Ovidio Guzmán, one of the sons of Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, was extradited to the United States on September 18 and has been arrested in a Chicago jail since then.
Nicknamed the “Iron Triangle”, the Metropolitan Correctional Center is a 28-story skyscraper located in the center of the American city, an imposing triangular concrete building designed by architect Harry Weese and inaugurated in 1975.
The building has small vertical slits measuring 13 wide by 2.30 meters high that function as irregular windows to the outside and form a kind of perforated monolith.
The windows, designed to prevent escapes, do not have bars, as is common in prisons.
At the time it cost US$10.2 million, according to the local newspaper Chicago Tribune, a figure that today would be equivalent to almost US$60 million.
“Luxurious”
This prison was conceived as part of a government program to build new prisons between 1968 and 1978, and was a different detention center model for those who are awaiting trial or who have received a short sentence.
When it opened, William Nelson, its first director, said: “This building is completely secure, but it was built efficiently and with human dignity in mind.”
Then-Judge James B. Parsons of the United States District Court described it as “lavish.”
“There are no bars,” he said. “The doors open and close freely. The floors are carpeted. The food is very good and the recreational facilities are excellent,” she said, according to the Chicago Tribune in an article published in 1995.
At least at that time, prisoners could go to the patio – located on the roof – only twice a week because they allowed a maximum of 20 people to be there at the same time.
The patio is completely covered by a fence, to prevent helicopters from arriving to take away any of the prisoners.
There you can play basketball, volleyball or exercise.
They could also visit the library, the video library and the chapel three times a week.
Some security measures were added after its inauguration, since there were escape episodes.
For example, in December 2012 two prisoners escaped from the 17th floor by making a hole in the wall and throwing a rope woven from sheets and dental floss and attached to the cell’s bunk beds.
“Los Chapitos”
According to the public registry of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which manages this center, Ovidio Guzmán López, 33 years old, is one of the 486 men and women held there.
It had originally been built to house 400 prisoners.
Since the arrest of “El Chapo” Guzmán in 2016 and his subsequent extradition to the United States, four of his sons, known as Los Chapitos, reportedly assumed leading roles in the cartel.
Agents with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) say the Sinaloa cartel is the source of much of the illicit fentanyl smuggled into the United States.
According to DEA Chief Anne Milgram, “Los Chapitos were pioneers in the manufacturing and trafficking of the deadliest drug our country has ever faced.”
After his father was sentenced in the US to life imprisonment in 2019, Ovidio Guzmán, alias El Ratón, was considered one of the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel and was accused by Washington of conspiracy to distribute drugs to be imported into the US. US
In his first appearance before a judge in Chicago on September 5, Guzmán pleaded not guilty to the drug trafficking charges he faces.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/c3gwgdg9n83o, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-09-25 14:00:10
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