CBS Is Burying the Truth About Mass Prison Abuse

Just hours before it was set to air, CBS pulled a completed 60 Minutes investigation into El Salvador’s CECOT megaprison, blocking critical reporting on grave human rights abuses.

Over the weekend, CBS News made an extraordinary and disturbing decision. A 60 Minutes segment investigating abuses inside El Salvador’s CECOT prison was cut only hours before its scheduled broadcast. The reporting was finished. The airtime was set. And then, at the last possible moment, the public was denied the truth.

CECOT, the so-called Terrorism Confinement Center, is one of the largest prisons in the world, built to hold up to 40,000 people. It has become internationally infamous for mass detention without due process, extreme overcrowding, and harsh, degrading conditions. Thousands of men are held indefinitely under emergency powers, many without charges, trials, or access to lawyers. Families are kept in the dark. Independent monitors are barred. Deaths in custody have been reported.

The canceled 60 Minutes segment examined these abuses and the growing political push to promote CECOT as a model for “tough on crime” and immigration policy. That context makes CBS’s decision even more alarming. When journalism that scrutinizes state violence is silenced at the last minute, it raises serious questions about editorial independence and outside pressure.

For decades, 60 Minutes has stood for fearless reporting and accountability. Pulling an investigation hours before airtime undermines that legacy and sends a dangerous message: that powerful interests can still decide which stories the public is allowed to see.

We demand a clear, public explanation for why it was pulled and what steps CBS will take to ensure journalists — not executives or political actors — control editorial decisions.

The ask is urgent and simple. Air the segment. Do not delay. Do not dilute. Do not bury the truth.

Silence protects abuse. Journalism exposes it. CBS must choose transparency now.