Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has asked his defense team to expedite his extradition to the United States because he is being mistreated in a maximum-security prison, one of his lawyers said Wednesday.

Guzman, who was recaptured on January 8 after tunneling out of his previous jail cell in a spectacular escape, made the request in an "act of desperation," said lawyer Jose Refugio Rodriguez in a radio interview.