, with nothing to do at all, is one hell of a thing
00:12:03to see.
00:12:11Suddenly, I'm being taken to a side row.
00:12:15This is where they talk to the lawyers?
00:12:17Yes.
00:12:19Some have criticized this legal process, with government footage showing mass trials of
00:12:25almost 500 prisoners taking place via video link.
00:12:31I'm being shown one of the smaller in-house virtual courtrooms.
00:12:38Mr. Director told us that no one's ever been released from here.
00:12:42So what's the point of these meetings?
00:12:54I wonder if these men feel they're getting a fair hearing.
00:13:00Is it possible for me to speak to these men?
00:13:01No.
00:13:02No.
00:13:03No.
00:13:04All the men in the cells outside?
00:13:05No.
00:13:06No.
00:13:07Why can't I even say hello or goodbye to these men?
00:13:10Part of the protocol.
00:13:11Protocol.
00:13:12Protocol.
00:13:12It's the protocol.
00:13:13Okay, it's the unbreakable rule.
00:13:14Yes, it's the unbreakable rule.
00:13:15The director is clearly keen to defend the prison against my questions on the inmates' conditions.
00:13:23So he wants to make emphasis on the human rights.
00:13:26They have food, they have basic needs, they have health, and they can continue all the legal processes.
00:13:33Food, yeah, alimentation, they have everything, all the basic needs.
00:13:38I still feel the need to press him on why they must be so harsh.
00:13:44And he doesn't accept that many people who would support life in prison for the crimes that these men have
00:13:52permitted
00:13:53would see having the lights on 24-7, never even dimming them, and having nothing at all to do in
00:14:00the cell,
00:14:01apart from the Bible, that's not remotely cruel.
00:14:04Eh.
00:14:07It's necessary.
00:14:10Unnecessary cruelty.
00:14:11It's necessary to have control.
00:14:13The pace suddenly quickens, and we're being hurried around.
00:14:17Perhaps asking about conditions here is pushing too far.
00:14:22That he can understand why it can be interpreted as something cruel, like this.
00:14:28Mm-hmm.
00:14:28But I imagine, from where you come, the culture is different.
00:14:33Then, suddenly, we're asked to stop filming.
00:14:43I think I may have overstepped the mark.
00:14:45How are we, is that, are we done then?
00:14:48Yeah.
00:14:48We're done.
00:14:53I'm in El Salvador, at the world's most controversial prison, Sicot.
00:15:00Full of the most dangerous and violent men in the country, these murderers, rapists, and child killers
00:15:06will spend the rest of their lives here.
00:15:10It's been shocking to see the prisoners in conditions that have been criticised by human rights groups.
00:15:18And my questioning led to some tension.
00:15:22Why?
00:15:22I think you need to talk to the producers here about that.
00:15:25Sorry, sorry.
00:15:26Sorry, sorry.
00:15:46He's not objective.
00:15:48It's clear the prison director thinks that I haven't grasped how effective his Sicot regime is
00:15:53as a deterrent to the gangs.
00:16:03I'm still hoping to see much more of the prison.
00:16:06But for now, we've been shown the door.
00:16:20In 2015, there were over 6,500 murders in El Salvador.
00:16:26Ten years later, that figure had dropped 282.
00:16:31Before I return to Sicot, I'm going to visit a former gang stronghold.
00:16:37Could a once violent no-go zone really be safe now for outsiders?
00:16:45Right now, we're going to La Campanera, part of the hood that is extremely dangerous.
00:16:51I've never been, personally. I've never been there.
00:16:56La Campanera is on the outskirts of San Salvador,
00:16:59and it was once ruled by the Barrio 18 gang.
00:17:05It was their battle with bitter rivals, MS-13, that led to so much bloodshed.
00:17:12It's thought that the two gangs are responsible for the deaths of at least 200,000 people.
00:17:20Formed in the 1980s in Los Angeles, the gangs grew from the men who'd fled the growing civil war.
00:17:28When hostilities ended in 1992, criminal elements were deported from the U.S. back here.
00:17:34And it's the chaos of a country emerging from war, the gangs flourished.
00:17:43Through the threat of extreme violence, they controlled vast territories,
00:17:48and they ran extortion rackets worth millions.
00:17:59What would have happened if you'd come here back then?
00:18:01Kill me, immediately.
00:18:02Did you kill you?
00:18:03Yeah, immediately.
00:18:04Just for coming?
00:18:04Yes, for coming.
00:18:05Did the police or the military ever come here?
00:18:07No.
00:18:08No, it was...
00:18:09They get killed too?
00:18:10Yeah, it was...
00:18:11It was completely locked.
00:18:12Everything was controlled.
00:18:13There was people checking.
00:18:15It was very organised.
00:18:17It was in places like this that residents lived under constant surveillance, extortion and violence.
00:18:25I walk through the tight alleyways.
00:18:29Round every corner, there's a spot with a grim history.
00:18:34So basically here, the people from the neighbourhood, one family member, the dad was a cop,
00:18:41and the kid was involved in the gang.
00:18:43They called him here and they killed him here.
00:18:45Every ten yards, you go to a haunted spot, don't you?
00:18:49Yes.
00:18:50You go to a haunted spot where men were killed.
00:18:53It was in areas like this that the gangs would recruit poor and at-risk teenagers.
00:19:00So this is where they would do the initiation.
00:19:02So if you were part of the 18 gang, you would have to, if you were new, you would have
00:19:06to kill people here.
00:19:09The abandoned houses that recently belonged to gang members are being renovated.
00:19:13And graffiti that marked their territory is being painted over, so that any sign of the gang's rule is erased.
00:19:24Here you can see there's some bullet holes.
00:19:27These are big bullet holes.
00:19:28Is this where guys were lined up and shot?
00:19:30Yes.
00:19:31So this is an execution wall?
00:19:33Yeah.
00:19:34It's kind of important to realise that all those guys that we've seen in the centre,
00:19:39we've seen behind bars in the prison, this was their patch.
00:19:43This was their fiefdom, and this is where they did a lot of the killing.
00:19:48Alejandro is suddenly nervous, and he hurries me along.
00:19:53I think we should, we should walk more, because we're still, instead of shooting, we just,
00:19:57just, I think it's better, just.
00:19:58Yeah.
00:19:59Just.
00:20:01Then he explains why.
00:20:03Something to note is that even though right now we're, they're taking control back,
00:20:08there's still family members of gang members still here, who are not happy,
00:20:11because there has their husband, their kid, whoever, are in the centre.
00:20:18Gang families are still living here, so maybe it's not quite as rosy as they would like to present it
00:20:25us, but having said that, this is a part of San Salvador that it would have been insane for people
00:20:31like me,
00:20:32people like my crew to come for any reason at all at any time of day just a few years
00:20:36ago,
00:20:36who probably would have been murdered just for being here. That's not over-dramatising it,
00:20:41that's how it was.
00:20:43Despite the tension, the gang's stranglehold on this area has clearly been all but broken.
00:20:50So, will what I've learned here change the way that I see Seacott itself?
00:20:58When I return to the prison, it's in the early hours of the morning.
00:21:04I'm not sure if I'll be welcomed back, and on our return, we are stopped at a checkpoint.
00:21:12Okay, so this is going to be the first check, they're going to check all the cars and
00:21:16take everything. This is much, much stricter than yesterday.
00:21:26Maybe we did annoy them a bit.
00:21:34We drive back up the road, still lined with armed guards.
00:21:41I mean, the very concept of some kind of rescue squad of gangsters coming here to
00:21:49spring their mates is just preposterous. Getting over those walls, getting past these guys.
00:22:04nice to see you again.
00:22:08Nice to see you again.
00:22:26Good humour from yesterday, so I don't think we did any lasting damage.
00:22:33Still have a few more frank extremes to go there.
00:22:38It's approaching 4am, and the prisoners are due to be woken up.
00:22:54Most of the guys are asleep, still, so we have to be quiet.
00:23:00Quite a few have covered their faces, I think.
00:23:02They've been woken up.
00:23:06So how much sleep have they had?
00:23:21Just in case somebody slipped through the bars in the night.
00:23:26What's bizarre is to see how these brutal gang members meekly line up to one side and wait to
00:23:33be told what to do. What strikes me is the absolute obedience of all of these men.
00:23:40They do exactly what they're told. I can't imagine a prison in the UK where prisoners would be
00:23:48this subservient. Why are they so obedient?
00:23:56You've got to remember that most of these guys are serious, serious gangsters.
00:24:02who have a huge amount of control and power in the outside world. And look at them now.
00:24:11And while the counting goes on in this module here, come back to the first one.
00:24:17They haven't moved. They're still in exactly the same position. They wait for orders to do everything.
00:24:28They wait for orders to do everything.
00:24:28With all 32 cells counted, I'm told that this is when the prisoners wash.
00:24:42They're slightly bad about watching this because, you know,
00:24:45obviously getting naked and there's no, no screen, no privacy of any kind.
00:24:51I assume the water is cold.
00:24:58This morning schedule is what many of these men have been following for the last three years.
00:25:07In 2023, the government first made a huge public display of holding the gang members at Seacot.
00:25:16Built in just seven months, amid President Bukela's aggressive crackdown, 90,000 suspects were arrested.
00:25:45It's all made Bukela, who once called himself the world's coolest dictator,
00:25:50extremely popular. His approval ratings still top 90%.
00:25:57What did they say? They're violating human rights.
00:26:02Who are the human rights? Of the people who are honored?
00:26:05No. Maybe we put priority on the people who are honored on the rights of the delineers.
00:26:16In the UK, it's hard to understand the huge impact these caged gang members once had.
00:26:26Inside the cells, sworn enemies from the rival gangs Barrio 18 and MS 13 have been placed together.
00:26:34It's through these tattoo designs that they indicate which gang they're a part of.
00:26:41And you could be in here simply because you had one of these tattoos.
00:26:55And being completely honest, does he see these men as being subhuman?
00:27:05It's chilling to think that just having certain tattoos could leave you behind these bars for life.
00:27:13But it's clear that they are an intrinsic part of gang identity, indicating loyalty,
00:27:19rank, criminal history, or even acting as a stark warning to others.
00:27:43It's a very potent message, isn't it?
00:27:45Yes.
00:27:46They might as well be wearing a shirt that says I will kill you.
00:27:49Exactly.
00:27:49Estas estructuras criminales son estructuras también satánicas.
00:27:53They are satanic. They worship the devil.
00:27:56Do you think that this man still, in his heart, follows Satan?
00:28:01Claro que sí.
00:28:02Yes.
00:28:04I've been shocked by the number of face tattoos on display.
00:28:10At the beginning, the face tattoos were because of a punishment.
00:28:14A punishment?
00:28:14If they would not complete a task or a mission, they would tattoo the logos in the head, in the
00:28:19face.
00:28:20But then they changed and became a symbol.
00:28:41It's clear. There are men here that, together, are responsible for thousands of murders.
00:28:52A lot of homicide.
00:28:54A lot.
00:28:54A lot of killings.
00:28:55A lot of killings.
00:28:56How many?
00:28:57Twelve.
00:28:57This man's killed twelve people.
00:28:59He was part of the capture, the kidnap, torture, and killing of four members of the army.
00:29:06And he tortured them and killed them.
00:29:09I noticed that the tattoo on his chest apparently says, innocent.
00:29:13Ah, I have a tattoo.
00:29:14It's innocent.
00:29:17If you find that amusing.
00:29:18Okay.
00:29:20What's remarkable are the lengths of the sentences?
00:29:29So these are consecutive sentences?
00:29:31Consecutive sentences.
00:29:31They're not concurrent?
00:29:32No, they're not consecutive.
00:29:33When one finishes, the next one kicks in until he dies?
00:29:36Yes.
00:29:36So he'll die here?
00:29:39El Salvador abolished the death penalty in 1983.
00:29:43So these men will now die here in Seacott.
00:29:47And I can't help wondering if they feel any remorse.
00:29:52Mr. Director, Senator Director, I'm exchanging looks with these men.
00:29:58They're looking at me and I'm looking at them.
00:30:01Am I allowed to speak to them?
00:30:04No.
00:30:05At all?
00:30:05No.
00:30:07They don't want me to have any interaction with the inmates.
00:30:12Some of their crimes are so extreme it would be difficult to know what to say.
00:30:17They filmed themselves committing this horrific series of murders?
00:30:21Yes.
00:30:23I'm about to see exactly what they're capable of.
00:30:28Holy cow.
00:30:29Holy cow.
00:30:30You don't want to see this.
00:30:43I'm inside Seacott.
00:30:48A maximum security prison with a reputation for being the toughest and most dangerous in the world.
00:30:55Home to El Salvador's criminal elite.
00:31:01In this case, he is one of those who participated in the interception of a microbus from the collective transport.
00:31:10So they took a bus.
00:31:12Took a bus.
00:31:12To the regular bus.
00:31:13Filled it with gasoline.
00:31:15Set fire to it.
00:31:16And people who wanted to leave, they would shoot them.
00:31:18They shot them as they tried to escape.
00:31:20They were kids.
00:31:21Pregnant women.
00:31:22Pregnant women.
00:31:22Okay.
00:31:25Second worker.
00:31:30While still not being allowed to interact with any prisoners, it's sickening to hear their crimes.
00:31:39This man was part of a gang who attacked a group of workers fixing cables.
00:31:44Purely because they were in the wrong territory.
00:31:48They tie them and they throw them to a hole.
00:31:50And then they start chopping them with a machete.
00:31:52Bibos.
00:31:53Alive.
00:31:54They chopped them to death alive.
00:31:56Chopped them to death with a machete.
00:31:58They filmed themselves committing this horrific series of murders.
00:32:02Yes.
00:32:03And they released it to social media.
00:32:04And put it, but they posted it online.
00:32:06Holy cow.
00:32:08Holy cow.
00:32:09You don't want to see this.
00:32:13Jesus Christ.
00:32:15These are the types of people that are here.
00:32:17This was their reality.
00:32:18This was our reality.
00:32:20It was so normalized, the violence that we had here.
00:32:23And these examples of the men in here are the reason why
00:32:28Senor Director sleeps easy in his bed at night.
00:32:38I wasn't expecting to see the video that was posted of the machete murders.
00:32:44It was the most graphic thing I've ever seen in my life.
00:32:47But I think it was important that I did.
00:32:50Because there is no question that these guys are dangerous and ruthless.
00:32:57And control this country with the most murderous grip possibly in modern history.
00:33:05For such ruthless, sadistic killers, it's remarkable how quiet and reserved they seem.
00:33:13And it makes me wonder what punishments there are for those who do step out of line.
00:33:21Any inmate that causes trouble is sent here.
00:33:26A tiny, pitch black concrete hole.
00:33:30Hold it quite firmly, so it's like that.
00:33:33Within the depths of the prison.
00:33:36The isolation cell.
00:33:40There she goes.
00:33:46Holy cow.
00:33:52Sorry, I'm just feeling my way to sit down.
00:33:54Here we go.
00:33:57Difficult, gangster prisoners here can be banged up here for 30 days.
00:34:04A month.
00:34:08It's totally silent.
00:34:12There is no light coming down from the roof.
00:34:17I've got the light vision camera to give me some sense of where I am.
00:34:21But basically you'd have to grope your way to the stone sink here.
00:34:29And you'd have to grope your way to the toilet and somehow find the bowl that you need to flush
00:34:37it.
00:34:40But I guess the really tough, what was that imaginable thing is that you could be here for a month.
00:34:53It's just you.
00:34:55And that's it.
00:35:07The door's open.
00:35:10I can't see anybody coming out of here with a fighting spirit.
00:35:14It's funny, this is the one place.
00:35:17This is the one place in this jail that does have an odour.
00:35:20There's a certain odour here.
00:35:21I can't really describe it.
00:35:26Fear.
00:35:28That would seem like freedom outside.
00:35:32Boy, you would do exactly what you were told.
00:35:42Director Garcia claims that it's rare that inmates are sent to solitary confinement.
00:35:47Yet across the prison, there are 96 isolation cells.
00:35:53Are they no more than a deterrent?
00:35:56Or are they used more than the director is letting on?
00:36:04Regardless, day-to-day life inside Seacott is bleak.
00:36:15The prisoners are granted a tiny slice of freedom in the form of a daily exercise class and religious worship.
00:36:23They get 30 minutes a day to do this.
00:36:26And it's the only time that when they're out of their cells, they're not shackled.
00:36:30Because obviously they couldn't exercise if they were.
00:36:33Exactly.
00:36:40Once they've done the calisthenics, exercise for the body, they get exercise for their morality.
00:36:48And they're given preachings and teachings from the Bible.
00:36:53Which text from the Bible is he talking about here?
00:36:57What are the topics we have right now?
00:36:59What topics do we have?
00:37:04Do you think this makes any difference to them?
00:37:14It's the strangest Bible class I've ever seen.
00:37:2323 and a half hours every day are spent behind bars.
00:37:28With so little to do, meal times become a small mercy.
00:37:37So they never eat outside the cell.
00:37:39They only ever have their meals in the cell.
00:37:42What's the food?
00:37:43What's dinner tonight?
00:37:44Frijol, beans, and rice.
00:37:46And that's the same every night?
00:37:49And that's the same every night?
00:37:50Every night?
00:37:51That's dinner and breakfast almost repeats.
00:37:55It's not what you'd call a balanced diet.
00:38:02The boxes of food are all lined up outside each cell.
00:38:07Nobody eats until the command is given.
00:38:22But they have to eat with their fingers?
00:38:26Yes, like this.
00:38:28With the tortillas.
00:38:29What are you doing with it?
00:38:30Well, you do get in with your tortillas.
00:38:31OK, OK.
00:38:34Well, I'm not going to lie.
00:38:37The beans are quite tasty.
00:38:40But this isn't what you'd call a nutritious meal, is it?
00:38:44I mean, there's no green vegetables.
00:38:46You have protein and you have the rice, but yes.
00:38:49So doesn't that give them vitamin deficiencies?
00:38:53At this point, no.
00:38:59The director tells me that the prisoners get around 1,800 calories a day.
00:39:04This may, however, change in the future.
00:39:07So there's been a critique about the food that they're given.
00:39:11And the answer of the president was that when chicken and with beef is available to the rest of
00:39:17the country, maybe then it's going to be possible to give it to them.
00:39:20That's the answer of the president.
00:39:22I see.
00:39:23So when the rest of the country has recovered enough stability and security and wealth
00:39:29to eat properly, that's when the prisoners will get better food than this.
00:39:34The people's justice.
00:39:43It's perfectly edible.
00:39:45There's nothing wrong with this.
00:39:47But if I knew that I was only ever going to eat this
00:39:51for breakfast and for dinner for the rest of my life,
00:39:54this is what you get for being a member,
00:39:58an active member of a homicidal gang,
00:40:03psychopathic gang, and they were.
00:40:05I mean, let's not pretend that we're surrounded by decent, innocent men here.
00:40:10We're not.
00:40:11We're surrounded by some of the most dangerous men on the continent here.
00:40:16And we can't just shrug that off.
00:40:20This is punishment on a plate.
00:40:24Human rights groups report that prisoners inside Seacot have been subjected to inhumane conditions,
00:40:31citing the food as inadequate.
00:40:35But the most damning allegations came after another world leader decided to use Seacot.
00:40:43President Trump likes your prison.
00:40:51Donald Trump and the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, met at the White House in 2025.
00:40:59Their conversation about the success of Seacot was posted on Bukele's social media.
00:41:05Mr. President, it's an honor to have you. Do you want to stop crime and set away?
00:41:10Sometimes they say that we prison thousands. I like to say that we actually liberated millions.
00:41:16Can't have one hell of a president.
00:41:26Just a few weeks before, over 200 Venezuelan men living in the USA
00:41:31were deported by President Trump to Seacot, with the El Salvadorian government
00:41:37receiving a reported $4.7 million in return.
00:41:44The mass deportation was well publicized, broadcast all over the world.
00:41:50In the dead of night, the US military plane arrives in El Salvador.
00:41:54Ten men are taken away in shackles, in footage filmed by the Salvadoran government.
00:41:59The Trump administration alleges these are gang members,
00:42:02the latest of hundreds deported from the US.
00:42:06Four months later, after negotiations between the governments of Venezuela,
00:42:10El Salvador and the US, the Venezuelan prisoners were released.
00:42:17But they now hold an extremely rare record.
00:42:20They're the only people who will ever be set free from Seacot.
00:42:28Their experiences were reported to human rights groups and the world's press.
00:42:35The Venezuelans claimed physical assaults, torture and sexual violence within the prison.
00:42:43They described being forced to sit on their knees for 24 hours.
00:42:48Some claimed they were struck so savagely and repeatedly that they struggled to walk.
00:42:55Allegedly, Director Garcia told them all, as they walked into Seacot,
00:42:59you have arrived in hell.
00:43:03The El Salvadorian government denies allegations of torture.
00:43:07It maintains that the facility adheres to strict security protocols.
00:43:13President Bukele of El Salvador, he has been so incredible.
00:43:18He has been such a great ally of this country.
00:43:21Thank you very much.
00:43:23Such a great ally.
00:43:28Despite these allegations, I have been told repeatedly that incidents inside the facility are rare.
00:43:38They have to go.
00:43:41Suddenly, I'm rushed away.
00:43:45Into a holding cell, flanked by armed guards.
00:43:51Finally, I think I've been given permission to speak with a single prisoner.
00:43:58A ruthless gang member and mass murderer, formerly known on the streets as Psycho.
00:44:05I should say this is the one prisoner I'm being allowed to talk to, this notorious gang member.
00:44:12So one can be there.
00:44:18Before you came in here, you were king of the world.
00:44:22You could do anything.
00:44:24You could have anyone killed with the snap of your fingers.
00:44:28What's it like for you to be in here?
00:44:34I want me to be there.
00:44:37Secot is one of the most secure prisons in the world.
00:44:45Nineteen watchtowers surround the fifty six acre sites.
00:44:49blocked from the outside world by 9-metre-high walls
00:44:53topped with 15,000 volts of 3-metre electrified barbed fence.
00:45:02The very idea of escape is futile.
00:45:08Let's go.
00:45:10We have to go.
00:45:12Let's go. I'll follow you down.
00:45:14After asking many times, I've finally been given permission to speak to a prisoner
00:45:20known as Psycho.
00:45:24Although it appeared that I would talk to him without bars between us,
00:45:27he has suddenly moved at the last minute to a holding cell for the interview.
00:45:37I've been told that I have just five minutes.
00:45:41You speak English?
00:45:43Yeah, but you've got to tell me if I can talk to him.
00:45:48OK.
00:45:50So the interview is going to be in Spanish.
00:45:51I'm going to translate.
00:45:53I'm told he speaks good English.
00:45:55No, no, but I can't.
00:45:57He can't get English.
00:46:01The prisoner is told that he must speak to me in Spanish.
00:46:06I suspect this is so the prison director and the growing crowd around us can understand
00:46:12every single word.
00:46:16What did you do?
00:46:18Yo cometí delitos de homicidios, como 30 homicidios, y soy líder de pandilla.
00:46:23You killed 30 people.
00:46:25Yeah.
00:46:26Sí.
00:46:28Before you came in here, you were king of the world.
00:46:33You could do anything.
00:46:35You could have anyone killed with the snap of your fingers.
00:46:40What's it like for you to be in here?
00:46:43Acuérdese que este es un penal de máxima seguridad, este es el fin de todo, todo delito
00:46:48que nosotros hemos hecho, donde nosotros no vamos a salir, entonces es la causa de todo.
00:46:54Aunque nosotros cuando andamos allá afuera hacíamos y deshacíamos, como usted dice, pero en sí,
00:46:59esa es la vida, este es el fin de todo.
00:47:02When you were killing all those people, did you even think for a moment that what you
00:47:09were doing was wrong?
00:47:19You're going to be here for the rest of your life.
00:47:22You'll never come out of this place.
00:47:25That's because they've decided that you're beyond redemption.
00:47:30You can never change.
00:47:32Do you think you could change?
00:47:33Fíjese que nuestra vida, desde que nosotros iniciamos en las pandillas, desde mi juventud, siempre he tenido
00:47:39ese concepto de que en lo que yo me metí, ahí voy a mover y voy a morir.
00:47:45Mi concepto es, desde que yo vi que mis contrarios balearon a mi mamá y tuve distintas cosas
00:47:52que mataron a mis amigos, yo me iba a vengar.
00:47:56You have nothing to do in your cells, ever.
00:48:00What do you talk about?
00:48:02Pero un día, solo nos queda hablar de los viejos tiempos y lo que un día hicimos.
00:48:07Ya nos queda nada más que contar.
00:48:10Nosotros quizás en el día los hacemos los fuertes y en la noche quizás lloramos porque
00:48:15los lamentamos, pero en verdad usted sabe que uno en la vida que vive, no hay un cambio
00:48:21en nosotros.
00:48:22Todos nosotros sabemos que un día esto puede llegar a parar y vamos a volver a lo mismo.
00:48:29What do you miss most about your old life?
00:48:33Yo le quisiera decir a la juventud que hay que aprovechar lo que ellos tienen ahorita porque
00:48:38estamos presos nosotros.
00:48:40Quizás extraño mucho andar en carro, ver mi familia, ver a mis hijos.
00:48:45Quizás quisiera verlos un día, pero lastimosamente estoy dentro del juego y un día así va a ser
00:48:52siempre voy a estar dentro.
00:48:53Quizás, quizás, quizás, quizás.
00:49:08Y fueron promptly whisked out of the holding cell.
00:49:12There's that old cliche, isn't there?
00:49:15Dead man walking.
00:49:18That's how he came across to me.
00:49:20Dead man walking.
00:49:28Being inside Seacot is fascinating.
00:49:33I'm full of conflicting thoughts, but what I'm not quite able to get my head around is just
00:49:40how calm it appears.
00:49:43Rival gang members coexisting.
00:49:46And my interview with a mass murderer felt collected and composed.
00:49:52It's like no other prison I've ever seen.
00:49:55Have the criminals accepted their fate?
00:49:58Or are they too terrified to break any of the unrelenting rules?
00:50:06They were wild animals, in a sense, running amok.
00:50:10And look at them now.
00:50:12They've been brought to heel.
00:50:15It's a heck of a price, isn't it?
00:50:20If trouble was to break out, the response would be crushing.
00:50:25Security planning is, understandably, paramount.
00:50:32This is the armory.
00:50:44What kind of weapons are these?
00:50:46They are T-65 missiles.
00:50:50Each carrier has 30 rifles.
00:50:54This weapon of lethal action is used in the main perimeter and the external part.
00:51:01Assault rifles outside.
00:51:05Inside, they have something else.
00:51:08If we use this, which is a caliber 12,
00:51:13we can use it with two types of ammunition.
00:51:18Espertigón, which is a lethal weapon.
00:51:23And gunpowder.
00:51:25Normalmente, this is always accompanied by
00:51:28when we do any intervention,
00:51:30review of the cellar,
00:51:32and we carry out gunpowder.
00:51:34In case of being necessary, gunpowder.
00:51:38Until now, it's not necessary to use this weapon,
00:51:42to shoot a gunpowder.
00:51:43And what would being hit by the rubber
00:51:47do to somebody?
00:51:49Moretones, hematomas.
00:51:50Bruises, hematomas.
00:51:51Bruises.
00:52:07Bruises.
00:52:09Do they ever attack each other?
00:52:21No agressions in three years,
00:52:23say God.
00:52:24That must be the only prison on the planet
00:52:26that hasn't had a fight in a cell.
00:52:30They never, ever fight.
00:52:32They never fight.
00:52:34Not even a scratch.
00:52:39It's difficult to imagine a prison
00:52:41where inmates haven't clashed.
00:52:44Perhaps all the heavy artillery,
00:52:47the chains,
00:52:50the riot gear.
00:52:51Why would you need to stab proof vests
00:52:53if they never have anything
00:52:54that they can stab you with?
00:52:56Indicción preventiva.
00:52:58Every eventuality covered, right?
00:52:59Maybe it has beaten these violent and dangerous prisoners
00:53:03into submission.
00:53:05Baton.
00:53:07Either way, it's clear that nobody inside CICOT
00:53:11is ever given an inch of leeway.
00:53:14Contamos con el equipo suficiente
00:53:17para lo peor.
00:53:18Yeah, prepare for everything,
00:53:19prepare for the worst.
00:53:21And hope for the best.
00:53:22And hope for the best.
00:53:23Esperar lo mejor.
00:53:24Siempre.
00:53:33CICOT, a mega prison in El Salvador
00:53:36with a reputation for being the harshest in the world.
00:53:40It's fascinated and shocked me in equal measure.
00:53:45I've witnessed what life is like here behind bars.
00:53:50You could be here for a month.
00:53:54Just you.
00:53:57Almost unimaginable.
00:53:59And come face to face
00:54:01with CICOT's most violent and dangerous criminals.
00:54:06Chop them to death alive.
00:54:08Chop them to death with a machete.
00:54:10Holy cow.
00:54:12Holy cow.
00:54:13You don't ever see this.
00:54:14Maybe we'll cry because we'll regret it.
00:54:16But in truth,
00:54:17you know that in the life that we live,
00:54:19there's no change.
00:54:22Brutal.
00:54:23Bleak.
00:54:24Barren.
00:54:25It's unsettled me to the core.
00:54:35As my time inside CICOT draws to an end,
00:54:42the crew and I are swiftly escorted from the complex.
00:54:53I've never experienced something like that as a journalist or simply as a human being.
00:54:59I've never seen other human beings like that and being held in conditions like that.
00:55:07And the whole thing, I must be honest, has left me quite shaken.
00:55:12It certainly casts a sharp light on the controversy about that prison.
00:55:21A very sharp light.
00:55:26I'm torn.
00:55:28CICOT is an extreme experiment in justice,
00:55:31which for now appears to be working in El Salvador.
00:55:36Is this a model that other countries around the world will be looking to emulate?
00:55:42I have a lot I still need to consider.
00:55:51I've come to the former gang-run neighbourhood of Apopa,
00:55:54just north of San Salvador.
00:55:58With so many people now in CICOT,
00:56:00has criminal control of areas like this been totally dismantled?
00:56:05Or are there still gang members at large?
00:56:11I'm here to go on a military patrol with the Minister of Defence,
00:56:14René Marino Monroy.
00:56:17We're going.
00:56:18We will go this way.
00:56:19OK, should we go?
00:56:21I certainly wasn't expecting these many soldiers.
00:56:26I mean, you're all tooled up.
00:56:27You've got a carbine in one hand,
00:56:29you've got a pistol in a holster.
00:56:30That's not just for show.
00:56:32No.
00:56:33It was his troops that flooded these streets when the crackdown began.
00:56:38We are here patrolling,
00:56:41and we find one guy, one bad guy.
00:56:45We check the guy,
00:56:46and if we know that this guy is gang member,
00:56:51we call the police.
00:56:53And hand him over?
00:56:53Yeah.
00:56:54So you, the military, would go in and do the hard arrest.
00:56:58Yeah.
00:56:58The hard arrest with heavy guys,
00:57:00fully tooled up, as you say,
00:57:02and then the police would come, take them away,
00:57:04and then they end up in the centre.
00:57:07It's an impressive show of force,
00:57:09with dozens of soldiers all around us.
00:57:14It's clear, lots of people feel reassured by their presence.
00:57:27Thumbs up.
00:57:29You seem to be very popular.
00:57:31Yeah.
00:57:31I noticed a lot of people are waving at you.
00:57:33The ordinary people here.
00:57:35I can see them smiling at you.
00:57:37They all seem very grateful.
00:57:38Yeah, yeah.
00:57:39It's like walking down the street with a movie star.
00:57:47I can't help but wonder if there really are gang members
00:57:50hiding amongst such a grateful public.
00:57:54Now that the gangs have been smashed,
00:57:57why are we still on patrol?
00:57:59Why do you still need to make patrols like this?
00:58:01Because there are some guys who are freer,
00:58:04because they were able to escape.
00:58:06You haven't got them all?
00:58:06Yeah.
00:58:07Yeah.
00:58:08Right now it's more difficult to capture those guys,
00:58:11because some of them, they don't have tattoos, for example.
00:58:15Really?
00:58:16See, they look like normal people.
00:58:19Do you ever think, because they don't have tattoos
00:58:21and they do look so normal,
00:58:23do you ever think sometimes you might be arresting the wrong guys,
00:58:25that they're innocent?
00:58:26And if we have doubt, we call the police
00:58:30and we present the guy to the police
00:58:32and the police decide.
00:58:34Got it.
00:58:35So if we make a mistake, for example,
00:58:38the police correct that.
00:58:41It's obvious to me that many residents
00:58:43feel more secure than they have for years.
00:58:47But the question remains,
00:58:49were the scale and methods of the arrests
00:58:52a price worth paying?
00:59:09The message from El Salvador,
00:59:11with its creation of Seacott Prison,
00:59:14is very clear.
00:59:23Erase all links to the country's former gang violence
00:59:27and corruption.
00:59:32In 2022,
00:59:34the same year construction began on Seacott,
00:59:37the El Salvadorian government
00:59:38ordered the destruction of almost 80 tombstones
00:59:41belonging to gang members.
00:59:45The men destroying the graves were criminals
00:59:47from some of El Salvador's other prisons.
00:59:51So you can see where it's all been smashed,
00:59:53can't you hear?
01:00:05I've been given a small window
01:00:07to meet and interview
01:00:08President Bukele's right-hand man,
01:00:12Vice President Felix Ulloa,
01:00:15a politician who's become used
01:00:17to answering critical questions
01:00:19about the Seacott regime.
01:00:22You've won the battle.
01:00:24Why is Seacott still important
01:00:26to maintain the victory?
01:00:29Why do you still need to keep it
01:00:31and keep the prisoners
01:00:33in the conditions that they're kept?
01:00:35Seacott is kind of, you know,
01:00:38an icon of El Salvador.
01:00:40And it is also a way
01:00:42to understand what's going on in El Salvador.
01:00:45Why does it have to be so harsh?
01:00:48I mean, I went there
01:00:49and I have to say I was shocked.
01:00:51I was shocked.
01:00:52It was very extreme.
01:00:53Do you think you could have won that war
01:00:56and do you think you could have
01:00:57kept the victory without Seacott?
01:01:01Seacott?
01:01:02I mean, I don't know
01:01:03why we are so focused on Seacott.
01:01:04Seacott is just...
01:01:06Because it's an extraordinary place as well.
01:01:07Absolutely.
01:01:08But that's for you
01:01:09and for people abroad.
01:01:11People are taking Seacott
01:01:13as an anchor to understand El Salvador.
01:01:16This is a mistakenly,
01:01:18mistakenly approach.
01:01:19Seacott, Seacott, Seacott.
01:01:21I mean, it will be a very narrow,
01:01:23very, very narrow...
01:01:25No, I hear you.
01:01:25I hear you.
01:01:26...vision of what is going on El Salvador.
01:01:30My opinion is
01:01:31how many lives have been saved.
01:01:36Do you know what we are winning now?
01:01:38To become a normal society.
01:01:42That's it.
01:01:43Just to be normal.
01:01:45Just to have the right to walk
01:01:46on the sidewalks.
01:01:48Just to have the right to go
01:01:49and enjoy when there's kids
01:01:50in the park,
01:01:52in the public places.
01:01:53That wasn't...
01:01:54That was impossible.
01:01:56El Salvador is the safest country
01:01:59in the Western Hemisphere.
01:02:00And this is, you know,
01:02:01the paradox.
01:02:05It's violating the human rights.
01:02:07Who are the human rights?
01:02:09Why are they not happy
01:02:10that our country
01:02:11does not run the blood
01:02:12that was running before?
01:02:14Yes!
01:02:16Yes!
01:02:17Yes!
01:02:18Yes!
01:02:18Why...
01:02:19Why do we have to die
01:02:20and our children
01:02:22so you are happy
01:02:24that we are respecting
01:02:25your false democracy
01:02:26that you don't even
01:02:27respect in your own country?
01:02:29Yes!
01:02:30Yes!
01:02:30Yes!
01:02:31Yes!
01:02:32Yes!
01:02:37President Bukele isn't just eradicating El Salvador's past, he says he's building
01:02:43a safe and successful future.
01:02:49Most schools in the country were run by the gangs, used as a way to control the neighbourhoods
01:02:55and recruit new young members.
01:03:06Now, the education system in areas once dominated by the violent gangs has been transformed.
01:03:14Reyna Velázquez was the head at this primary school during the brutal years.
01:03:37Let's say a parent would call, may a complaint, they would have to call the police and they
01:03:43would send the police, the gang members and the school.
01:03:46So imagine a PTA meeting, and they would call the police, and they would send the police,
01:03:48with police.
01:03:50And it sounds almost unbelievable that the school and the parents and the police were
01:03:57having to negotiate with the gangsters.
01:03:59Oh, si, ahora es, somos libres, esa es la palabra, somos libres.
01:04:12I know, I know, comprende.
01:04:25In just a few years, El Salvador has broken its cycle of violence.
01:04:33The destruction of the criminal chokehold on the country has transformed it out of a living
01:04:38hell.
01:04:42This fragile peace is all underpinned by the presence of Seacott, a drastic and severe deterrent,
01:04:51but perhaps the only solution.
01:04:56Look, it's obvious that Seacott breaches human rights as we currently understand.
01:05:02It's a shocking, extreme corner of humanity.
01:05:07But El Salvadorians were writhing under the thumb of psychotic, psychopathic sadists.
01:05:16I wonder if sacrificing civil liberties for the common good is something others would ever
01:05:22be prepared to embrace.
01:05:26The stories I've heard from ordinary El Salvadorians, well, frankly, they froze my blood.
01:05:34And I'm sorry, but I just don't think it's our place to lecture El Salvador about precisely
01:05:42the way that they somehow managed to claw their way back to sanity.
01:05:47To me, it seems undeniable that Seacott rescued them from much of that bloodshed.
01:05:55And it's also arguable, if uncomfortable, that it now must continue to protect them.
01:06:04It's an inheritance from a stranger, as good as it seems.
01:06:09Catch gripping thriller The Fortune, brand new Tuesday and Wednesday at nine.
01:06:13And based on real transcripts surrounding the disappearance of her daughter,
01:06:17string drama under suspicion, Kate McCann now on five.
01:06:21Next, Trauma Room One.
01:06:31Next, Trauma Room One.
01:06:31The
01:06:31Next, Trauma Room Two.
01:06:31Next, Trauma Room Two.
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