Costa Rica opens mega-prison as Bukele model embraced across Latin America

President Laura Fernandez says mega-prison is part of 'tough-on-crime model' embraced by her government.

President Laura Fernandez says mega-prison is part of ‘tough-on-crime model’ embraced by her government. Costa Rica has announced the opening of a new mega-prison amid near-record homicide levels and growing organised crime, as countries across the region embrace police crackdowns that have proven popular but often weaken key civil liberties. President Laura Fernandez opened the High-Containment Centre Against Organised Crime, or CACCO, on Wednesday. The prison will have capacity for 5,100 people, equivalent to about 20 percent of the country’s current prison population. “The CACCO will force criminals to face a new model – a tough-on-crime model. Costa Rica will become a global benchmark for prison security,” Fernandez said during an inauguration ceremony.

Candidates across Latin America have embraced mega-prisons, seeking to replicate the policies of Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, who has won widespread popularity through a campaign of mass arrests and the suspension of basic rights in the name of combating crime. Costa Rica, long spared from high levels of violent crime compared with its neighbours, saw a record-setting 905 homicides in 2023, followed by 876 in 2024 and 873 in 2025. Analysts say that is partly due to increased fighting between criminal groups over lucrative drug routes. The first transfers to Costa Rica’s new mega-prison will take place at the end of October, with Justice