(AP Photo/Salvador Melendez, File) FILE - Prison guards stand outside holding cells during a media tour of the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Feb. 2, 2023.

While the U.S. criminal justice system is far from perfect, addressing its shortcomings requires reform, not abdication of responsibility.

Bukele ordered the mega-prison built as he began his campaign against El Salvador’s gangs in March 2022. It opened a year later in the town of Tecoluca, about 72 kilometers (45 miles ...