First 123 inmates moved into Costa Rica's CACCO mega-prison, built with Salvadoran help

Mixed · 2Costa Rica's justice ministry said on Tuesday 27 October 2026 that it has moved the first 123 inmates into a new mega-prison on the outskirts of the capital, San José, built with the help of the Salvadoran government. 1 2 Left · 1The facility is a maximum-security prison officially called the High Containment Center against Organized Crime (CACCO). 2 Mixed · 2Images shared by the ministry show rows of inmates dressed in orange, seated with shaved heads bowed and hands behind their necks, in poses resembling photographs from El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), where President Nayib Bukele's government holds tens of thousands of gang members and suspected affiliates. 1 2

Mixed · 2President Laura Fernández's government has presented CACCO as a symbol of a new "tough on crime" approach in response to a security crisis. 1 2 Mixed · 2Justice Minister Gabriel Aguilar said in a statement: "Costa Rica is writing a new chapter in its penitentiary history. CACCO is a monument to national security, a forceful response to organized crime, and a guarantee that the state will exercise its authority without hesitation." He has said the facility will also help reduce overcrowding in the prison system. 1 2 Mixed · 2The prison has capacity for 5,100 inmates, equivalent to 20% of the country's prison population. 1 2

Mixed · 2Costa Rica, long seen as one of the safest countries in the region, has had a sharp rise in violence linked to drug trafficking and organized crime. Homicides hit a record in 2023 and figures have since stabilized, with authorities attributing most killings to disputes between criminal groups over trafficking routes and markets. 1 2