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What's inside El Salvador's mega prison?

09:39
Prison guards stand outside holding cells during a media tour of the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Feb. 2, 2023. (Salvador Melendez/AP)
Prison guards stand outside holding cells during a media tour of the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Feb. 2, 2023. (Salvador Melendez/AP)

Until this week, Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the Maryland resident wrongfully detained and deported to El Salvador in March — was being held in El Salvador's infamous new mega prison. Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who fled as a teenager for his safety, was being held in the high-security prison alongside other deportees and alleged gang members.

For more on the history of the prison, who it houses, and the myriad of human rights concerns around it, host Deepa Fernandes is joined by Emerson College professor Mneesha Gellman, founder and director of the Emerson Prison Initiative, who has covered the mega prison.

This segment aired on April 24, 2025.

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