El Chapo faces life in ‘Alcatraz of Rockies’
HIS tunnelling out of prison cells and safe-houses has earned him almost mythical status. So there is little doubt that when Joaquín Guzmán, known as “El Chapo”, is sentenced in June he will be sent to the most secure jail in the US.
Guzmán, the 61-year-old crime king- pin convicted in a federal court of drug-trafficking, is almost certain to be sent to the Colorado “Supermax” prison, in the desert outside Florence, two hours from Denver. It is a facility so secure, it is known as “Alcatraz of the Rockies”.
The complex, which houses 400 prisoners, is guarded by gun towers, armed patrols and attack dogs.
The inmates – who are kept in concrete cells for 23 hours a day – include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston marathon bomber, and Zacarias Moussaoui, who was convicted of conspiring to kill US citizens in the September 11 attacks. Abu Hamza, the British hate preacher who has been held there since 2015, took legal action in an attempt to be returned to Britain after claiming conditions in the prison were too harsh.
The typical cell is concrete box measuring 7ft by 12ft. Prisoners are allowed television and newspapers, but Guzmán may be restricted to old issues. Inmates usually have an hour of each day together in a small caged-in yard, but Bob Hood, a former warden, said Guzmán may be denied even that.
“He’s such a high-profile person that, in my opinion, he’ll never be allowed on the yard with other prisoners,” he said.
Inmates are separated from visitors by a wall of thick Perspex, and often go days “with only a few words spoken to them,” Amnesty International found.
One former prisoner described it as a “hi-tech version of hell, designed to shut down all sensory perception”.
The US authorities are less concerned about Guzmán tunnelling out – believed to be impossible – or bribing guards, than they are about him winning over fellow inmates or ordering hits on witnesses who testified against him.
For that reason, he may be placed in the most isolated area, Range 13.
“If ever there were an escape-proof prison, it’s the facility at Florence,” said Burl Cain, a former prison warden. “It’s the prison of all prisons.”