'El Chapo' Guzman Shows 'Strange And Worrying' Changes As Mental Health Deteriorates In Supermax Prison, Lawyer Says

Mariel Colon, lawyer of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, said the drug lord is experiencing "strange and worrying signs" as his mental health deteriorates in the Colorado supermax prison he's held in.

Speaking to a journalist in Mexico, Colon said that while she's "obviously not a psychologist or a psychiatrist," she has known Guzman for almost a decade and has noted significant changes.

"I saw him every day before and since he is in Colorado I see him twice a month and speak with him on the phone on a weekly basis. I can tell you I have noticed strange and worrying signs and, well, they are a bit concerning," she said when asked if the drug lord is experiencing hallucinations.

Colon went on to say the changes are a result of the complete isolation he's subjected to. "The U.S. government keeps him under inhuman conditions. They don't let him leave his cell. He is completely alone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Isolated, can't even see the sunlight. So it's not like it doesn't make sense," she added.

The lawyer went on to detail that her client "can't go to the prison library nor work, engage with other inmates, guards." "They give him his food through a tiny door. He eats, showers, doesn't leave the four walls." He can only get books if Colon sends them to him.

Therefore, she said, Guzman's lawyers are seeking he gets a "more humane treatment." "If he already has to spend the rest of his life in prison, let him at least get access to fresh air a few times a week, to sunlight, to jail programs other inmates access."

In a letter sent to penitentiary authorities last month, Guzman said the only physical activity he is allowed to do takes place three times a week for three hours, but he doesn't even get sunlight there because "walls are too high."

Infobae also detailed that Guzman has high blood pressure, anxiety, insomnia, hearing hallucinations, cognitive reduction and loss of immediate memory.

Guzman was sentenced to life in prison in 2019. He has been requesting for a new trial for years but all petitions have been rejected.

Earlier this year it was reported that Guzman is cooperating with U.S. authorities by providing information on his former associate Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, apprehended in Texas last year and who pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges in late August.