With Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, also known as "El Chapo," now residing here in the States, all eyes are on the downtown Manhattan jail set to house the notorious drug lord: the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Guzmán was transported to the MCC after his extradition from Mexico. According to a forensic evaluation report obtained and published by the New York Daily News Tuesday, the MCC is actually considered by some as worse than the infamous Guantanamo Bay military prison.
Ahmed Ghailani, who spent more than two years at the MCC for his alleged involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, once told a psychiatrist that he considered Guantanamo Bay the "more pleasant" of the two. "While (at Guantanamo), he was able to recreate with others, to access DVDs, and in general felt that the atmosphere provided more freedom to detainees," psychiatrist Dr. Gregory Saathoff wrote in a report based on "long conversations with Ghailani" in 2010, the Daily News reported.
The MCC experience, Ghailani claimed, didn't allow for inmate interaction and included "frequent strip searches" at the hands of the facility's guards. Despite the allegedly harsh living conditions, Ghailani did note that constitutional rights were treated with more seriousness. "Here, they have constitutional rights… The rules at Gitmo favor the government," Ghailani told Saathoof, according to the Daily News. "Here they are more fair."
El Chapo, who previously escaped from prison twice, pleaded not guilty to a 17-count indictment Friday. The Daily Newsreported the charges included money laundering, drug trafficking, and involvement in a dozen murder conspiracies. In a statement, Acting DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg declared El Chapo's extradition a "tremendous victory" for both Mexico and the States.
"This extradition is a tremendous victory for the citizens of Mexico and of the United States," Rosenberg said Friday. "Two principles stand out: No one is above the law and we simply do not quit in the pursuit of justice." El Chapo is expected to be housed at the MCC's 10 South Wing, described by the Daily News as a "high-security" division reserved for high-risk inmates.
