Costa Rica opens 5,100-bed prison — Al Jazeera

Costa Rica has opened the High-Security Center for Combating Organized Crime (CACCO), designed to hold 5,100 inmates. President Laura Fernandez said the facility is intended to become part of a tougher state model for combating crime. As Al Jazeera reports, the facility will be able to accommodate approximately 20% of the country’s current prison population.

First transfers at the end of October

During the opening ceremony, Fernandez said CACCO would force criminals to confront a new tough model for fighting crime, and that Costa Rica should become a global benchmark in prison security.

The first transfers of inmates to the new complex are expected to take place at the end of October. Justice Minister Gabriel Aguilar said the facility would help authorities regain control of the penitentiary system and reduce the penetration of organized crime into it.

Costa Rica, which previously had lower levels of violent crime than neighboring countries, recorded 905 murders in 2023. There were 876 murders in the country in 2024 and 873 in 2025. Analysts link the situation, among other factors, to intensified competition among criminal groups for lucrative drug-trafficking routes.

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El Salvador’s model spreads across the region

Latin American countries are increasingly turning to the mega-prison model in an attempt to replicate the policies of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele. El Salvador operates the Terrorism Confinement Center, CECOT, which is designed to hold about 40,000 people.

Human rights groups say the state of emergency introduced in El Salvador in 2022, which expanded the powers of police and the military, was accompanied by serious human rights violations. Critics also warn of overcrowding, violations of the right to due process, and alleged torture in facilities such as CECOT.

Similar initiatives are also being discussed in other countries in the region. Peru’s President Keiko Fujimori plans to visit CECOT before creating a similar facility in her country, while Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella promised during his campaign to build 10 mega-prisons. Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, who advanced to the final round of Brazil’s presidential election, also proposes building five such facilities.