Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the former co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, has been in continuous confinement for more than nine years since his recapture in January 2016, and since his sentencing in 2019, he has remained in the feared ADX Florence maximum-security prison in Colorado.
During this period, Guzmán Loera has experienced significant physical and mental deterioration. According to medical reports revealed by the media, as well as testimony from his family and legal counsel, the kingpin suffers from hypertension, chronic anxiety, cramps, insomnia, depression, and memory loss.
The prolonged confinement, lack of human contact, and special security measures have turned his life into what he himself has described in letters to the authorities as “cruel and unjust.”
From his concrete cell measuring just a few square meters, with no access to classes, recreational activities, or frequent family visits, Guzmán has sought various means to improve his legal and prison situation, and, according to information revealed by journalist Jesús Lemus, his son, Ovidio Guzmán López, has already succeeded.
