• “El Chapo” new inmate at Supermax in Florence.

Drug kingpin serving his life sentence at “Alcatraz of the Rockies” in Florence

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the notorious Mexican drug kingpin, has arrived at the federal maximum-security prison in Florence to serve his sentence after being whisked away early Friday from a secret location in New York City, his attorney told The Denver Post.

“He’s there,” Jeffrey Lichtman, Guzman’s attorney, said a few minutes after noon.

Guzman arrived Friday at Administrative Maximum U.S. Penitentiary, or ADX, in Florence. The reputed highest security prison in the country also is called the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.”

Guzman, 62, was sentenced Wednesday in a Brooklyn, N.Y., courtroom to life plus 30 years in prison and was ordered to repay $12.6 billion in restitution in connection to his cocaine trafficking in the U.S.

Lichtman said he likely would file an appeal on Guzman’s behalf Friday. He was critical of ADX.

“It’s basically some more torture,” he said in a phone interview.

Another Guzman attorney, Mariel Colon Miro, said Guzman has a right to see his lawyers to prepare for his appeals. Miro also did not have a favorable opinion of ADX.

“It’s supermax. He’s pretty much going to be in a box most of the time,” Miro said. She added that Guzman will be allowed to go outside an hour each day if it’s not raining.

Miro said it was a pleasure to represent Guzman and looks forward to continuing to be his lawyer during appeals.

“He’s a very humble person who always thanks his attorneys for representing him. He’s a very likable person,” Miro said during the phone conversation Friday.

A federal judge in Brooklyn handed down the sentence, five months after Guzman’s conviction in an epic drug-trafficking case.

Guzman was extradited from Mexico to the U.S. in 2017 to face a host of criminal charges, including murder, bribery and drug smuggling, after he twice escaped from Mexican prisons. He had been kept in solitary confinement in an ultra-secure facility at a Manhattan jail.

Most supermax inmates are given a TV, but their only actual view of the outside world is a 4-inch window. They have minimal interaction with other people and eat all their meals in their cells.