'La Tuta' from inside prison

After 'El Chapo's' escape, security measures around Servando Gómez Martínez were tightened. In prison La Tuta is guarded by three officers of Cisen four custody area officers and two perimeter security commanders.

Classified as a highly dangerous prisoner, with alter ego (dual personality) and a power of corruptibility almost like that of "El Chapo" Guzman, the head of the Knights Templar cartel, Servando Gomez Martinez, 'La Tuta' is subject to special surveillance and tight security by the custodial staff. At no time during the 24 hours he's out of sight.

Federal prison security in Almoloya, Cefereso No. 1, Are assuming 'La Tuta' is the inmate with more potential to escape since Joaquin Guzman Loera decided to escape. At least he think that and he has let the psychology staff know it since he meets with them once a week. "Sometimes playing with the mind of the psychologists," an official from the federal prison said.

A source explains Servando Gómez Martínez was separated from the prison population because of his personality. He was sent to a segregation cell, where he receives "special treatment" which is nothing more than to keeping him isolated and guarded 24 hours a day.

BY J. Jesús Lemus

'La Tuta', for the sake of security, inside his cell and when he is moved from one place to another within the prison, all conversations and all movements are recorded. His court appearances are also recorded. Everything he says and does inside prison is reviewed and analysed by a specialized unit of the Interior Ministry.

Servando Gómez himself has complained in some letters to his family and friends, about the extreme condition of surveillance to which he is subjected. He has complained of being the most watch prisoner throughout the prison, "because they say they think I will try to escape, where in the hell they get that?" He muses in a letter he send to one of his relatives.

What was once the main boss of organized crime in Michoacan, has also complained of the inhuman conditions in which they are kept in prison. He says, in a letter to a relative, that he lives "in a two by three meters cell, where he even has to ask for permission to take a shit."

Nevertheless, although subdued, 'La Tuta' remains a rebel. A source said he often-, quietly and respectfully, complains about official abuse towards him. That has made him a subject of misbehavior penalties in nearly seven months of imprisonment.

He has been punished by suspending his communication abroad through letters or phone. Also by denying him to leave his cell to only once a week, and classes of painting and drawing he received once a month, were also suspended. His solicitation for two books he had asked from the library were canceled and his right to buy soda and cookies from the institution store was denied.

According to the activity registry kept by the Cefereso, Servando Gomez Martinez, "is a prisoner with low activity." Since he enter this prison he has read only four books, one of poetry and three novels. He has not been able to conclude an oil painting that he began five months ago. He has made 11 pencil and ink drawings (Michoacan landscapes and horses) sent by letters to some of his relatives.

'La Tuta' has reveals that one of his relatives, is a regular visitor of the ​medic. It has a high blood pressure condition, which often keep him requesting for medical service. He complains about the lack of stomach medicines. The problem he complains the most in his letters is gastric re-flux and intestinal problems, problems he was already suffering since he was free. "It is not true that he has cancer," his family has confirmed.

Life after 'El Chapo'

After the escape of "El Chapo", Servando Gomez Martinez, 'La Tuta' security measures were changed. He is considered within the Federal Prison of Almoloya, one of the inmates most likely to escape. So every time he move inside the prison he is guarded by three officers of the Investigation Center and National Security (Cisen), four custody officers and two perimeter security commanders.

The life of 'La Tuta' within the federal prison of maximum security of Almoloya is summarized in a criminal psycho diagnosis that he was reclassified, following the escape of "El Chapo": the defendant fantasizes about leaving prison in the same way Joaquin Guzman did. That's why he has changed cells twice.

From his cell he applauded and celebrated the "escape" made by the boss of the Sinaloa cartel.

According to an official of Cefereso of Almoloya, Servando Gomez would have been able to establish communication and contact with 'El Chapo'. "The relationship between the two capos, as happens in most cases, although rivals outside, was very good." Greetings were sent between them by using trusted people. 'El Chapo' told "La Tuta" "I'm at your service and vice versa, according to the source. There lie the new extreme security measures for the former head of the Knights Templar cartel.

24 hours of confinement

Given the degree of danger which he is classified, the former head of the Knights Templar cartel, is not allowed any movement in or out of his cell, without supervision of custodial staff. He is kept under video surveillance 24 hours a day, and when he is moved to court, call centers, medical and psychological check the movements of other inmates are canceled.

Servando Gomez Martinez is checked six times a day. At six o'clock, when he should already be bathed, shaved, and uniformed; at nine o'clock, at 11, at 15:00, at 6 o'clock and the last time at nine in the evening.

They give him breakfast on a tray in the cell. You must eat at 6:30 in the morning. Their diet is the same to all inmates: a serving of beans, opuntia, pork, fruit and vegetables, accompanied by a glass of cinnamon water, milk or oatmeal. Only once a week they give them cereal and milk, sometimes with a piece of jelly.

At the end of breakfast, 'La Tuta' have to clean his cell. They give a rag and washing powder to clean the floor and walls. Staff stressed about the hobby of the defendant to clean the bars of his cell. Sometimes he sings during cleaning. When finished he washes his socks, underwear and shirt. He is not allowed to clean the shower area, so he does not leave the view of the cameras.

Then 'La Tuta' take a nap. Sometimes he reads for five minutes. Upon waking up he writes letters or draw landscapes.

At 3 pm hours he goes back to sleep. Upon waking up he does some exercise in his cell. He use the five liters water jugs as dumbbells. He exercise for about an hour and returns to drawing. In the afternoon he watch TV from an authorized device. TV evening he alternates with talks from his cell. Dinner is promptly at 7 pm. Usually after that he sings, until reaching the last call at 9 pm when you are ordered to sleep.

'La Tuta' is allowed to use the phone for 10 minutes every seven days, he has five registered numbers of relatives, but only two are called frequently. Each call day, Servando Gomez Martinez is in good spirits. It is when he becomes the motivator, sometimes serves as a priest, speaking at length about God and some biblical passages that he knows by heart.

Injunctions and bad companies

Gomez Martinez has ranked as one of the prisoners with greater drawing power. He has motivated others to lodge appeals against various provisions inside prison. It is one of the inmates more protection demands made to the federal courts. In less than seven months it has brought seven amparo guarantees, almost one per month.

From all the injunctions sought by 'La Tuta', only three of them have prospered, one against confinement and the second for delivery of medicine. Those other complaints are about the lack of recreational activities inside the prison, improvements to the quality of food and "decrease in acts of torture."

Servando Gomez Martinez is credited with being one of the authors of the movement that two months ago was conceived within the federal prison in Almoloya, when a group of 163 prisoners, including the same 'Chapo' Guzman, demonstrated hunger strike, to protest poor conditions of prevailing food.

'La Tuta' is given a special track of his movements and conversations inside prison, given its relationship with other internal inmates like Teodoro "El Teo" and Marco Antonio "El Cris' Garcia Simental brothers; Omar and Miguel Angel Trevino Morales; Hector 'H' Beltran Leyva, Miguel Angel Guzman Loera, Fernando Sanchez Arellano, Mario Nuñez Meza, Mario Cardenas Guillen, Abigael Gonzalez and Edgar Valdes Villarreal Valencia, 'La Barbie'.

This article was translated fro Reporte Indigo