CBS to Air Positive Look at Life in El Salvadorian Prison

TECOLUCA, EL SALVADOR - This Sunday, CBS's 60 Minutes will air a story highlighting the benefits and perks enjoyed by residents of the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador. According to Bari Weiss, new editor in chief of CBS News, the maximum security prison has been unfairly depicted by the media "as a bad place" and the venerable news magazine will bring "balance to the prison's reputation".

In March, the Trump administration deported 252 illegal immigrants, all of them male citizens of Venezuela. But rather than send them back to their home country, the White House took the unusual – and some say unnecessarily cruel – step of flying them against their will to the maximum security prison in El Salvador, known by the State Department to torture inmates.

In an interview with The New York Times, the deportees claimed to be beaten and raped by guards, and "driven to the brink of suicide". They said they were shackled and shot with rubber bullets, and tear-gassed until they passed out.

But it's this negative impression of the prison that the new 60 Minutes story attempts to change. According to Weiss, "this new report will focus on the good – even the luxury – guests enjoy at the facility, which gets a bad rap because it was poorly named 'Terrorism Confinement Center'. The prison shouldn't be slandered because they have bad marketing."

Weiss added, "Did you know the facility is a short twenty miles from popular beaches in the area? That is underreported in our biased media world."

The 60 Minutes report, called "Life Changing Adventure at the CECOT Retreat", describes the benefits of life in the El Salvadorian prison. Guest experiences highlighted in the report include:

• Strong sense of community: all accommodations are shared by a minimum of ten new friends, there to build camaraderie and share unique life stories. There's never a shortage of new faces with whom you can form lifelong bonds.
• Access to the "Dark Island" deprivation retreat, a specially designed room with cold, soothing concrete and only a pinhole of light to remind you of the outside world. Once inside, guests experience extended, meditative quiet followed by intense physical and mental challenges administered by the staff.
• Guests can leave all their concerns about diet and health behind. The facility provides three meals a day, with no stress choosing from menus. If you enjoy the authentic cuisine of El Salvador, meaning rice and pinto beans (sometimes heated), you are in for a treat! And for those who are concerned about salt intake, rest assured the meals come completely unseasoned.
• Guests seeking extracurricular fun often find themselves in the "Spa Water Adventure," where staff gives you the feeling of being underwater like a real native of the ocean, pushing your own need to breathe to its exciting limit.
• For those looking for more intimate wellness experiences, staff offers one-on-one massage therapies exploring the boundaries of mature, sensual escape. Often these experiences are offered as surprises during the evenings, and provide a spice to the guest's stay one can't find in even the most exclusive resort.
• The facility offers ample opportunities for strength training, both mental and physical, from random beatings by the staff to the much-talked about "Rubber Bullet Endurance Experience" where guests experience the feeling of being shot by staff who use real guns, something visitors talk about long after they leave, sometimes to major media outlets.
• Celebrity visits are not uncommon, including in-person appearances by United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and former Congressman Matt Gaetz.

The original 60 Minutes story on the prison was held back by Ms. Weiss, who felt it was missing "sufficient context" and "critical voices". It is the hope of CBS News that the new, more favorable story will give viewers a fair look at El Salvador's pride and joy, a maximum security prison that provides maximum opportunity for fun.