A United States federal judge dismissed the civil lawsuit filed by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán against the conditions of his imprisonment at the ADX Florence maximum security prison in Colorado, formally closing the case.

The resolution was issued by Judge Gordon P. Gallagher, of the Federal Court of Colorado, who accepted the request of the US government to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, determining that a ruling in favor of the federal authorities was appropriate.

The judicial document establishes that “a ruling be issued in favor of the defendants and against the plaintiff,” so the file was concluded.

The lawsuit was filed by Guzmán Loera in 2024 to challenge the isolation conditions in which he has been held since 2019, when he was transferred to the ADX Florence prison after being sentenced to life imprisonment, in addition to 30 years in prison, for crimes related to drug trafficking.

Through writings sent to the judicial authorities and the civil lawsuit, the Mexican drug trafficker argued that prolonged solitary confinement seriously affected his physical and mental health.

In several letters he claimed to be on the verge of madness and denounced the strict isolation measures imposed in the prison.

With this resolution, the court concluded the procedure initiated by Guzmán Loera to modify his conditions of confinement.

After this legal setback, the alternatives that are still open are other requests promoted by his defense, including requests related to a possible change in his conditions of imprisonment or legal appeals presented before other judicial instances in the United States.