Costa Rica's new maximum-security prison outside the capital, San José, has received its first 123 inmates, the country's Justice Ministry has said, Al Jazeera reports.
The High-Containment Center Against Organized Crime, built with help from El Salvador's government at a cost of $35m, can hold up to 5,100 prisoners, about a fifth of the national prison population. President Laura Fernández opened it on 15 October as part of her government's tougher approach to crime. Ministry photographs showed prisoners in orange uniforms with shaved heads.
Justice Minister Gabriel Aguilar said the facility would also ease overcrowding. Costa Rica, long seen as one of Latin America's safest countries, has faced rising violence linked to drug trafficking, with a record 905 homicides in 2023 and more than 870 in each of the following two years.
Source: Al Jazeera
