El Chapo Loses Health In Prison

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Lawyers for Joaquín el Chapo Guzmán have requested in a letter sent to New York Federal Judge Brian M. Cogan that the conditions of his client's confinement be modified because his current isolation affects his physical and mental health, to the point of hallucinations..

The capo in custody of the US judicial authorities since January 19, has been isolated in a cell of the Manhattan Metropolitan Correctional Complex since his extradition from Mexico, pending a trial in Brooklyn federal court.

According to defense attorneys Michelle Gelernt, Michael K. Schneider and Edward Zas, the isolation situation violates several of the rights of the inmate, who does not have access to sunlight, phone calls, contact with other human beings or television, always locked in a tiny windowless cell.

"Since his arrival in this district, Mr. Guzmán has had no contact with his wife, family or Mexican legal team," complains the letter sent on Monday, in which it is reported that outside of his lawyers he has only received the visit. of two priests. "Since his arrival in New York, Mr. Guzmán has not been allowed to make a single phone call, not even to his lawyers."

Furthermore, “he is confined in a small cell without a window. He remains in his cell, alone, for 23 hours a day, Monday through Friday, when he is allowed one hour of exercise alone in another cell.”

Lawyers point out that during the weekend he is confined 24 hours, without the right to exercise. “Their meals are delivered through a hole in the door; he always eats alone. The light is always on. Due to the erratic operation of the air conditioning, on numerous occasions it has not had enough clothes to avoid the cold.”

They claim that their only chance to see the light of day is when they pass through a small window on the way to meet their defenders or the exercise cell. “Mr. Guzmán is completely isolated. He is prohibited from sharing a cell phone or communicating with any of the other prisoners.”

In his opinion, living conditions behind bars have worsened the physical and mental deterioration that his client was already dragging from his confinement in Mexico, which has resulted in headaches, breathing problems and irritation in the throat, as well as "Auditory hallucinations".

"He complains that he listens to music in his cell even when the radio is turned off," said the lawyers, who request that El Chapo be transferred to the prison area where the general population is located.