An all-day visit to the island of Roatan, Honduras was by far the most memorable part of a cruise our family took last year. Our private tour guide was a local, ‘Joe,’ who kicked off his interactions with us by explaining that he hadn’t slept a wink the night before because he spent it in a jail cell after being picked up for some petty thing or another by the hyperactive police forces in the area. He was just seedy enough to make us a little uncomfortable and wary, but that seediness also weirdly seemed to make him the perfect local to give us the lay of the land.
To say that Joe was a talker is an understatement. The man didn’t stop. In between his descriptions of the various places we visited, his questions to us about our lives, and his frequent hints at hoping to get a “big tip” at the end of the day, he also managed to bring up plenty of openings for some interesting political discussions. If you know me at all, I’m always game for that.
When the topic of the upcoming US elections inevitably came up, he predictably displayed his distaste for Donald Trump, who was by then the presumptive GOP nominee. His opinion seemed to be based solely on the issue of immigration and the fact that Trump wanted less of it. When I countered with the fact that countries have to control who comes into their homelands or else they have no country and that Latin American countries all do the same, he didn’t have a solid retort. It seemed like the idea of being able to come to the United States basically at will understandably appealed to Joe, who grew up and lived in conditions that even the poorest Americans don’t experience.
As the conversation meandered throughout the day, it occurred to me to get his thoughts on El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, a man who has brought the concept of mass incarceration to a whole other level, cleaning up the streets of what once was one of the most violent countries in the world by imprisoning tens of thousands of gang members. The country’s brand-new mammoth maximum-security facility, known as CECOT (or the Terrorism Confinement Center), has made headlines over the past couple of years not just for its record-breaking size, but also because of the harsh treatment imposed on its inmates. At a capacity of 40,000, CECOT is currently the largest prison in Latin America and among the largest in the world. It is also one of the most hellish places I could imagine having to spend time in.
On hearing Bukele’s name, Joe immediately lit up and did an exaggerated salute. “I love that man,” he exclaimed. “Much respect!” It was astonishing, actually. A Honduran petty criminal, albeit with his own children, paying homage to another country’s leader for cracking down on crime. Joe went on to describe the impact of the drug trade and cartels on his own country, wishing for police forces that would focus on that instead of harassing the local populace over stupid matters. I agreed with him, then got perhaps the first hint of understanding when I explained that what Bukele has done is sort of what Trump is trying to do in America in terms of controlling the border and establishing law and order.
Indeed, the turnaround under Bukele and his tough-on-crime predecessor, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, is truly remarkable. By removing tens of thousands of gang-bangers from the streets, the country’s murder rate has plummeted over the past decade from 106.3 homicides per 100,000 to 1.9 homicides per 100,000 in 2024, a 98% decrease that makes the tiny country officially the safest in Latin America. Meanwhile, El Savador’s prison population has grown exponentially, from fewer than 10,000 in 2000 to well over 100,000 today.
Progressives and civil libertarians, while acknowledging the drastic turnaround, have questioned the cost. In his quest to round up as many dangerous criminals as quickly as possible, many fundamental rights, including access to legal counsel, have been suspended. And certainly plenty of innocent people have been caught up in that massive dragnet.
There is also the question of how a society should treat its worst offenders. Granted, most of those inmates don’t deserve to live, much less be treated humanely. They certainly didn’t treat the people they indiscriminately killed humanely. Still, a key reason First World societies have some modicum of decency in their prison systems is because everyone knows many innocents are there, no matter how many safeguards that exist against that happening. But in a country with seemingly almost zero safeguards, imagining hundreds and even possibly thousands of innocents experiencing those horrific conditions is unsettling.
And make no mistake, those conditions are beyond horrific, even for Latin America. Inmates are packed 80 to a cell they only leave for an hour a week at best. In that cell are metal bunks, two toilets, and a concrete basin they all must take sponge baths in. No running water, no mattresses, no tables, no books, no nothing except the cold, blank, hopeless stares of fellow inmates. And food is purposefully below sustenance level. I’m a firm believer in the death penalty, but decades of this would be a fate worse than death. One could argue that many doubtless deserve this, but what about those who don’t?
Most decent people at least to some degree agree with Blackstone's ratio, the assertion that “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.” But to what extent you will stretch that statement in either direction says a lot about you. If you aren’t willing to punish anyone for fear of punishing one innocent, you might as well do away with law altogether. Do that, however, and chaos will reign and far more innocents will suffer in the long run. On the other hand, if you are willing to punish untold innocents to ensure as many guilty people as possible get what you believe they deserve, you just might be a totalitarian.
I believe the answer lies somewhere in the middle, with a humane prison system that at least attempts to rehabilitate those who haven’t been found guilty of capital crimes, and a quick, relatively painless death for those who have. And it should go without saying that there should be some caution to ensure those caught up in any justice system are actually guilty of the crimes for which they are being punished. While Bukele’s actions have resulted in a high profile among American conservative politicians and pundits, his excesses have also given the left unnecessary fodder.
Perhaps, now that the crisis has passed, the Salvadoran president will restore a sense of real justice while at the same time continuing to give the gangs and gangsters hell. Only time will tell. On the surface he definitely seems like a good man who means well.
Meanwhile, Bukele and all other leaders who work diligently for public safety would do well to learn a lesson from Friedrich Nietzsche: “Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.”
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