EXCLUSIVE: El Chapo Whines Over 'Cruel' Prison Treatment in America and Begs to Be Sent Back to Mexico in Letter — Before Federal Judge Shut Request Down
Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán has complained again about his 'unfair' treatment in American prison.
May 7 2026, Updated 5:06 p.m. ET
Legendary drug lord and murderer Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán wants the U.S. to be nicer to him, RadarOnline.com can report.
The former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, who has been serving a life sentence since 2019 for various drug trafficking and violence offenses, has been bombarding a U.S. District Judge with handwritten, "polite" letters begging for a new trial or to be sent back to his native Mexico.
To Whom It May Concern...
The drug kingpin has asked repeatedly for a retrial or move back to his home country Mexico.
Guzman has sent at least six letters to federal judge Brian Cogan, complaining about his living conditions and claiming he was not given due process.
In the correspondence, which Radar has obtained, the once most-wanted man in the world takes a softer tone, starting each note with a friendly "Hi, my name is Joaquin Guzman."
He then takes a sympathetic approach to why he should be retried or relocated.
"In today, I've wrote several letters on the fairness of my appeal on the next date to get a equal treatment of the law," the 69-year-old penned in handwritten broken English. "This is a polite letter on my violation to the courts on the hardcore evidence that wasn’t proven for my case (to) dismiss.
"I'm asking for the district courts of the rights to request (to be sent) back to my country."
Guzman Says His Rights Were 'Violated'
Guzman is not happy with his current living conditions.
In other letters, he complains that he hasn't been treated "fairly," and repeatedly claimed his 1st and 8th Amendment rights were violated by the district court in Brooklyn.
The 8th Amendment prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail or fines or cruel and unusual punishment.
But Cogan ruled against the multiple requests earlier this week, finding they "make no sense" and lacked legal merit. Guzman will continue to be housed in his cell inside the maximum-security ADX Florence prison in Colorado.
Judge Denies Requests
He also cannot see his wife nor talk to his kids.
These are just the latest desperate notes from a desperate inmate since his third arrest in 2016. He also prompted international manhunts after his first two notorious prison escapes in 1993 and 2014.
El Chapo remains one of the most dangerous drug dealers ever, and was suspected to be responsible for the murders of an estimated 34,000 people.
So it may not have come as a surprise in 2024, when the judge denied his requests to allow visits from his wife and resume bi-monthly calls with his children. Guzman is married to California-born former teenage beauty queen Emma Coronel Aispuro, 36, and they have twin teenage daughters together.
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Crime Runs in the Family
Guzman is serving a life sentence in the maximum-security ADX Florence prison in Colorado.
In May, 2024, officials reportedly cut off the kingpin's access to two 15-minute phone calls per month with his children. He allegedly believed the calls were taken away as retaliation after his repeated efforts to have his criminal case dropped, calling the move "unprecedented discrimination against me."
Guzman wrote in his letter to Cogan that prosecutors "have decided to punish me by not letting me talk to my daughters."
He went on to say the attorney in his case "was surely upset because in the pro se motion, I exposed the inefficiency of the lawyers who did not fight the anomalies of the prosecutors throughout the process."
Guzman said his girls live in Mexico and don't have U.S. visas, making visitation difficult. His wife, however, lives in Los Angeles, and he had hoped the court would allow her to make in-person visits – despite her own arrests on drug charges.
Coronel was convicted in 2021 for dealing heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana; money laundering; and helping her husband run his criminal enterprise while he was imprisoned.
She was also charged with aiding his elaborate 2015 escape from a maximum-security prison in Mexico.
