Prof Dr Libardo José Ariza
Prof. Dr. Libardo José Ariza is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia). He is an expert on legal sociology, prison systems, and punitive populism in Latin America. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Deusto (Spain) and has published extensively on incarceration, human rights, and justice reform. His research critically examines mass incarceration, penal policies, and their impact on marginalised communities.
Bukele’s Global Prison
Fremont is a county in the state of Colorado, United States, home to the town of Cañon City. While few may be familiar with its existence, this location conceals a significant secret: the dystopian nature of everyday life, alongside its broader global impact. With a population of just 16,400, the town is home to 13 maximum-security prisons. The centrepiece of this architectural landscape is the formidable ADX Florence, a large supermax facility known as “The Alcatraz of the Rockies”, where high-profile prisoners such as Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán and Dairo Antonio Usugá, Otoniel, are serving life sentences.
Most residents of Cañon City derive their livelihoods from the prison industry. Some work as guards, while others provide healthcare services, prison treatment, sports instruction, manage prison facilities or own hotels and restaurants catering to visitors. Additionally, some focus on developing new control and surveillance technologies, consistent with the architectural designs of the dystopian panopticons that typify contemporary penal systems. This area, known as Prison Valley, serves as the epicentre of the American prison-industrial complex.
Mass incarceration – characterised by a staggering increase in the incarceration rate over just a few decades, disproportionately affecting ethnic and racial minorities – has been intrinsically linked to the dramatic expansion of the prison industry, its technologies, and its knowledge base. In just forty years, the United States has increased its prison population by 500%, now housing over two million individuals behind bars. A few years ago, Loïc Wacquant illustrated the scale of this phenomenon by suggesting that
“if it were a city, the American prison system would today be the fourth largest metropolis in the country”.
The prison-industrial complex is also one of the largest employers in the nation, providing 387,000 jobs, competing with corporations such as General Motors and Walmart in terms of both direct and indirect employment. For investors, acquiring shares in companies such as Corrections Corporation of America (CoreCivic), G4S, or GEO Group is considered a secure financial strategy, as the business of incarceration remains both profitable and powerful. The US government spends nearly $84 billion annually on its prison system.
The recent news indicating that the Bukele administration plans to enter this multi-billion-dollar business by holding individuals deported from the United States in its Supermax facility, CECOT (Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism), represents a significant development. El Salvador is poised to become the first Latin American country to join the global prison commodities chain. This geopolitical shift marks a pivotal moment in criminal policy relations between Latin America and the United States.
It is no coincidence that both nations are engaging in this prison business, as the United States has the largest prison population in the world (1,808,100), while El Salvador has the highest incarceration rate globally (1,659 per 100,000 inhabitants). This alliance could signal the beginning of a process of ‘offshoring’ prisons, wherein Latin American countries, traditionally recipients of US technologies and expertise to modernise their confinement systems, begin to sell cells and spaces in facilities designed according to Supermax models developed in locations like Fremont, Colorado.
The history of such exchanges is well-established, as evident in the adoption of the Coleman model – the Federal Medium and Minimum Security Complex in Coleman, Florida (USA) – for the design of the Tramacúa prison in Valledupar, Colombia. Nevertheless, Bukele’s move may be unique within the region, as it is difficult to imagine how the already overcrowded facilities in Latin America could accommodate additional prisoners. However, the prison industry remains lucrative and prosperous, and one can never predict how far authoritarian regimes may go when it comes to profiting from the violation of human rights.
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