El Salvador’s Cecot mega-prison was notorious long before the Trump administration’s recent decision to deport hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members there.

Shackled and bent over – some of the 250-plus deportees arriving in El Salvador. El Salvador Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images Mneesha

Invoking a 1798 law, the US president has sent hundreds of alleged gang members to the high-security prison described as a 'black hole of human rights'