El Salvador bets safety on incarceration; unveils new prison

By MARCOS ALEMÁN and SALVADOR MELÉNDEZ
Associated Press

TECOLUCA, El Salvador (AP) — When El Salvador began making mass arrests of people with suspected gang affiliations last year, President Nayib Bukele ordered the construction of what would be the largest prison in Latin America. This week, Bukele rolled out the completed project, a sprawling campus 45 miles east of the capital, that could eventually house 40,000 inmates. Dubbed the Terrorism Confinement Center, the prison will hold many of the more than 62,000 people authorities have arrested since the government suspended some constitutional rights and pushed an all-out offensive against the gangs last March.