Low marks for ‘El Chapo’ Guzman’s new prison in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — The northern Mexico prison where authorities suddenly transferred convicted drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is rated as the worst in the federal system for inmate conditions and other factors, according to the government’s own reporting.

The Cefereso No. 9 prison on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, Texas, did score well on “conditions of governability,” perhaps an indication that authorities believe they can control Guzman’s environment there and limit the risk of him pulling off a third brazen jailbreak.

[...] Michael Vigil, the former head of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, questioned the logic of sending Guzman to a less secure prison that’s in territory firmly controlled by El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel after it emerged victorious from a war with the Juarez cartel in recent years.