‘El Chapo’ judge orders some prison changes

NEW YORK – A judge in New York has ordered prison officials to provide Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman (wah-KEEN’ el CHAH’-poh gooz-MAHN’) with some new methods for participating in his defence.

U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan directed the government on Thursday to modify an attorney-visiting room with a second computer monitor and a slot for passing legal documents through a partition.

Guzman has pleaded not guilty to charges that his drug cartel laundered billions of dollars and oversaw a ruthless campaign of murders and kidnappings.

The defence has claimed that he’s being held in inhumane and overly restrictive conditions at a high-security Manhattan jail known for housing mob and terrorism suspects.

Prosecutors say El Chapo’s jail conditions are appropriate for someone who escaped from prison twice in Mexico.