Q COSTA RICA — The National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture says the Centro de Alta Contención para el Crimen Organizado (CACCO)—High-Security Center for Organized Crime, is seen by prisoners as a place of suffering.
The Justice Ministry defends the strict rules as necessary for security and hygiene.
Fear of being transferred to Costa Rica’s new high-security prison has become a threat used against inmates, Esteban Vargas of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture (MNPT) warned, according to La República.
The CACCO is viewed by inmates as “a place of suffering,” Vargas said. He argued that the prospect of transfer is being used to intimidate the prison population.
The scale of the plan is also a concern for the watchdog. Costa Rica’s prison system holds about 20,000 people, while the Justice Ministry expects 5,100 to be placed in the high-containment regime. Vargas said that would put about a quarter of the prison population under a model involving greater restrictions on their rights.
The warning comes amid criticism from human-rights groups following the CACCO’s recent inauguration. Images of prisoners with shaved heads and orange uniforms, alongside reports of strict security protocols, have intensified questions about the conditions of confinement.
Justice Minister Gabriel Aguilar has announced that inmates would remain in their cells for 23 hours a day, with one hour outdoors. Conjugal visits would be limited to once every six months, while in-person visits for prisoners with children would be restricted in favor of video calls. Aguilar defended the rules as necessary for order, discipline, security and hygiene, and rejected the claim that the government’s prison policy amounts to mistreatment or torture.
Vargas challenged that defense. He said the practices reported in the high-containment system amount to an infringement of prisoners’ rights. He also warned against adopting the model of El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, which he described as associated with systematic rights violations.
The MNPT representative questioned the purpose of mandatory hair-shaving, asking what it contributes to public or prison security.
Analysis
The dispute is about more than the conditions inside one new prison. It concerns how the government’s security strategy is applied, and whether the restrictions placed on inmates are justified, proportionate and subject to safeguards.
The CACCO’s planned capacity gives that question national significance: if the Justice Ministry’s estimate is reached, the high-containment regime could affect a substantial share of the prison population. Vargas’s warning also points to a separate risk: when transfer to a facility is feared, the threat of being sent there can itself become a tool of control, regardless of whether an individual is ultimately transferred.
The article presents competing positions but does not provide independent findings on conditions inside the CACCO. The ministry says the measures serve security and hygiene; the MNPT argues that the restrictions and the reported practices threaten prisoners’ rights. Resolving that conflict requires clear rules for placement, independent monitoring and evidence about how the regime operates in practice.
The central question is whether the state can contain organized crime while ensuring that punishment remains bounded by legal protections.