British presenter escorted from El Salvador prison 15 min

A British television presenter was escorted from a controversial maximum-security prison in El Salvador after just 15 minutes during the filming of a documentary. Richard Madeley was visiting the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, when prison director Belarmino Garcia ordered him and his crew to stop filming and leave the facility.

Madeley’s questioning about inmate living conditions prompted the abrupt end to the initial visit. In a voiceover for the documentary, Madeley said the pace of the encounter suddenly quickened and that he may have overstepped the mark. A guard present remarked that the culture was likely different from what Madeley was accustomed to. The crew was later permitted to return to complete filming for the Channel 5 program, "Richard Madeley: Inside the World’s Mega Prison."

The documentary details the extreme conditions within the facility, which holds thousands of inmates, many alleged to be gang members. Prisoners are described as having shaved heads, wearing only boxer shorts, and confined to their cells for 23 and a half hours each day. The cells, which average 0.6 square meters per inmate, have lights that remain on constantly. Inmates are...