MEXICO CITY, Mexico, Jan 21 – Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has had a rocky return to prison: He arrived depressed, officials gave him “Don Quixote” to read and a dog tastes his food for poison.
After his January 8 recapture, Guzman was returned to Altiplano, the same high-security prison that he escaped from through a tunnel six months ago.
A K9 unit now guards the area where Mexico’s most-wanted criminals are held, including Guzman, as part of new measures implemented three months ago, Eduardo Guerrero, the head of Mexico’s penitentiary system, told Radio Imagen.
“A K9 tastes the food first because we must care for his physical integrity in case someone wants to poison him,” Guerrero said, adding that the same thing is being done for the other imprisoned drug barons.
The dogs were also trained to recognize the smell of the country’s “main objectives” as part of efforts to prevent another embarrassing escape.
READ: Chapo’s lawyers condemn treatment in Mexico jail
Guzman has been moved to a different cell 11 times without warning since he was sent back to the prison, Guerrero said.
“He was depressed when he arrived, tired, which is what he said in his first interview. He was very tired of being on the run,” said Guerrero.
Officials gave Guzman a copy of the classic novel “Don Quixote” because “we think that it’s an excellent book and I think that we must start giving him this type of reading material, so that he starts reading.”