FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2016 file photo, a handcuffed Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is made to face the press as he is escorted to a helicopter by Mexican soldiers and marines at a federal hangar in Mexico... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — He's locked up 23 hours a day. His wife can't visit him. He can't call anyone, except his lawyers. He even was denied water, his lawyers say. 
 
 The strict jail conditions for notorious Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman were outlined on Friday by defense attorneys in a failed bid to get a judge to loosen them. 
 
 Guzman smiled at his common-law wife, Emma Coronel, as he was led into the Brooklyn courtroom under heavy guard by deputy U.S. marshals at his second court appearance since being brought to the United States on Jan. 19. 
 
 "This was so far the only way she has been able to see him," defense attorney Michelle Gelernt said afterward with a silent Coronel at her side. 
 
 Guzman, 59, has pleaded not guilty to charges of running a massive drug trafficking operation that laundered billions of dollars and oversaw murders and kidnappings. He's being held at a high-security federal jail in Manhattan, with U.S. officials mindful of how he twice escaped from prison in Mexico, the second time via a mile-long tunnel dug to the shower in his cell. 
 
 Defense lawyers complained to U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan on Friday that the restrictions make it difficult for him to make decisions with them about how to fight the charges. They claimed his jailers are so zealous, they denied him water during a recent meeting with the defense team. 
 
 "I don't think there's any thought that if I have the guards give him a glass of water during a three-hour meeting that somehow that's going to effectuate his escape," Gelernt told reporters outside court. 
 
 But Cogan, after alluding to having secret correspondence with the government about the risks of guarding Guzman, told the defense he wouldn't weigh in on the jail conditions. 
 
 "Based on what I know about this case, there are grounds for extra security measures," the judge said, with Guzman listening through a Spanish interpreter. 
 
 Guzman is due back in court on May 5. 

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is being held in a maximum security prison in New York 
 
 Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has complained in court about his conditions of custody in a US jail. 
 
 Guzman is being held in a maximum security prison in New York after he was extradited last month. 
 
 The notorious kingpin escaped twice from prison in Mexico, once in a laundry basket and most recently through a tunnel in his cell. 
 
 His lawyers say he has been denied marital visits and is largely kept in solitary confinement. 
 
 The claims arose at a federal court in Brooklyn at a hearing for Guzman, who has pleaded not guilty to charges that he ran the world's largest drug-trafficking organisation during a decades-long career. 
 
 He faces life in prison if convicted. 
 
 Guzman's wife Emma Coronel, a 27-year-old former beauty queen and mother of his twins, flew from Mexico to attend the hearing. 
 
 His lawyers said it was first time Ms Coronel had seen her husband since his surprise extradition two weeks ago. 
 
 Image copyright AFP/Getty images Image caption Guzman's wife Emma Coronel (L) and lawyer Michelle Gelernt outside the Brooklyn courthouse 
 
 Guzman, 59, is reportedly on 23-hour lockdown in a special unit of the Manhattan Correctional Center. 
 
 "We understand the need for security but we think it has gone above and beyond," said Michelle Gelernt, one of his court-appointed lawyers. 
 
 District Judge Brian Cogan pointed out that the "history of the defendant is somewhat unusual" - a reference to his past escapes - and said the Federal Bureau of Prisons should decide what conditions Guzman faced and who he could see. 
 
 Guzman's Sinaloa cartel allegedly smuggled hundreds of tonnes of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines to the US while waging war with other gangs. 
 
 The cartel is accused of carrying out thousands of murders and kidnappings, and bribing officials. 
 
 Guzman - widely known by his nickname El Chapo, which means "Shorty" - is believed to have amassed a billion-dollar fortune through the drugs trade. 
 
 Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto had initially resisted extraditing him to the US, insisting that he should face justice at home. 
 
 But after Guzman was recaptured in January 2016, Pena Nieto changed his mind on extradition and ordered officials to speed up the process.
– Lawyers for Mexican drug cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman complained about his strict jail conditions in the US during a court appearance Friday. Guzman's common-law wife, beauty queen Emma Coronel, flew to the US for the hearing in a federal court in Brooklyn, the BBC reports. Defense attorney Michelle Gelernt said that the court appearance was the only way Coronel has been able to see Guzman since he was extradited to the US last month. The 59-year-old, who twice escaped prison in Mexico, is being held at the high-security Manhattan Correctional Center, where he is under lockdown 23 hours a day and not allowed to call anybody except his legal team. Guzman is accused of smuggling huge amount of drugs into the US as boss of a ruthless cartel. He has pleaded not guilty, but at Friday's hearing, his lawyers complained that the restrictions are so tight that it makes it tough for him to make decisions, the AP reports. They said he was even denied water during a recent meeting with defense lawyers. "I don't think there's any thought that if I have the guards give him a glass of water during a three-hour meeting that somehow that's going to effectuate his escape," Gelernt said. The judge, however, noted that the "history of the defendant is somewhat unusual" and said that based on what he knows about the case, "there are grounds for extra security measures."