El Salvador · San Vicente Department · Tecoluca
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
Step-by-step guidance using the El Salvador system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.
Inaugurated January 2023 — the largest prison in the Americas by design capacity. Built to hold alleged gang members detained under the post-2022 State of Exception.
Capacity
40,000
Current population
14,500
Occupancy
36%
Year opened
2023
Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology
Population held
male
Opened
2023
Region
San Vicente Department
Security level
Maximum
Death-row facility
No
Eight pavilions of cages holding up to 100 inmates each. Lights on 24 hours; no outdoor recreation. Two daily meals eaten without utensils.
No visits permitted. Inmates have no contact with family members. No legal visits reported for general population.
No incoming or outgoing mail permitted.
Government does not publish inmate registry; families typically locate detainees via the National Civil Police inquiry system.
Human rights groups document deaths in custody and lack of due process. No independent monitoring access granted since 2023 opening.
Alleged senior MS-13 and Barrio 18 members; specific names not publicly disclosed.
No public contact details available.
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
What the score is responding to:
This facility scores 34. The national average across 34 scored El Salvador facilities is 44 — 10 points below national average.
Population and occupancy by year. Source: official corrections statistics + oversight reports.
Population held
Occupancy %
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
Higher risk than 0% of peer facilities in El Salvador.
Documents 235 deaths in custody during the State of Exception across El Salvador's prison system; no families have been informed of cause of death or location of remains.
Conditions inside CECOT, based on government-released video, satisfy the definition of incommunicado detention. No legal access, no family contact, no daylight in cells.
How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
World Prisons. (2026). Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT). Retrieved July 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/cecot
"Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT)." World Prisons. Accessed July 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/cecot.
@misc{worldprisons-cecot,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT)},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/cecot},
urldate = {2026-07-20}
}