El Helicoide, a futuristic building in central Caracas originally designed in the 1950s as a major shopping center, became one of Venezuela’s most notorious symbols of repression under President Nicolás Maduro.

Axar.az, citing Bild, reports that after years of abandonment, the structure was taken over by state authorities, including the intelligence service SEBIN, and converted into a prison around 2010.

Former detainees describe systematic torture inside, including electric shocks, sexual abuse, suffocation, sleep deprivation, and prolonged isolation in cramped, brightly lit cells known as “White Rooms.”

Although US President Donald Trump announced plans to shut the prison following Maduro’s fall and Venezuelan authorities claimed hundreds of releases, human rights groups say the process is slow and opaque. The UN estimates that around 800 political prisoners remain in Venezuela, and El Helicoide is still believed to be operating.