In a startling glimpse into the life of one of the world's most infamous criminals, jailed drug lord Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán has lamented the unrelenting harshness of his permanent home—America's most secure prison.
From the depths of the ADX Florence supermax facility in Colorado, the former Sinaloa cartel boss has broken his silence, complaining in a handwritten letter about the crushing reality of his lifelong incarceration. His chief grievance? A complete deprivation of natural sunlight.
'I am enduring a perpetual, absolute darkness,' Guzmán wrote in Spanish, his words translated from the poignant missive obtained by The Mirror.
His communiqué paints a bleak picture of his existence within the prison's notorious 'Range 13'. He describes an isolated, sensory-deprived world where he is denied any view of the sky or the Colorado sun, a stark contrast to his former life of power and luxury in Mexico.
The Harshest Confinement on Earth
ADX Florence is reserved for the most dangerous inmates in the US penal system. Dubbed the 'Alcatraz of the Rockies', its conditions are designed to eliminate all possibility of escape or external contact.
Guzmán's daily life is now a rigid routine of solitude. He is confined to his cell for over 22 hours a day, with minimal human interaction. His brief moments of respite consist of exercising in a concrete pit, still enclosed and cut off from the outside world.
His letter reveals a man grappling with the psychological torment of his environment, stating the endless darkness is his greatest challenge.
A Dramatic Fall from Power
Guzmán's complaints follow a dramatic fall from grace. Once a billionaire narcotics overlord who famously escaped Mexican prisons through elaborate tunnels, he is now serving a life sentence plus 30 years.
He was convicted in a New York court in 2019 on a multitude of charges, including drug trafficking, money laundering, and weapons offences. His eventual extradition to the US and subsequent imprisonment marked the definitive end of his reign.
This rare personal account from inside his fortress-like prison offers a stark reminder: even for the world's most powerful criminals, the ultimate price is a life spent in the deepest, darkest isolation.
