(Newswire.net — March 4, 2016) — On January 8th, 2016, police re-captured Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, head of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel. He was caught six months after an escape from his jail cell at the Altiplano prison through an underground tunnel, and has now been returned to the same prison, some fifty five miles west of Mexico City.
Jose Refugio Rodriguez Nunes, leader of El Chapo’s legal defense team, notes that his client is concerned about his health, he looks extremely tired, and has asked his defense team to expedite his extradition to the United States.
The lawyer explained it would take at least two months for the extradition process to be completed, and that that is too long, he said. He has suggested that the defense lawyers discuss the expedition with US authorities.
They have already filed nine complaints, and Rodriguez warned that they won’t drop the legal defense in Mexico until they have an agreement with the United States.
He explained that the Sinaloa cartel kingpin is willing to plead guilty in the US if authorities accept his requests for a lighter sentence and confinement at a medium-security prison.
According to the AP, El Chapo has told his lawyer to try negotiate with the American government.
El Chapo’s wife, Emma Coronel, recently said that his health has been deteriorating while in prison. During an interview with Telemundo in February 2016, Emma Coronel said that Guzman has problems with nervousness and anxiety and doesn’t get enough sleep in Altiplano prison.
In the maximum security prison in Mexico, the prison guards perform a prisoner count every two hours, even at night when the detainees are sleeping. For the head of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, not allowing someone to sleep equates to torture, and his lawyer said he see’s that his client is desperate, dejected, discouraged and in a very serious state of health.
Renato Sales, Mexico’s national security commissioner spoke at a news conference last week, saying that Joaquin Guzman’s human rights have not been violated at the prison. He explained that El Chapo, as someone who had already escaped twice from maximum security prisons, must be subject to special security measures.