LAWYERS for Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman are complaining that his New York City jail conditions are too strict. Guzman, who has repeatedly been imprisoned and escaped in Mexico, appeared Friday in a federal court in Brooklyn.
His lawyers say he’s on a 23-hour lockdown in a special jail unit.
They say jail officials are not allowing Guzman’s common-law wife and Mexican lawyer to visit him.
The wife, Emma Coronel, a 27-year-old former beauty queen and mother of Guzman’s twins, sat in the front of the gallery during Guzman’s court appearance.
He looked at her and smiled.
Defence lawyer Michelle Gelernt said the cartel kingpin is so restricted that he’s not allowed to accept water during visits with his lawyers and paralegals.
“When we go for a visit we are not even allowed to give Mr. Guzman water,” Ms Gelernt told Judge Brian M. Cogan during the hearing in Brooklyn Federal Court. “That means we cannot have a glass of water.”
Ms Gelerbnt asked Judge Brian Cogan permission for Ms Coronel to visit her husband at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre, but Cogan declined to intervene, saying it was up to the jail which has already denied it.
“It’s an unusual case,” Mr Cogan noted. “Obviously they are taking extra security measures. We know the reasons for that.”
US authorities are determined that Guzman will have no opportunity to stage another daring escape after twice fleeing Mexican prisons, once in a laundry cart and most recently through a tunnel under his shower.
Guzman has pleaded not guilty to charges of running a massive drug trafficking operation that laundered billions of dollars and oversaw murders and kidnappings.
He pleaded not guilty to a raft of firearms, drug trafficking and conspiracy charges at an initial court hearing on January 20.
This article was originally published on news.com.au.
