Notorious El Salvador mega prison receives thousands more gang members – as the bare four-storey sheet metal beds they must sleep on are revealed

•  Second group of 2,000 suspected gangsters were moved today amid tight security to the new Izalco prison
• Photos revealed inmates are expected to sleep on bare four-storey sheet metal bunks without mattresses 

A mega-prison in El Salvador brought in a second wave of suspected gang members who will now serve out their sentences in the notorious facility that has been criticised over its ‘severe conditions.’

The second group of 2,000 inmates were moved today amid tight security to the new Izalco prison, the largest mega-prison in the Americas, which was built to accommodate more than 40,000 gangsters.

Footage shows the heavily tattooed and barefoot men, dressed only in white shorts, being hurriedly moved around with their heads bowed and hands cuffed behind their backs.

The latest look inside the facility revealed that inmates are expected to sleep on bare four-storey sheet metal bunks without mattresses.

A mega-prison in El Salvador brought in a second wave of suspected gang members who will now serve out their sentences at the notorious facility that has been criticised over its ‘severe conditions’

The latest look inside the facility revealed that inmates are expected to sleep on bare four-storey sheet metal bunks without mattresses

 The second group of 2,000 inmates were moved today amid tight security to the new Izalco prison, the largest mega-prison in the Americas, which was built to accommodate more than 40,000 gangsters

A suspected gangster is pictured during his arrival at the Terrorist Confinement Centre in Tecoluca, El Salvador today

‘In a new operation we transferred the second group of 2,000 gangsters to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism,’ President Nayib Bukele said on Twitter today.

Footage showed how the prisoners were loaded onto buses, hands and feet in shackles, to be taken to the new prison in a convoy that included helicopters. 

They were stacked closely together, each sitting with his legs on either side of the man in front of them as armed guards in balaclavas look on.

The men were similarly stacked up before being led in large groups into their cells, where they are left sitting on the floor before stacked metal beds.

Each cell has only two sinks and two toilets, with 80 metal bunks for every 100 prisoners and no mattresses.

‘There will be no mattresses in the cells,’ the prison warden – who wore a ski mask to protect his identity – previously told journalists when the project was unveiled.

While the prison is equipped with dining halls, exercise rooms and table tennis tables, they are exclusively for guards’ use.

Prisoners will leave the cell only for legal hearings by videoconference, or to be punished in a windowless and unlit isolation cell.

The prison consists of eight buildings made of reinforced concrete. Each one has 32 cells of about 100 square meters (1,075 square feet), designed to hold ‘more than 100’ inmates

The men were stacked up before being led in large groups into their cells today, where they are left sitting on the floor before stacked metal beds

Footage showed how the prisoners were loaded onto buses, hands and feet in shackles, to be taken to the new prison in a convoy that included helicopters

Prison agents guard gang members as they are processed after 2,000 more were transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center today

The prison was built to accommodate some of the 65,000 suspected gangsters detained as part of the war on crime launched last year by El Salvador’s presidents. Today’s arrivals are pictured above

Inmates identified by authorities as gang members are moved to the Terrorism Confinement Center today. It is the largest mega-prison in the Americas

Footage shows the heavily tattooed and barefoot men, dressed only in white shorts, being hurriedly moved around with their heads bowed and hands cuffed behind their backs

Gang members wait to be taken to their cells after being transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador today

Prison are seated on the floor after their arrival to the Terrorist Confinement Centre today as they wait to be moved to their cells

A second group of 2,000 detainees are moved to the mega-prison Terrorist Confinement Centre today. Defense Minister Rene Francis Marino said 1,200 soldiers took part in the security operation that began at dawn and included three Air Force helicopters

Defense Minister Rene Francis Marino said 1,200 soldiers took part in the security operation that began at dawn and included three Air Force helicopters.

The first 2,000 inmates were moved last month.

The transfer operation took place on the same day that Justice and Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro asked parliament to extend the state of emergency for another month.

The prison was built to accommodate some of the 65,000 suspected gangsters detained as part of the war on crime launched last year by President Bukele, who ordered a state of emergency a year ago, allowing arrests without warrants in the violence-plagued country. 

The prison in Tecoluca, 74 kilometers (46 miles) southeast of the capital San Salvador, consists of eight buildings made of reinforced concrete.

Each one has 32 cells of about 100 square meters (1,075 square feet), designed to hold ‘more than 100’ inmates, according to Public Works Minister Romeo Rodriguez.

Rights groups have criticised the construction as a violation of incarceration standards.

Handcuffed prisoners are seen walking in lines during processing at the Terrorism Confinement Center 

The prison in Tecoluca, 74 kilometers (46 miles) southeast of the capital San Salvador, consists of eight buildings made of reinforced concrete

A second group of 2,000 detainees are moved overnight to the mega-prison Terrorist Confinement Centre

Rights groups have criticised the construction of the prison as a violation of incarceration standards

Prisoners are escorted by officers as they are moved overnight to the mega-prison Terrorist Confinement Centre

Prisoners are seen sitting on the cell floor, next to their mattress-less bunks, with their heads bent today

Officers stand guard as a prisoner is moved through the Terrorist Confinement Centre today

Gang members are cuffed as they prepare to be transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center

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