José Díaz Briseño/ Reform Agency Correspondent
Friday, January 20, 2023 | 06:18
Washington DC, United States.– The Federal Bureau of Prisons of the United States (BOP, for its acronym in English) defended this Thursday the treatment it grants to the inmates it has in its custody included in the maximum security prison in the State of Colorado where the drug trafficker is being held. Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Two days after the Mexican litigator José Refugio Rodríguez denounced Guzmán’s detention conditions in the ADX Supermax penitentiary center in the town of Florence in Colorado as psychological torture, the BOP assured that the “humane treatment” of the inmates is its top priority. .
“We decline to comment on anecdotal accusations or for reasons of privacy, security and protection about the prison conditions of a particular prisoner,” said a BOP spokesperson when asked directly by Grupo REFORMA about whether they were aware of the accusations of the litigant Rodríguez.
“But we can tell you that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is committed to ensuring the safety of all inmates in our population, our staff, and the public. The humane treatment of the men and women in our custody is a top priority.”
Guzmán Loera, sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2019 for drug trafficking, has been imprisoned in the ADX Supermax, known as the Alcatraz de las Rocallosas, since July 2019 and according to lawyer Rodríguez he would face serious conditions of food, isolation, health and communication.
Without confirming whether it has received any formal complaint from Guzmán’s defense, the BOP assured that it has an established procedure to deal with complaints of mistreatment within the prisons it manages and assured that all complaints of this type are dealt with if they are proven. .
“Allegations of mishandling are thoroughly investigated and appropriate action is taken if such allegations are proven to be true. In addition, the BOP also has an Administrative Remedy Program for inmates to seek formal review and redress of almost any concern they have regarding their imprisonment,” the BOP added in its response.
Extradited to US territory from Mexico during the last day of the Administration of former President Barack Obama in January 2017, Guzmán was found guilty in February 2019 of 10 counts of drug trafficking during a criminal proceeding in the Federal Court for the Eastern District of New York. .
According to the lawyer Rodríguez in a radio interview with the journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva, Guzmán would seek to get the Government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to intercede to be transferred to a prison in Mexico to serve his sentence there.
López Obrador assured that the Ministry of Foreign Relations (SRE) would analyze the request.
Previously, Guzmán managed to escape on two occasions from Mexican maximum security prisons: the first time in January 2001 from the Puente Grande prison in Jalisco and the second time in July 2015 from the Almoloya prison in the State of Mexico; Guzmán was eventually recaptured in January 2016.
