What Does CECOT Stand For? Inside the Name of the El Salvadoran Prison

In March 2025, Donald Trump began ordering deported individuals to be sent to the prison known as CECOT in El Salvador. The English translation of the maximum security prison is Terrorism Confinement Center. But what does CECOT mean, and how did people come up with the acronym commonly used to refer to the prison?

Before Trump's orders to send deportees to CECOT, the prison was largely used to house convicted or arrested gang members. Most of the prisoners were arrested in El Salvador, though Trump's order made it possible for some detainees believed to also be involved in the infamous MS-13 gang to be sent to CECOT rather than deported to their home countries, per the American Immigration Council.

Although CECOT is not the direct acronym from the translated version of the prison's name, it is used to refer to the El Salvadoran name given to the facility. CECOT stands for Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo. When translated to English, it means Terrorism Confinement Center. Rather than call the prison the TCC or something similar as an acronym, CECOT has become the go-to option to easily reference it.

It's not totally clear who coined the CECOT acronym or when the prison became so widely known as such. However, according to the website for the Ministry of Justice and Public Security in El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele might have been the one to first refer to the prison as CECOT, possibly as an easier way to speak of it, both domestically and around the world.

Per the website, Bukele announced the opening of the prison as the "Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT)." CECOT takes up the equivalent of more than 236 city blocks and remains isolated enough to be away from any urban areas where civilians might be. It was originally designed to house El Salvadoran residents who were arrested. Now, it has become a place for some detainees from the U.S. to be sent.

Although not much is known about what happens to detainees who are sent to CECOT, the long-running CBS series 60 Minutes was slated to air an episode that featured not only details about the facility, but also interviews with individuals who were sent to CECOT and later released. However, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss made the decision to pull the episode before it aired.

In a since-deleted teaser for the CECOT episode of 60 Minutes that was shared to Reddit, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi speaks to individuals who made it out of CECOT and says, in a voiceover, that they "endured four months of Hell."

Following the episode being pulled before it could air on its planned date of Dec. 21, 2025, Weiss reportedly told CBS staffers that her decision came about because she wanted to make sure the episode maintained integrity.

"I held a 60 Minutes story because it was not ready," Weiss said. "While the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball. The Times and other outlets have previously done similar work. The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more."