El Salvador has transferred 2,000 suspected gang members to what is considered to be the Americas' largest prison, President Nayib Bukele said, APA reports citing Sputnik.
"This will be their new home, where they will be living for decades, mixed up and unable to do any more harm to the population," the president wrote on social media on Friday.
The Central American government declared a state of emergency last March in a bid to contain the surging gang violence. More than 60,000 people have been detained since then on suspicion of being gang members, an offense that Bukele says will be punishable with lengthy jail terms.
The "mega prison" was built in a record seven months and can hold up to 40,000 prisoners. The video posted by Bukele online offered a glimpse of the sprawling facility surrounded by barbed-wire fences.
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