Story By: Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Newsflash
Notorious drug lord El Chapo has claimed in a seven-page letter that he is being mistreated in the American supermax prison he is being held in.
El Chapo – real name Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera – was extradited from his native Mexico to the USA in January 2017.
He was sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison after being found guilty in February 2019 of 10 charges related to drug trafficking and money laundering.
Since then he has been held in a maximum-security prison in Florence, Colorado, but in an astonishing rant, he claims his treatment there is unfair.
In a seven-page letter – penned in English – El Chapo, now aged 65, wrote: “Due to the treatment at ADMAX, now I suffer from headaches, memory loss, muscle cramps, stress and depression.”
He added: “The treatment I receive is cruel and unfair, and it is causing me to suffer from psychological and health problems. I pray that this court intervenes.”
The court El Chapo referred to is where in October last year he appealed against his conviction. The court upheld his sentence in January this year.
El Chapo previously complained that his pre-trial detention in the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York was a “24-hour torture”.
And in his new home, El Chapo described how he spends most of the day in a cell measuring seven by 12 feet with only a small window through which he is served his meals.
He complained in his letter: “I am ruled out of having any verbal contact or communication with other prisoners.
“I have no human contact, other than when the guards put on and take off my shackles.”
He went on: “Since my arrival in the United States, I have not been allowed to speak to my wife.”
This is because El Chapo’s wife Emma Coronel is also in jail, in Texas, where she is serving a three-year sentence and is not due to be released until 13th September next year.
The drug lord protested: “I have suffered a lot being in solitary confinement. My blood pressure has risen, leading to headaches and anxiety. Sometimes I forget things.”
He added: “They serve me little food and I often stay hungry.”
Of the “extremely hot” air that comes out of the ventilation for 15 minutes between four and five times at night, waking him up, he wrote: “Every night this causes my heart to start beating rapidly, raising my blood pressure. I have raised this issue with staff, but no one has done anything.”
And he also grumbled: “Even though I don’t share a cell and am in my cell 24 hours a day, prison officials enter my cell several times a week to do routine searches, when they move and touch all my belongings.”
Four of El Chapo’s children are currently wanted by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
