Beatings, Overcrowding and Food Deprivation: US Deportees Face Distressing Human Rights Conditions in El Salvador’s Mega-Prison

Shackled and bent over – some of the 250-plus deportees arriving in El Salvador.
El Salvador Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

Mneesha Gellman, Emerson College and Sarah C. Bishop, Baruch College, CUNY

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele framed his offer to house “dangerous American criminals” and “criminals from any country” as a win-win for all.

The fee for transferring detainees to a newly built Salvadoran mega-prison “would be relatively low” for the U.S. but enough...