Drug Lord, El Chapo Requests To Return To Old Prison
west of the capital.
Rodriguez said El Chapo should remain close to the courts in Mexico City and nearby Toluca that are reviewing his criminal cases. Ciudad Juarez is nearly 1,800 kilometers away.
The attorney said he was concerned about the heavy military and police presence around the Cefereso Number 9 prison in a desert area of Ciudad Juarez, and said none of the inmates have been allowed to see lawyers since Saturday.
He said Guzman is isolated and complains that his “cell does not have the best health conditions. Joaquin has requested that they give him products to clean it, such as chlorine.”
Guzman had already complained about his prison conditions at the Altiplano, claiming that authorities were waking him up several times per night.
The Sinaloa drug cartel leader has staged two spectacular prison breaks in his lifetime.
In 2001, he hid in a laundry cart to sneak out of a maximum-security lockup in western Mexico. He was detained after a long manhunt in February 2014.
He escaped from the Altiplano prison in July 2015, when he snuck out through a 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) tunnel leading to his cell’s shower.
Guzman was recaptured in January and sent back to Altiplano, which is still considered the highest security prison despite his escape.
The foreign ministry has less than a month to approve the extradition, which can then be appealed by his lawyers.
Refugio Rodriguez said his client wants to negotiate his extradition with the United States in order to get better prison conditions.
But a US government official has told AFP that no such deals would be made.
The official estimated that the extradition would take place by the end of the year, though Guzman’s lawyer vowed to fight it to keep him in Mexico longer.
Analysts have raised questions about the surprising prison transfer, noting that the Ciudad Juarez was ranked last among federal prisons by the National Human Rights Commission in 2015 and that the city is a bastion of the Sinaloa cartel.
hmmm
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