DRUG TRAFFICKER LED THE GOOD LIFE IN JAIL

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A reputed drug trafficker who escaped from one of
Mexico's most secure prisons last week had regularly been let out of prison
for illicit trips and had been given access to drugs and women, witnesses
have told government investigators.

Federal officials say Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzman's easy life in jail and his
escape Friday illustrate the depth of the corruption Mexico's new
government has inherited, and how hard it will be to fight it.

Guzman was serving more than 20 years for criminal association and bribery,
and he was involved in a 1993 shootout in which a Roman Catholic cardinal
was killed in a crossfire. He apparently rode out of the Puente Grande
prison in Mexico's western Jalisco state hidden in either a laundry or
garbage truck. Authorities said security cameras were somehow disabled.

Now authorities are saying the timing of Guzman's disappearing act appears
suspicious: It came just a week after newly inaugurated President Vicente
Fox's administration ordered an investigation of corruption at the prison.