Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Inside CECOT, El Salvador's high-security prison, are claimed to be some of the worst, most violent and 'evil' gang members. But what about the hundreds sent there by the Trump Administration? What are conditions really like for those incarcerated in this tough mega prison?

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1. MS-13: The Making of America's Most Notorious Gang, Dudley 2020 amzn.to/42HuCfb
2. State of War: MS-13 and El Salvador's World of Violence, Wheeler. 2020 amzn.to/42sehfw
3. Central America's Forgotten History. Chomsky 2022. amzn.to/4jR2FIR
4. Open Veins of Latin America. Galeano. 1997 amzn.to/3EBKV58
5. The Massacre at El Mozote. Danner. 1995. amzn.to/42XEgLO
6. The History of El Salvador. 2008. White et al. amzn.to/42DJ73y
7. THE SALVADOR OPTION. 2011. Crandall. amzn.to/42TTUrD
8. The History of El Salvador. 2023 Floras-Lopez and Hanse amzn.to/4jqcYUm
9. El Salvador: Volume 1. Francois. 2023. amzn.to/42ofbtk
10. El País. “Inmates in El Salvador…” AVELAR MAY 29, 2023
11. Authoritarian El Salvador. Chang. 2014. amzn.to/4jqN7vx
12. Born in Blood and Fire. Chasteen. 2016. amzn.to/42NNuJu
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14. World Prison Brief. El Salvador
15. PBS Newshour. “The conditions inside…” April 8, 2025 Brangham, Couzens, Popat
16. World Population Review. Incarceration Rates by Country 2025
17. States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2024. Widra June 2024
18. Republic of El Salvador, El Salvador - Penal Code 1997 (2016) ES (1997), accessed 28/04/2025.
19. Country data dot com. El Salvador. Penal and Procedural Codes. 1988 (outdated but historical)
20. Duve T, Herzog T, eds. The Coming of States? The Nineteenth Century. In: The Cambridge History of Latin American Law in Global Perspective. Cambridge University Press; 2024:283-388.
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26. Expediente Publico, Inside Nayib Bukele’s prisons. October 15, 2024
27. HRW. March 20, 2025. “Human Rights Watch declaration on prison conditions in El Salvador”
28. NYT. El Salvador Decimated Gangs. But at What Cost? The Daily Feb 7, 2024
29. France24. “'No way out': Grim…” 28/01/2025
30. WaPo. “Former mayor Nayib…” Feb 4, 2019. Anna-Catherine Brigida
31. PBS Newshour. “The conditions inside…” Brangham, Couzens, Popat. April 8, 2025
32. Bloomberg Originals. The Price of El Salvador's War on Gangs. Feb 2, 2024
33. “Pleno legislativo aprueba régimen de excepción para frenar ola de violencia” Domingo 27 de marzo de 2022 | Por: Prensa Asamblea Legislativa
34. “El Salvador drug gangs face…” Channel 4 News. May 4, 2022.
35. BBC. “El Salvador 's President Bukele…” 5 February 2024
36. 3 May 2024. Amnesty International. “El Salvador: Constitution ‘à la carte’...”
37. PBS Newshour. “Thousands of innocent people…” Feb 13, 2024
38. “'Worst of the worst': Go inside…” CNN Nov 14, 2024
39. WOLA. Dardón. 27 March, 2025. “Mass Incarceration and Democratic Deterioration”
40 SAIS. Match 7, 2025. “El Salvador’s Controversial Offer…” Specht
41. 3 April 2023. Amnesty International. “El Salvador: One year…”
42. FT. Rachman and Stott, “Transcript: El Salvador’s” April 24, 2025
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45. ABC News. “Insight into El…” Apr 19, 2025.
46. Reuters. “Inside El Salvador's mega-prison” Feb 6, 2025.
47. Princeton Political Review. Oct. 31, 2024. Wells. “Inside CECOT”
48. Aljazeera. “Photos: Inside El Salvador’s” Feb 27, 2023
49. Cristosal. “One Year Under State of Exception” May 12, 2023
50. FP. “Can Anything Stop El Salvador’s…” Jan 2, 2024. Meakern
51. Vox. “This senator met with…” Apr 24, 2025. Bryan.
52. “Kilmar Abrego García’s tattoos…” WaPo Cahlan, Paul, Armus and Schmidt
53. NYULawReview. Volume 88, Number 4 October 2013 ”Wartime Detention…”

0:00-00:49 Intro
00:50-4:35 'Regular' prisons
4:36-10:23 State of Exception
10:24-13:21 CECOT
13:22-20:09 Permanent Emergencies

Music by Epidemic Sound: nebula.tv/epidemic
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images.