Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
No Escape? El Chapo Likely off to 'Prison of All Prisons'
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
February 13, 2019

Share

NEW YORK — In the world of corrections, there are inmates who pose security risks, and then there’s “El Chapo.”
Drug lord Joaquin Guzman has an unparalleled record of jailbreaks, having escaped two high-security Mexican prisons before his ultimate capture and extradition to the United States.

“El Chapo fits the bill perfectly. I’d be absolutely shocked if he’s not sent to the ADX.” — Cameron Lindsay, a retired warden who ran three federal lockups
So with Guzman convicted Tuesday of drug trafficking and staring at an expected life sentence, where will the U.S. imprison a larger-than-life kingpin with a Houdini-like tendency to slip away?
Experts say Guzman seems the ideal candidate for the federal government’s “Supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado, also known as ADX for “administrative maximum.” The facility is so secure, so remote and so austere that it has been called the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.”
“El Chapo fits the bill perfectly,” said Cameron Lindsay, a retired warden who ran three federal lockups, including the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. “I’d be absolutely shocked if he’s not sent to the ADX.”
Located outside an old mining town about two hours south of Denver, Supermax’s hardened buildings house the nation’s most violent offenders, with many of its 400 inmates held alone for 23 hours a day in 7-by-12-foot (2.1-by-3.7 meter) cells with fixed furnishings made of reinforced concrete.
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and Oklahoma City bombing accomplice Terry Nichols are among those who call it home.

Bribery Widely Believed to Have Enabled His Jailbreak

But Guzman, set to be sentenced in June for smuggling enormous amounts of narcotics into the U.S and having a hand in dozens of murders, would stand out even from Supermax’s infamous roster because of his almost mythical reputation for breaking out.

“There had to be collusion from within. There is no doubt corruption played a role in both of his spectacular escapes.” — Mike Vigil, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent
That includes a sensational 2015 escape from the maximum-security Altiplano prison in central Mexico, where he communicated with accomplices for weeks via cellphone, slipped into an escape hatch beneath his shower, hopped on the back of a waiting motorcycle and sped through a mile-long, hand-dug tunnel to freedom.
Bribery is widely believed to have enabled that jailbreak, as well as a 2001 escape in which Guzman was smuggled out of another top-security Mexican prison in a laundry basket.
“There had to be collusion from within,” said Mike Vigil, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who worked undercover in Mexico. “There is no doubt corruption played a role in both of his spectacular escapes.”
Could that happen at Supermax? Not likely.
Prisoners at Supermax spend years in solitary confinement and often go days “with only a few words spoken to them,” an Amnesty International report found. One former prisoner, in an interview with The Boston Globe, described the lockup as a “high-tech version of hell, designed to shut down all sensory perception.”
Most inmates at Supermax are given a television, but their only actual view of the outside world is a 4-inch window. The window’s design prevents them from even determining where they are housed in the facility. Human interaction is minimal. Prisoners eat all meals in the solitude of their own cells, within feet of their toilets.

Guzman Forbidden From Hugging Wife at Trial

The facility itself is guarded by razor-wire fences, gun towers, heavily armed patrols, and attack dogs.
“If ever there were an escape-proof prison, it’s the facility at Florence,” said Burl Cain, the former longtime warden of the maximum-security Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. “It’s the prison of all prisons.”
While federal authorities have not said for certain where El Chapo will be housed, he’s staring at “a sentence from which there is no escape and no return,” U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said after Tuesday’s verdict.

Officials were so concerned about security, in fact, that Guzman was forbidden from hugging his wife at his trial.
Guzman’s confinement leading up to his three-month trial included remarkable security measures reflecting his immense flight risk. He has been housed in solitary confinement in a high-security wing of the Metropolitan Correctional Center, a Manhattan lockup known as “Little Gitmo” that has held notorious terrorists and mobsters.
Authorities have routinely shut down the Brooklyn Bridge to shuttle “El Chapo” to federal court in a police motorcade that includes a SWAT team and ambulance tracked by helicopters. Heavily armed federal officers and bomb-sniffing dogs have patrolled outside the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. Officials were so concerned about security, in fact, that Guzman was forbidden from hugging his wife at his trial.
That apparently won’t be a problem if he winds up in Supermax, where all visits are non-contact, and prisoners are separated from their visitors by a thick plexiglass screen.
“Other than when being placed in restraints and escorted by guards, prisoners may spend years without touching another human being,” the Amnesty International report found.

DON'T MISS

Supreme Court Sides With the FDA in Its Dispute Over Sweet-Flavored Vaping Products

DON'T MISS

Trump Announces Sweeping New Tariffs to Promote US Manufacturing, Risking Inflation and Trade Wars

DON'T MISS

Fresno Firefighters Save Dog From Canal and Now She’s Ready for Adoption

DON'T MISS

Big Brands Spend Just Enough on X to Avoid Musk’s ‘Naughty List’

DON'T MISS

Judge Dismisses Corruption Case Against New York City Mayor Eric Adams

DON'T MISS

State Center Trustees Render Split Decision on Future of PLAs

DON'T MISS

California’s Schools Chief Has a $200,000 Salary and a Side Gig

DON'T MISS

Why Project Labor Agreements Are Good for Our Schools and Students: Opinion

DON'T MISS

Trump Proposes Tax Deduction for Auto Loan Interest on US-Made Cars

DON'T MISS

Western US Sees Sharp Increase in Extreme Weather Impact

UP NEXT

Western US Sees Sharp Increase in Extreme Weather Impact

UP NEXT

7-Year-Old Girl Was Killed by a Falling Boulder at a Lake Tahoe Ski Resort

UP NEXT

Israel’s Operations in Gaza Expands to Seize ‘Large Areas.’ Palestinians Say Dozens Killed

UP NEXT

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

UP NEXT

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

UP NEXT

UN Agency Closes Its Remaining Gaza Bakeries as Food Supplies Dwindle Under Israeli Blockade

UP NEXT

Lakers Hold Off Rockets With 6 3-Pointers Apiece From Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent

UP NEXT

Athletics Bat Boy Stewart Thalblum Takes Down Drone in Left Field

UP NEXT

NFL Postpones Tush Push Decision but Passes Other Rule Changes, AP Source Says

UP NEXT

March Madness: It’s South Carolina vs. Texas and UCLA vs. UConn in Women’s Final Four

Big Brands Spend Just Enough on X to Avoid Musk’s ‘Naughty List’

3 hours ago

Judge Dismisses Corruption Case Against New York City Mayor Eric Adams

3 hours ago

State Center Trustees Render Split Decision on Future of PLAs

3 hours ago

California’s Schools Chief Has a $200,000 Salary and a Side Gig

3 hours ago

Why Project Labor Agreements Are Good for Our Schools and Students: Opinion

4 hours ago

Trump Proposes Tax Deduction for Auto Loan Interest on US-Made Cars

4 hours ago

Western US Sees Sharp Increase in Extreme Weather Impact

4 hours ago

Amazon Said to Make a Bid to Buy TikTok in the US

4 hours ago

Fresno Man Found Dead, Coroner’s Office Seeks Help Finding Family

4 hours ago

The ‘Six’ Wives of King Henry VIII Sing Their Hearts Out in Fresno

5 hours ago

Supreme Court Sides With the FDA in Its Dispute Over Sweet-Flavored Vaping Products

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled for the Food and Drug Administration in its crackdown on sweet-flavored vaping products fo...

1 hour ago

1 hour ago

Supreme Court Sides With the FDA in Its Dispute Over Sweet-Flavored Vaping Products

2 hours ago

Trump Announces Sweeping New Tariffs to Promote US Manufacturing, Risking Inflation and Trade Wars

A young Labrador mix rescued from a Fresno canal on Sunday, March 2, 2025, is thriving in a foster home after overcoming fear and trauma. (Instagram/Fresno Animal Center)
2 hours ago

Fresno Firefighters Save Dog From Canal and Now She’s Ready for Adoption

3 hours ago

Big Brands Spend Just Enough on X to Avoid Musk’s ‘Naughty List’

3 hours ago

Judge Dismisses Corruption Case Against New York City Mayor Eric Adams

3 hours ago

State Center Trustees Render Split Decision on Future of PLAs

3 hours ago

California’s Schools Chief Has a $200,000 Salary and a Side Gig

West Fresno satellite campus of Fresno City College
4 hours ago

Why Project Labor Agreements Are Good for Our Schools and Students: Opinion

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend