LAUREN TAYLOR: Leaders in both the United States and El Salvador are receptive to a plan that would allow the U.S. to outsource parts of its prison system.
After a visit to El Salvador, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Salvadoran government committed to accept and hold prisoners convicted in the U.S. criminal justice system, including U.S. citizens.
He emphasized potentially using the prisons for members of Latin American gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua but the program could open the door to other criminals being sent there in the future.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said that they would take in convicted criminals to what he described as its “mega-prison,” in exchange for a fee.
El Salvador’s prison, known as CECOT, has been a central spot for Bukele in his crackdown on gang violence. As crime has fallen in the country, previously one of the most dangerous in the world, its prison population has skyrocketed.
And prisoners in CECOT face harsh conditions, with many inmates sharing windowless cages, a ban on books or letters from family, meatless meals and a requirement to be indoors 23-and-a-half hours a day.
President Donald Trump suggested he would be open to sending prisoners there but that he was not sure if it was legal to do it and Rubio noted that the Constitution may create legal issues.
Trump has already launched plans to detain people abroad, directing the military to prepare its base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to hold people taken into custody during deportation raids.
Sending prisoners abroad, particularly to El Salvador as opposed to a U.S. base, may count as deportation, which is illegal to do to a U.S. citizen.
The prison’s conditions may also be unconstitutional, with outside groups noting a lack of due process, which is protected by the 5th Amendment, and that the prison’s actions are cruel and unusual punishment, which is banned by the 8th Amendment.
For Straight Arrow News, I’m Lauren Taylor.
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