Inside CECOT

"Inside CECOT" is a segment that was originally intended to be broadcast on the December 21, 2025, episode of 60 Minutes, a television news magazine from CBS News. Presented by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, the segment discusses the experiences of detainees at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a maximum security prison in El Salvador used to confine Venezuelan migrants who had been deported from the US by the Trump administration in early 2025. Via interviews with former detainees and via photographic evidence, the segment describes systematic torture at the facility, independently corroborating earlier conclusions by Human Rights Watch.^[1][2]

Three hours prior to broadcast, CBS News announced that the segment had been pulled and would be broadcast at a later date; Alfonsi accused CBS News's new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of pulling the story for political reasons. Weiss claimed that the story "was not ready" for broadcast; sources within CBS News told outlets including the New York Times that two days before the anticipated broadcast, Weiss had asked the producers to arrange an interview with Trump administration operative Stephen Miller, who architected the deportation policy, or an administration operative of similar rank.^[3]

On December 22, 2025, a cut of the episode that still contained the "Inside CECOT" story was accidentally made available online by Canadian broadcaster Global, causing the segment to be widely disseminated.^[4][5]

Background

An aerial view of the Terrorism Confinement Center

The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) is a maximum security prison in El Salvador.^[6] Under the second Trump administration, the prison has held some deported from the United States.^[6][7]

In the lead-up to the acquisition of CBS parent company Paramount Global by Skydance Media, it was suggested that Paramount had been increasingly currying favor with the second Trump administration in order to ensure regulatory approval, including settling a lawsuit accusing 60 Minutes of editing an interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris to sway public interest.^[8][9] The program's executive producer Bill Owens left CBS News in April 2025, arguing that he could no longer "make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes."^[10]

In October 2025, following the acquisition. Paramount Skydance acquired Bari Weiss's The Free Press, and hired Weiss as the editor-in-chief of CBS News.^[11][12][13]

On December 12, 2025, at the Walter Cronkite Award presentation, long-time 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley said that the program had yet to experience any "corporate interference of any kind" since the Paramount Skydance takeover, explaining that "it's early yet, but what I can tell you is we are doing the same kinds of stories with the same kind of rigor".^[14]

Synopsis

Just under 14 minutes long, the segment first shows men in chains being "paraded in front of cameras, pushed onto buses, and delivered to CECOT".^[15] As described by The Verge, the segment then presents an interview with a former detainee who says he was "beaten until he bled and that he was thrown into a wall so hard he broke one of his teeth. He also described sexual assault by the guards. Another interviewed former detainee described what can only be called torture: being forced to kneel for 24 hours, and being put in a dark room, where they were beaten if they moved from the stress position."^[15] Detainees are expected to sleep in bunks stacked four high without pillows or blankets, and lights are kept on 24 hours a day.^[2] Detainees do not have access to clean water.^[2]

Alfonsi interviews Juan Pappier, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch, and notes that 60 Minutes independently corroborated the conclusion of Human Rights Watch that CECOT was carrying out "systematic torture" on detainees, and that nearly half the men in CECOT do not have a criminal history.^[2]

Broadcast postponement

On the afternoon of December 21, 2025, prior to the airing of the episode, CBS News announced the CECOT segment had been pulled from the episode, and would air at a later date, without disclosing a reason.^[16][17][18]

In an email sent to colleagues, Alfonsi accused Weiss of intervening for political reasons, because the Trump administration had declined requests to provide responses for the story. Alfonsi explained that the story was "factually correct" and had been "screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices," adding that "pulling it now—after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one. [...] Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver destined to kill the story."^[19][20]

In a meeting the following morning, Weiss said that the report was pulled because it "was not ready", arguing that "the Times and other outlets have previously done similar work. The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more. And this is 60 Minutes. We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera. Our viewers come first. Not the listing schedule or anything else."^[21] At the meeting, 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley again brought up the fact that Weiss had not turned up to any of the five internal screenings of the segment during the final stages of editing.^[22]

Speaking to sources within CBS News, the New York Times pieced together a more detailed timeline of the story's progress.^[22] The first of five internal screenings that Weiss did not attend took place on December 12.^[22] Three days before the anticipated December 21 broadcast, Weiss watched the segment and sent suggestions that producers then incorporated into the segment's script.^[22] Two days before the anticipated broadcast, Weiss asked producers to interview White House operative Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's migrant deportation program, or an operative of similar rank.^[22][3] Three hours before the anticipated broadcast, CBS News publicly announced the segment was postponed.^[3]

Leak by Canadian broadcaster

On December 22, 2025, it was discovered that Canadian rightsholder Global Television Network had placed the original cut of the December 21 episode—where the CECOT segment remained unexcised—on the network's video on demand platform instead of the version that actually aired, resulting in video of the segment being widely shared on social media, archival platforms such as the Internet Archive and Distributed Denial of Secrets, and via torrent.^{[23][24][1][25][21][26]} Global quickly pulled the episode; as of December 22, 2025^[update], the network's parent company Corus Entertainment has not responded to requests for comment.^[27]

Reaction

Weiss's decision attracted widespread condemnation, including by American legislators and journalists.^{[28][29][16][30][22]}

Senator Brian Schatz wrote that "what is happening to CBS is a terrible embarrassment and if executives think they can build shareholder value by avoiding journalism that might offend the Mad King they are about to learn a tough lesson."^[28] Senator Ed Markey wrote that the postponement was a "sad day for 60 Minutes and journalism".^[28]

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich wrote "I'm old enough to remember when CBS News would never have surrendered to a demagogic president".^{[31][self-published source]}

Human Rights Watch executive director Philippe Bolopion said he was troubled by Alfonsi's allegations about Weiss's decision, "especially in light of pressures on press freedom in the US". A representative of Human Rights Watch was interviewed by Alfonsi in the postponed segment.^[1]

Anna M. Gomez, a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), stated that reports about the postponed segment were "deeply alarming and strike at the heart of press freedom".^[32]

See also

• Nazi Concentration Camps, documentary footage used as evidence at the Nuremberg Trials