Costa Rica adopts Bukele’s penitentiary model with the inauguration of a new mega-prison

The CACCO, or High-Containment Center Against Organized Crime, is a new Costa Rican prison built for maximum-security detention. Its stated purpose is to isolate narcotics-trafficking gangs and other highly dangerous prisoners. President Laura Fernández calls it a historic turning point in national and penitentiary security.

The model comes from El Salvador’s security strategy under Nayib Bukele. That strategy has emphasized mass detention and strict confinement of alleged gang members in a huge prison called the Cecot. Costa Rica received building designs from El Salvador, using the Cecot as a reference.

The comparison is controversial because the countries face different problems. El Salvador’s approach targets gangs, while Costa Rica’s crisis is driven mainly by drug-trafficking organizations linked to international cartels. Critics therefore question whether a prison designed around Bukele’s model can address Costa Rica’s more complex criminal networks.

The CACCO is a large facility by Costa Rican standards, with capacity for 5,100 inmates under maximum-security conditions. Yet its size must be viewed against a prison system already under severe pressure. Overcrowding exceeds 50%, and the country’s prison population has doubled during the past decade.

The article places Costa Rica among the 20 countries with the highest incarceration rates. The new prison could be filled quickly with inmates currently packed into traditional facilities. Authorities instead say they want to reserve it for the most dangerous and powerful criminals.

Either choice exposes a limitation. Filling the CACCO with existing inmates could relieve pressure elsewhere, but may leave little room for future high-risk prisoners. Reserving it for selected prisoners would preserve its intended purpose, but would not solve the wider overcrowding crisis. A former justice minister says the facility is insufficient even for current needs.

Costa Rica has made the CACCO central to its crime response because security now dominates public concern. The country once emphasized pacifism, the abolition of its armed forces, the rule of law, and its welfare system. The article describes a changed reality, with daytime homicides and regular police operations against drug-trafficking gangs.

President Laura Fernández has declared a “war” on criminal gangs and presented the prison as a national-security milestone. The government also blames the judiciary for failing to impose enough convictions, although the article notes that incarceration has already risen sharply. Tough measures have strong popular acceptance.

The prison therefore serves both an operational and political purpose. Officials say it will isolate dangerous criminals and trafficking networks. At the same time, its enormous scale and publicity make it a visible response to public fear. Critics argue that the facility cannot fix the deeper problems of organized crime or prison overcrowding.

Nayib Bukele is the president of El Salvador. The CECOT, or Terrorism Confinement Center, is a notorious Salvadoran prison built to confine thousands of alleged gang members. President Laura Fernández plans to visit it to study how it operates.

Costa Rica used the CECOT as a reference when designing the CACCO. The Salvadoran government donated the building designs. Both projects represent a hard-line approach: isolate people considered dangerous in a large, tightly controlled maximum-security complex. Costa Rican officials believe this approach can strengthen their response to organized crime.

The reference is politically attractive because hard-line measures have high popular acceptance. But the article stresses that the underlying problems differ. El Salvador’s model addresses gang violence, while Costa Rica faces drug-trafficking organizations that move large sums with international cartels. That difference has prompted criticism from legal experts.

The CACCO creates two possible paths for Costa Rica’s prison system. Authorities could move inmates from overcrowded traditional prisons into the new facility. Or they could reserve its 5,100 places for people classified as especially dangerous and powerful. Officials say classification will have a technical basis.

The first option could provide immediate physical space. The article says the CACCO could be filled this month using inmates already held in overcrowded prisons. The second option would concentrate high-risk prisoners in one maximum-security site. Fernández has already ordered that the first inmate be a suspect in a police officer’s killing.

Neither option guarantees a lasting solution. Moving current inmates could consume the facility’s capacity and undermine its special purpose. Reserving it could leave ordinary prisons overcrowded. Critics say the CACCO is too small to solve the current problem, while unclear operating rules could create further concerns about treatment and classification.

Street gangs generally operate through visible local groups, territorial control, and direct violence. Drug-trafficking organizations can function as broader networks that move money and narcotics through partnerships. In Costa Rica, the article describes organizations moving millions of dollars alongside international cartels.

El Salvador’s prison model was designed around the country’s gang-violence crisis. The CECOT is associated with confining thousands of alleged gang members. Costa Rica’s problem is described differently. Drug traffickers and money-laundering operators are dispersed through society and have infiltrated state institutions.

That difference affects what a prison can accomplish. A large facility may isolate selected suspects, but it cannot by itself dismantle international financial and trafficking links. Former justice minister Marco Feoli says Costa Rica is applying a solution from El Salvador to a problem that does not exist there in the same form. He also questions whether the CACCO can solve overcrowding.

Due process means that people accused of crimes receive fair procedures, including a lawful decision, an opportunity to challenge the case, and protection against arbitrary punishment. Preventing torture means ensuring that people in custody are not deliberately subjected to severe physical or psychological abuse. These are basic safeguards for lawful detention.

They matter especially in high-security systems because governments hold unusual power over confined people. A prison can isolate convicted prisoners, but accusations are not the same as final guilt. Clear classifications, independent oversight, and humane treatment help prevent punishment based only on suspicion or political pressure.

The article raises these concerns without claiming that the CACCO has already violated due process. It notes limited information about how the facility will operate, allegations of mistreatment and beatings during searches, and a prosecutor’s investigation into Justice Minister Gabriel Aguilar. Those developments make transparency and oversight important as the prison begins operating.