El Salvador's mass incarceration movement sparks far-right lament U.S. isn't putting more people in

[Judi Lynn]

El Salvador’s mass incarceration movement sparks far-right lament U.S. isn’t putting more people in jail

They're thirsty for the U.S. to ramp up its already massive prison-industrial complex.

Claire Goforth Claire Goforth Tech Posted on Feb 27, 2023 Updated on Feb 27, 2023, 4:10 pm CST

El Salvador is building a prison that’s purported to be the largest in the world upon completion. El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele unveiled the facility on Twitter earlier this month, which he says will house 40,000 inmates. The new prison, the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT), is alarming advocates who are already disturbed by widespread reports of human rights abuses amid Bukele’s crackdown on alleged gang members.

But conservatives in the U.S. are loving it. Some of the same people who call incarcerated Capitol rioters political prisoners are celebrating the footage of shackled men clad in only shorts being led into a prison where they reportedly will not have mattresses, might be put in lightless isolation cells, and may never leave.

Justice and Public Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro said the prison is designed to eliminate a “cancer” from society. “Know that you will never walk out of CECOT, you will pay for what you are … cowardly terrorists,” Villatoro tweeted.

Since last March, when Bukele suspended numerous constitutional protections, authorities have reportedly incarcerated 64,000 people suspected of gang affiliation. Human Rights Watch told Democracy Now this has led to “mass arbitrary detention, torture and other forms of ill-treatment against detainees, deaths in custody, and abuse-ridden prosecutions.”

More:
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/conservatives-love-el-salvador-president-bukele-new-giant-prison/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Lauren Boebert Supports Controversial 'Mega Prison' for Gang Members

BY ANDREW STANTON ON 2/27/23 AT 4:58 PM EST

Representative Lauren Boebert has endorsed El Salvador's use of a controversial "mega prison" that strips away constitutional rights for imprisoned gang members.

Republicans including Boebert, a right-wing congresswoman from Colorado, have advocated for harsher laws and punishments for those convicted of crimes, as millions of Americans voice concern about what they view as rising crime in their communities.

The issue became a major point of contention during recent elections, with Democrats embracing criminal justice reform.

Boebert took a new stance on crime that received notable pushback on Sunday, tweeting support for El Salvador's "mega prison" that was built to deal with rising crime in the Central American nation by housing suspected gang members.

More:
https://www.newsweek.com/lauren-boebert-supports-controversial-el-salvador-mega-prison-gang-members-1784185