Prisoners at the Terrorism Confinement Center (in Tecoluca, El Salvador, are ae shown in late 2023. Plans for planned the Costa Rican prison are modeled after the El Salvador facility. File Photo by Rodrigo Sura/EPA
Costa Rica expects to open a maximum-security prison, intended to hold 5,100 inmates, by the end of 2026, at an estimated cost of $39 million.
For the design of the Center for High Containment of Organized Crime, the Costa Rican government received technical assistance from El Salvador, which donated the plans for its controversial Terrorism Confinement Center, the mega-prison for gang members built under President Nayib Bukele.
“This prison must be ready for the day when we can strengthen the hand of Costa Rican justice with better laws and a judicial system that actually works,” President Rodrigo Chaves said at a press conference.
At the same event, Chaves praised Congress for approving a budget that covers 40% of the new prison’s cost — about $16 million — and allowing the government to begin the bidding process for construction.
The remaining $24 million must be included in the 2026 budget, the Justice Ministry said. Construction is expected to begin in the last quarter of 2025.
Officials said the plan responds to several challenges facing the country: overcrowding, a growing prison population and rising organized crime.
Until 2023, Costa Rica was considered the safest country in Central America. However, according to statistics from Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency, the country could surpass the number of homicides in 2025 compared with 2024, which was the second most violent year on record with 880 cases.
A report by the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture said the growth of organized crime — linked to drug trafficking, predatory “gota a gota” (drop by drop) loans, money laundering and other forms of violence, such as contract killings, extortion and human trafficking — is the main driver behind the sharp rise in homicides. Other crimes, including robbery, theft and assault, have not increased at the same pace.
Over the past decade, Costa Rica has shifted from serving mainly as a transit corridor for drug trafficking to becoming a base of operations for drug cartels.
The report said prison overcrowding in Costa Rica reached 29.5% as of March. Considering only the adult male population, the overcrowding rate was 36.2%.
However, if the goal is to reduce homicides, experts say prison construction must be paired with stronger criminal investigations, financial intelligence to cut off illicit money flows, non-custodial measures for low-risk offenders and release programs aimed at reducing repeat offenses.
The Ombudsman’s Office and the torture prevention group also urged authorities to uphold human rights standards and ensure transparency in the use of biometric data and video surveillance inside the new prison.
