Poor Guy - El Chapo Isn't Allowed To Buy Bottled Water Or Earplugs Or Get His "Daily Headaches" Checked Out Because They Think He's Trying To Escape Again

THE WASHINGTON POST – For two and half years, Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has lived in solitary confinement, with nearly no ability to communicate with the outside world.

Now, with Guzman allegedly showing symptoms of “mental fatigue” and “sleep deprivation,” and “daily headaches and ear pain,” his defense team had several requests for U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan earlier this month: two hours of outdoor exercise every week, traditional commissary access, permission to buy six bottles of water a week and earplugs.

“This deprivation of sunlight and fresh air, over an excessive 27-month period, is causing psychological scarring,” the letter said. It called the conditions “cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

Federal prosecutors were not convinced.

According to new court filings obtained by The Washington Post, the government opposed all of the above and alleged the request was part of a ploy to escape from prison or silence cooperating witnesses.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen El Chapo’s name come across my newsfeed, which is kind of sad because of how into the whole court case and overall life of Chapo I was.  In the end the good guys won and locked him up for life, rarely to be seen or heard from until he gets his plan ready to escape via helicopter military raid again – although I feel like that might be a little harder to pull off on an American max security prison than it was in Mexico.

Speaking of that escape – the government is very, very aware of that type of thing happening.  So much so that they literally won’t let him buy bottled water or earplugs, because that kind of stuff can be “weaponized.”  He’s got to deal with his “mental fatigue” and “sleep deprivation” on his own – two things that, you know, kind of come with being in prison for murder and selling massive quantities of drugs.

Yeah I wonder why one of Chapo’s lawyers is calling the government basically hysterically crying about trying to get all this stuff for him.

Jeffrey Lichtman, one of the lawyers on Guzman’s defense team, called the prosecution’s response, due Thursday, “literally hysterical.”

The high-profile prisoner has had no prison infractions since his arrest, he said, “yet now, by simply asking for some bottled water and some fresh air he is accused of plotting a daring prison escape despite zero supporting evidence.”

I feel like Chapo has some guys pretty loyal to him who generally frown upon lawyers who fail him and get him locked up in solitary confinement for the rest of his life.  Like they didn’t even get him off on ONE charge.  10 for 10 for the prosecution.  Two or three might buy you some breathing room, but I feel bad for the defense attorney that hit 0/10 and now has to deal with some angry “associates.”  Almost as bad as I feel for that sleepyhead El Chapo and his headaches.