This is the high-security prison that Mexico's most notorious criminal just escaped from
Henry Romero/Reuters
Then Joaquin Guzman Loera, better known as El Chapo, escaped from what is widely considered to be the most secure prison facility in a country of 120 million people.
This was far from the only instance that the head of the Sinaloa cartel, a drug baron and one-time member of the Forbes billionaires list who is in some way responsible for as many as 10,000 murders, had made a mockery of Mexico's justice system. In 2001, Guzman broke out of a different Mexican prison by hiding in a laundry cart and with likely cooperation from prison staff.
The probability that Mexico's most notorious criminal bribed his way out of Altiplano makes Guzman's escape "Mexico's worst nightmare" - especially since escape from Altiplano should have been inconceivable.
According to The New Yorker, airspace around the prison was designated a no-fly zone to prevent aerial escapes. In addition, airwaves in the region were reportedly restricted so that prisoners would not be able to communicate via smuggled cell phones.
In addition, Altiplano had a multitude of ground-level security measures. The entirety of the prison was covered in CCTV cameras and access control points. All entries into the prison have metal, drug, and explosive detectors, Mexican publication Milenio notes.
Tomas Bravo/REUTERS
Attorney General's Office
Guzman's escape from Altiplano likely involved the same sort of large-scale corruption. "Anyone who makes a mile-long tunnel from his cell and escapes on a motorcycle is necessarily in collusion with the government," an unnamed Mexican official told The New Yorker.
Aside from the damage of having the head of Mexico's largest drug cartel again at large, the escape calls into question the state of the country's entire criminal justice system. Even the supposedly most intensely guarded prison in the country isn't safe from the corruption and clientalism that has long characterized the Mexican state's relationship with drug traffickers.
Henry Romero/REUTERS
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