Mexico to shut Puente Grande prison infamous for drug lord El Chapo’s escape

Mexico is set to shut down its infamous Puente Grande maximum security prison, from where Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the notorious drug lord, had escaped in a laundry cart, AFP reported.

The Mexican government said that the move was a part of ‘modernising’ the country’s penal system. The Puente Grande jail was inaugurated 27 years ago.

Inmates were transferred from the prison in the western state of Jalisco on Tuesday in an armoured vehicle, escorted by a military convoy. They were taken to a nearby air base from where they boarded a Hercules plane, supposed to fly them to other jails across the country.

Guzman spent eight years in the Jalisco jail from 1993 to 2001, until he escaped with the help of bribed accomplices.

After a series of dramatic escapes and arrests, the drug lord was arrested for the third time and extradited to the United States. He is currently serving life sentence in the country.