home

13 More Prison Officials Detained For El Chapo Escape

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Sun Sep 20, 2015 at 01:44:17 PM EST
Tags: El Chapo Guzman (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

13 more former prison officials and guards have been arrested and detained over the escape of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, including the ex-head of Mexico's prison system, Celina Oseguera Parra, and the ex-warden of the prison at Altiplano, Valentín Cárdenas Lerma, both of whom were fired days after El Chapo's escape (use Google translate for this and subsequent links).

Celina Osequera Parra is the most interesting of the arrested officials. [More...]

During her 27 plus years in various prison positions, there have been many complaints of bribery, corruption and extortion against her, including allegations of torture, forced prostitution and questionable deaths. (More here.)

She was the head of the prison in Almaloya in 1993 when El Chapo was arrested in Guatemala. She was the official who ordered him transferred to Puente Grande in 1995, from which he escaped in 2001. She was named undersecretary of prisons in 2008.

She became head of the prison system in July, 2014. After that, daily reports on El Chapo ceased. Violent incidents and riots increased.

So far, the investigation has focused on those in close physical proximity to El Chapo's cell and those responsible for monitoring and security. It will be interesting to see what the next stage brings. Will they find a link to Damaso Lopez-Nunez, the