Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has asked his lawyers to speed up his extradition to the United States, saying he is being mistreated.
Guzman, who has twice escaped from Mexico's maximum - security prisons, faces an array of charges linked to the hundreds of tons of cocaine, heroin and other drugs he has shipped across the border.
Guzman's lawyer, Jose Rodriguez, told local a radio station Wednesday that Guzman has reached his limit and urged him to push for fast extradition. "I saw a defeated, humiliated man," Rodriguez said.
Guzman has complained that guards at the Altiplano prison will not let him sleep. Officials have acknowledged that guards at the prison wake him every four hours for a head count.
He has also complained about the amount of communication he is allowed with his family and the amount of time he spends in his cell.
Guzman's lawyers had previously vowed to fight extradition as long as possible, and Mexican officials had acknowledged it would take at least a year, and perhaps more, for the extradition process to work its way through Mexican courts.
Guzman was first captured in 1993, but escaped in 2001 with the help of prison guards. After more than a decade on the loose, he was recaptured early in 2014, with the help of intelligence that U.S. authorities provided to Mexico. He escaped for a second time on July 11, 2015 through a 1.5-kilometer underground tunnel, dug in secret from his cell to a nearby village.
