More than 2000 inmates are transferred to a "mega prison" in El Salvador

El Salvador's government said on Tuesday it moved thousands of suspected gang members to a recently opened "mega prison", the latest step in a controversial crackdown on crime that has caused the Central American nation's prison population to soar. The government said in a statement the prisoners "would pay for the crimes committed against the Salvadoran people with a long stay in CECOT, in isolation and without the possibility of family visitation." Around 2,000 accused gang members were moved to the 40,000-person-capacity prison, considered to be the largest in the Americas. In a video posted by the government, prisoners stripped down to white shorts, with their heads shaved, are seen running through the new prison into cells. Many bear gang tattoos. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele asked his allies in El Salvador's Congress to pass a state of exception in 2022, which has since been extended several times, that suspends some constitutional rights after a dramatic spike in murders attributed to violent gangs. — Report from Reuters