Is 'El Chapo' Guzman Calling the Shots in Mexico's Highest-Security Prison? Joshua Partlow - Washington Post
go to original August 31, 2014

¿Es El Chapo? - Documentary asks the question, Is "El Chapo" really behind bars? (drlaffodaypcs)

Lawyers who visit their clients in the Altiplano, Mexico's highest-security prison, say they must leave behind their wallets, pens, tie clips, shoelaces. They complain that guards even check inside their underwear and female lawyers must take off their bras.

Those prisoners in solitary confinement, such as the jail's most famous inmate, drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, are said to be under constant surveillance and receive just one hour of daily caged-in recreational time.

So the news last month that Guzman had organized nearly 1,000 prisoners to hold a five-day hunger strike to protest at the prison's poor hygiene, medical care and food seemed curious. Not just that the world's most fearsome drug lord was now apparently a human rights crusader, but that he had the freedom of movement and communications to pull it off.

According to sources familiar with the prison, however, Guzman is given preferential treatment: while other prisoners are forced to shave, he's been allowed to keep his mustache.

That Guzman is in prison at all is a victory for the Mexican government. He had escaped from incarceration once before, in 2001, and his legend grew as he led the Sinaloa Cartel, the multi-billion-dollar drug-trafficking operation. Guzman was once reported to be worth $1bn.

Read the rest at The Independent

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