Mexican drug lords decry worms in prison food, dirty conjugal beds

Some of Mexico’s notorious criminals are complaining about “inhuman” conditions at a maximum-security prison, claiming they find worm in their food and deal with dirty mattresses in the room for conjugal visits. Around 140 inmates at the El Altiplano prison listed their concerns in an 11-page letter to the National Human Rights Commission, asking the governmental agency to review their conditions. The handwritten letter was signed by kidnappers, murderers and narco traffickers, including big names such as Sinaloa drug cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who was captured last year after a 13-year manhunt.

One thinks that because they’re scum, they don’t deserve a minimum of respect.

Sandra Salcedo, a human rights law expert at the Iberoamericana University

With one-meter (3.3-foot) thick walls, the facility was inaugurated in the early 1990s to make sure that Mexico’s most hardened criminals never escape in a country where mass prison breaks are common. It is located 85 kilometers (53 miles) west of Mexico City. Last July, nearly 100 inmates went on a hunger strike to press the warden for better conditions.

Prison is a punishment, not a five-star hotel, damned criminals.

Proceso magazine reader

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