'El Chapo' says he faces 'unprecedented discrimination' in prison

Authorities escort Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán wrote a letter to a New York judge claiming he hasn’t been able to get phone calls or have visitors while incarcerated in a maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado.

The Associated Press reported that Judge Brian M. Cogan replied to Guzmán’s letter, writing that “the Bureau of Prisons became solely responsible” for overseeing his life sentence.

In the letters, obtained by the AP, Guzman called it “unprecedented discrimination” and said he is being punished further by not being allowed to speak to his children. Guzmán claimed it has been seven months since his last phone call with his children.

His phone calls are being monitored by the FBI, which prison officials say was not responding to them to allow the calls to take place.

In 2019 the Department of Justice said Guzman was sentenced to life in prison “plus 30 years,” by Cogan, which was to “run consecutive to the life sentence for being a principal leader of a continuing criminal enterprise.”

Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera was the head of the Mexican organized crime syndicate known as  the Sinaloa Cartel, the DOJ said.

SEE MORE: How cartels are changing the U.S.-Mexico political landscape

Last year the wife of “El Chapo,” Emma Coronel Aispuro, was freed from prison after serving a three-year sentence for money laundering and drug trafficking charges.

Aispuro pleaded guilty in 2021 to federal charges connected to Guzmán’s crimes and her involvement with the Sinaloa cartel.

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