Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's defense lawyers are arguing that the famous drug lord's prison conditions at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan are making his health deteriorate and could lead to him going "crazy," The Washington Post reports. Guzman is the former leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and he was extradited to New York City on President Obama's last full day in office. Guzman previously escaped from federal prison in Mexico twice; he has pleaded not guilty to 17 counts related to running the cartel.
Guzman's attorneys said Guzman sits in a windowless cell for 23 hours a day with the lights always on and his meals slipped through the door. He is given one hour alone in an exercise room with a treadmill and a stationary bike. The lawyers said on weekends Guzman spends all 24 hours alone in his cell, and that guards took away his clock — the only way he'd been able to tell night from day.
The attorneys argued for Guzman to be removed from solitary confinement and allowed to visit his wife, claiming that his "physical and mental health have deteriorated further since his arrival in the United States." The defense also argued that his constitutional right to hire private lawyers and exercise the freedom of religion and speech are being violated.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"I don't think it's tenable for him to live that way for the year or more it will take to try this case," said one of Guzman's lawyers, Michael Schneider. "We run a real risk of him going crazy."
The defense team said that Guzman is suffering from "difficulty breathing and ... a sore throat and headaches. He has recently been experiencing auditory hallucinations, complaining of hearing music in his cell even when his radio is turned off."
-
Gripping political thrillers to stream nowThe Week Recommends From power struggles to deadly conspiracies, these addictive shows are nail-bitingly tense
-
What to know before turning to AI for financial advicethe explainer It can help you crunch the numbers — but it might also pocket your data
-
Book reviews: 'The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction—and a Search for Relief' and 'Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run'Feature The search for a headache cure and revisiting Springsteen's 'Born to Run' album on its 50th anniversary
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
