Costa Rica inaugurated a 5,100-capacity maximum-security prison on October 14, as President Laura Fernández made the facility a centerpiece of her government’s drive against organized crime amid persistently high homicide numbers.
The High-Containment Center Against Organized Crime, known as CACCO, is in the La Reforma prison complex in Alajuela, near the capital, and is designed to hold about one-fifth of the country’s current prison population. Its design draws on El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, built under President Nayib Bukele, whose tough-on-crime approach has influenced security policy debates across the region. Fernández presented the opening as a major step toward tighter prison security, while Costa Rican officials say the center is intended to isolate high-risk inmates and curb criminal groups’ influence inside prisons.
The country recorded 905 homicides in 2023, followed by 876 in 2024 and 873 in 2025, with authorities linking many killings to disputes over drug-trafficking routes and local markets. The prison’s inauguration did not mean it was immediately in operation: officials said the first inmate transfers were expected near the end of October. The model has drawn scrutiny because Bukele’s crackdown has also faced allegations of arbitrary detention and violations of due process.
The opening therefore marks not only a new prison, but a sharper turn toward hard-line security policies as Costa Rica confronts rising violence.