How Insane is El Chapo's Prison Cell Security?

If there is one person that US authorities do not want to escape from

prison

, it is the notorious Mexican drug trafficker, one Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. This man of humble origins, son of a family of farmers from Sinaloa, became the number one enemy of the United States and a very rich man as well. They have him locked up now, but El Chapo has already escaped from

prison

before, not once, but twice, so it goes without saying that he himself is now guarded like no one else on the planet. Could this criminal Houdini come out again?

Let's take a look. Let's first look at how he managed to escape from prison the first time. In 1993, the LA Times ran the headline: “Mexico Arrests Suspected Drug Kingpin.” He was arrested in Guatemala, not far from the border with Mexico. The charges against him were murder, kidnapping and of course drug trafficking. Authorities said he was behind a huge trafficking operation and a huge tunnel that ran from Tijuana to San Diego through which drugs were transported. Digging tunnels, you see, was something of a fort for Guzmán and his crew. He was extradited to Mexico and sentenced to serve 20 years and nine months in a maximum

security

prison.

There it is said that he controlled the place and lived comfortably, while the guards did what he told them. While he could easily direct his operations from there, as time went by he feared extradition to the United States. It was time to go. It was on January 19, 2001 when he made this first escape. A prison guard named Francisco "El Chito" Camberos Rivera opened the electronic door to his

cell

when Guzmán hid in a laundry basket. He was pushed through a series of doors and finally walked out the front door. From there they took him in the trunk of a car to a designated location and, when the time was right, he drove off into the night.

So, he left. It may seem too easy, but it was discovered that he not only had guards on his payroll, but also the prison director. Even the police were paid to make his escape at night much easier. This turned out to be a bit embarrassing for the Mexican authorities. All the bribes Guzmán paid amounted to about $2.5 million. So this couldn't happen again, right? Mistaken. He continued doing what he did and became the most wanted man in Mexico, but despite this he managed to evade capture. Then, on February 22, 2014, after an operation between Mexican and US authorities, he was captured again.

They had it and thought that was it. This time he wasn't going to bribe his way out of prison. While he was being transferred he was surrounded by soldiers and police. Not even the A-Team could have come up with a plan to get this guy out of the arms of the law. This time they locked him in a very restricted area. There were no widows in his

cell

and he had little contact with anyone. He had a spartan cell and this time without luxuries. A bed, a shelf, a shower, a toilet and a sink, that's what he got.

He was allowed some visitors and he was entitled to receive the maximum amount of money to buy hygiene products. That was equivalent to about $48, not that much for a man who had millions. He was allowed out of his cell for one hour a day, but the guards were told not to communicate with him. How could he then escape a second time? Well, on July 11, 2015 he did just that. You see, there was a blind spot for the

security

cameras and that was where the shower was. Around 9 pm that night they saw him go to that part of the cell and there he disappeared.

Before that, for months El Chapo's men had been digging a tunnel and the end point was in that shower cell. The digging had been so noisy that at times some of the other inmates had complained about the strange noises. El Chapo's wife, Emma Coronel, played a major role in orchestrating the escape. El Chapo had landed not far from the prison where the excavations began, and he had even managed to smuggle a smart watch into his cell so the excavators would know the coordinates. This was an escape of sorts and the tunnel even had ventilation and lighting.

To get out quickly El Chapo used a motorcycle, but it was specially made to run on rails. This contraption was also used for the excavation process. Authorities later said the tunnel was 1.5 km (0.93 mi) long, 1.7 meters (5 ft 7 in) high and 75 cm (30 in) wide. It was 10 meters (33 feet) underground, so El Chapo used a ladder to get there. He was a free man again, but his freedom did not last long. After an armed raid on a residence on January 8, 2016, Guzmán managed to escape, again using tunnels. However, he was captured shortly after. Now the United States wanted him again and the procedures to extradite him were set in motion.

Guzmán's men did everything they could to prevent this from happening and even murdered a federal judge. It didn't work. He was finally extradited on January 19, 2017 to the United States, exactly 18 years after this first prison escape. Immediately after his sentencing, in which he received life in prison plus 30 years, he simply disappeared. This is because, on the way to prison, the safest bet was to take him to an undisclosed location. Not even Guzmán's lawyers knew where he was. It was later revealed that he ended up in what is called the highest security prison in the United States.

This is the United States Maximum Administrative Penitentiary Center, in Florence, Colorado. It is briefly known as ADX Florence. This is where the worst of the worst goes, in prison is the end of the road. There are many more guards here compared to the number of inmates than in other prisons. Inmates are locked up 23 hours a day. When they are allowed out, it can happen at any time, day or night, so even if a plan could somehow be devised, people outside wouldn't know when her boy was out of his cell. The 2.1 by 3.6 meter (7 by 12 foot) cell has a bed, a stool and a desk, all made of poured concrete.

The cells are soundproofed so that prisoners cannot shout or communicate with others. Inmates never know where they are in the facility because they never see through a window that would allow them to guess their location. Even when they can exercise, it's not a patio, but an empty pool so they can't see over the walls. It's also not big and it only takes ten steps to walk from one end to the other. There are motion detectors and cameras throughout the prison, and the thick steel doors can only be opened with a remote control. Officers monitor all parts of the prison from a control room and if something strange happens, they can press a panic button that will automatically close all the prison doors.

The prison also has pressure pads, so an alert is sent if someone steps on one of those pads. If someone could somehow get past the pressure pads and chambers and get out, they would have to scale a 3.7 meter high barbed wire fence, and they would have to do so in front of heavily armed guards in one of the numerous towers. . Other guards walk around with attack dogs. It is very likely that Guzmán is also in the most secure unit of this ultra-secure prison, which is called “Rango-13”. By the way, the guards at this prison are vetted to prevent anyone corrupt from getting a job.

While working, they are told to communicate as little as possible with the prisoners. It's an escape test, is what most people say, and it's not a good place to end up. A former director described it like this: “The Supermax is life after death. It's long term. In my opinion, it is much worse than death.” Others have said how eerily quiet the place is because no two inmates move at the same time. It is very clean, everything is impeccable, so when the journalists entered they were very surprised. It might seem as bright as heaven if it weren't hell.

In fact, that's how one guard described it, like a clean version of hell. He told 60 Minutes: “I don't know what hell is, but I do know that, for a free person, it's supposed to be pretty close.” This is how one inmate described it: “The purpose is to gradually break down a person mentally and physically, through environmental and physical deprivation.” For an inmate, it's like having the place to yourself. Some people have said that this is how the only way a person could escape would be if he actually had the prison warden in his pocket, which will never happen.

There are only about 400 inmates, some of whom include Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, and Terry Nichols, the Oklahoma City bomber. Just to get closer to the place where you would be detected and Guzmán can forget about buying land nearby. remote location; There's not much for miles around. Guzmán has had visitors, but only his lawyer and his two daughters have been allowed to see him. In reality, he cannot touch anyone who visits him due to the oppressive conditions he regularly suffers from. he vomits, has headaches and also sinus problems. He said it is very difficult to sleep because the lights are on all the time.

If prisoners want a break from the monotony, they at least have a television, but that only plays a religious and educational role. This is how another prison retiree described this place: "Supermax is austere and is managed with absolute structure and security in mind. From an operational perspective, it is the most secure prison in the world." But if the man known as Papillon escaped from the famous Devil's Island penal colony, and if those three guys really escaped from Alcatraz, maybe no prison on Earth is one hundred percent safe Almost anyone in the prison business would disagree, but maybe El Chapo could get out.

What are the chances of Guzmán escaping from the place nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the Rocky Mountains”? Let's think about it. If he could get out of his cell, he might have to do it by bribing a guard, but maybe they have been investigated. The only way a guard would offer him help would be because Guzmán's men had kidnapped his family. But since only one man moves at a time, that prisoner is being watched from the control room. We just don't think he can walk out the front door. He certainly couldn't get past those pressure pads, the guards on the towers, the guards with the dogs, and a huge fence that would cut him into pieces.

All the time, everything is captured on CCTV. He would need a small army outside and since the location is in the middle of nowhere, that army would be seen. Even if he employed some big hacker to hack into the prison system and open the doors, he would still have to face heavily armed guards. We can't see this happening outside of a Hollywood movie. But prisoners have the right to see medical professionals, no matter how safe they are. This is American law, so maybe he could escape if El Chapo had to go to a hospital. Possibly a catastrophic event like an earthquake or fire could result in a leak, but this is quite unlikely.

If prisoners were suddenly taken out of their cells, they would be shackled, so they would get nowhere quickly. In conclusion, we think that El Chapo is not going anywhere. This prison is a technofortress from which no man could escape. The only scenario he comes out of is in a script involving an apocalyptic event that shuts down all systems and the guards are eaten by monsters, after which El Capo sneaks out the back door and begins a survival mission. This time he won't dig his way out of prison and no one will reach out and take a bribe.

Now we are going to serve you something special. Try watching this video here or this video here. We can promise that both are more entertaining than a stint in a maximum security prison!