Inside the infamous Salvadoran prison where Kilmer Abrego Garcia is held
This is a look inside El Salvador’s massive prison, CECOT, where Kilmer Abrego Garcia has been imprisoned since he was wrongfully deported on March 15th.
CBS cut the “60 Minutes” segment hours before it was scheduled to air on Dec. 21, a move that appears to have sparked a backlash from correspondents.
This segment was supposed to feature El Salvador’s infamous prison, CECOT.
The news program announced the program’s renewal in a statement around 4:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 21, adding that the piece “will air on a future broadcast.”
CBS News said in a statement to USA TODAY that it “determined that additional reporting was necessary.”
Correspondent Sharin Alfonsi, who has worked for the network for more than 20 years, reported the story. Multiple news outlets, including The New York Times, NPR and CNN, obtained an email that Alfonsi sent to colleagues in which she said the decision to eliminate the corner was “a political decision, not an editorial one.” USA TODAY was unable to contact Alfonsi.
Instead, “60 Minutes” will air a segment about the classical musician’s family, according to the program’s latest information. Since then, the show’s social media comments have been flooded with comments from viewers, demanding the network release the original clip.
This year has been a turbulent one for the Paramount-owned station. The company acquired independent media company The Free Press in October and appointed CEO Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News.
Canceled “60 Minutes” segment was based on CECOT’s “brutal and torturous conditions”
The segment, called “Inside CECOT,” will feature interviews with Venezuelan immigrants who were deported to prison by President Donald Trump’s administration, according to archived program notes.
Alfonsi spoke with some of the deportees who have now been released and described the “brutal and torturous conditions they endured inside CECOT,” which the logline describes as “one of the harshest prisons in El Salvador.”
CECOT, officially called the “Terrorist Confinement Center” and notorious for its harsh and dangerous conditions, is being used to house some immigrant detainees from the United States as part of an agreement with El Salvador.
A Human Rights Watch report released in November details the experiences of 40 Venezuelan prisoners at CECOT, where they allege they faced constant abuse at the hands of guards. Although the United States and the Salvadoran government have accused these prisoners of being terrorists, the report found that many of them have not been convicted of any crime.
The prison also made headlines earlier this year when the Trump administration deported Kilmer Abrego Garcia, a Maryland native from El Salvador who had been granted legal protection to stay in the United States, on March 15.
Abrego-Garcia was released from prison on December 11 after U.S. District Judge Paula Kisinis of Maryland said the Trump administration had no legal basis to deport him.
“60 Minutes” faces criticism from President Trump
CBS has been at odds with President Trump several times this year.
In July, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Mr. Trump over a “60 Minutes” segment that aired last year. He claimed it was edited in favor of former Vice President Kamala Harris during the campaign.
Earlier this month, President Trump slammed CBS News over its interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“They are no better than the old ownership who paid me millions of dollars for false reporting about me, your favorite president!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “60 Minutes has actually gotten worse since they bought it. Well, it could be worse.”
David Ellison, the son of Trump ally and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, became Paramount’s CEO in August after the company merged with Skydance.
David Ellison’s Paramount is also pursuing a hostile takeover of Warner Bros., which lost a bidding war to Netflix. President Trump has repeatedly criticized Warner Bros.-owned CNN, calling it “essential” to sell the news network.
Melina Khan is USA TODAY’s national trends reporter. Contact her at melina.khan@usatoday.com.
