The Costa Rica Congress (Legislative Assembly) took a major step this week toward building a sprawling maximum-security prison.

On Tuesday, the nine members of the Assembly’s Finance Committee unanimously approved part of a $15.6 million budget to launch construction of the new facility, officially named the High Containment Center Against Organized Crime.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed that the funds come from combined budgets of the Ministries of Public Security, Public Works and Transport, Health, and the Office of the Presidency.

The total construction cost is projected at around $35 million. The $15.6 million approved this week will cover the initial phase, with the remaining funds expected to be included in next year’s national budget.

In April, Justice Minister Gerald Campos visited El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in Tecoluca to study its design and management. The Salvadoran facility, which opened in January 2023 under President Nayib Bukele, is the largest in Latin America, with a capacity for 40,000 inmates. Costa Rica plans to model its new prison on CECOT.

The facility will be constructed near the existing Jorge Arturo Montero Castro Prison (known as La Reforma jail) in the canton of San Rafael, Alajuela province. The project calls for roughly 31,000 square meters of construction on a site covering more than 90,000 square meters.

Once completed, the prison is expected to house over 5,000 inmates across five buildings. Authorities say the prison will accommodate members of organized crime groups, violent offenders, extraditable prisoners, inmates considered a risk to institutional security, and individuals requiring special protection.

Planned features include central corridors with cells on both sides in each module, five medical offices, an administrative building, a main control post, seven guard towers, isolation cells, a warehouse and waste management area, parking, and housing for police officers, among other facilities.

President Rodrigo Chaves-Robles first announced the project in May. Construction is scheduled to begin in December 2025 and is expected to take about a year.

The project comes amid rising crime in Costa Rica. The Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) reported 563 homicides nationwide as of August 2025, just four fewer than during the same period in 2024.

Currently, the country operates 11 prisons, housing roughly 17,000 inmates.

In related events, in November 2024, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele visited Costa Rica prisons and was awarded the Juan Rafael Mora Porras Distinction.

The OIJ, a branch of Costa Rica’s Supreme Court of Justice, handles criminal investigations and has nationwide policing authority.

The Ministry of Justice manages the prison system, oversees inmate rehabilitation and reintegration, and represents the state through the Attorney General’s Office.