NEW YORK _ Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera is drinking moldy water, stuffing toilet paper in his ears to block out noise because he can't get earplugs and suffering "psychological scarring" due to lack of sunlight, according to a new letter asking a Brooklyn federal judge to ease his jail conditions.
Guzman, awaiting sentencing on his drug trafficking conviction, urged U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan to tell the federal Metropolitan Correction Center in Manhattan to give him earplugs, two hours of outdoor exercise a week, and the right to purchase six bottles of water every week.
The letter filed late Thursday renewed complaints Guzman has made since his extradition from Mexico in 2017 over being held in isolation in a 10-by-8-foot cell under high-security conditions. The government has said his escapes from two prisons in Mexico justify the restrictions.
