Kilmar Abrego Garcia said he experienced “psychological torture,” physical abuse and alarming conditions while housed in El Salvador’s most notorious mega prison.
The account, revealed through court filings late Wednesday, marked Abrego Garcia’s first time speaking about his months imprisoned in El Salvador after being deported by the Trump administration due to an “administrative error.”
Abrego Garcia describes being transferred to CECOT, a facility known by its acronym in Spanish, saying as soon as he got off a plane he was “repeatedly struck by officers when he attempted to raise his head.”
Abrego Garcia said he experienced “severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture” while imprisoned in CECOT. He lost more than 30 pounds during the two weeks he spent there.
CECOT is known to crowd inmates in cells well beyond their capacity, with bunk beds stacked three levels high with no mattresses, and in Abrego Garcia’s case, just two toilets shared by approximately 80 men. Lights are kept on at all times, and “there are no windows, fans, or air conditioning, despite the region’s warm and humid climate.”
The prisoners must stay in their cells for all but 30 minutes a day and are not allowed any contact with the outside world.
Abrego Garcia said after his arrival, he was “kicked in the legs with boots and struck on his head and arms to make him change clothes faster. His head was shaved with a zero razor, and he was frog-marched to cell 15, being struck with wooden batons along the way.”v
