New York (AFP) - Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, accused of running one of the world's biggest drug empires, glimpsed his glamorous young wife in court Friday despite being denied marital visits behind bars.

The 59-year-old defendant, one of the world's most notorious criminals who escaped twice from prison in Mexico, has been held in solitary confinement in New York since being extradited to the United States on January 19.

Emma Coronel, a 27-year-old former beauty queen and mother of Guzman's twins, attended his second court hearing in Brooklyn on Friday, dressed in a black coat with a yellow scarf knotted around her neck.

Her husband, dressed in navy short-sleeved prison scrubs, sat calmly and expressionless throughout the 40-minute hearing, following along with the help of a Spanish language interpreter sitting next to him.

His physical presence was a victory for the defense after prosecutors wanted him to appear by video link to keep down costs and minimize the disruption of transporting him on the two-mile (three-kilometer) trip from his cell.

Guzman's lawyer used the hearing to complain about the draconian security conditions of his detention, request easier access to her client and to ask Judge Brian Cogan to grant Guzman visits from his wife.

"We sought permission for Mrs Guzman to visit him or make him a telephone call. She's present in court today. She's not permitted to visit," public defender Michelle Gelernt told the hearing.

"We are not permitted to give Mr Guzman a glass of water," she said.

But the federal judge declined to intervene on the matter of wifely visits, saying it was up to the jail. The Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Manhattan has already denied permission.

"I am going to defer to prison authorities who should be in or not," he said. "It's an unusual case," Cogan noted. "Obviously they are taking extra security measures. We know the reasons for that."

Guzman escaped from prisons in Mexico, once by fleeing in a laundry cart in 2001 and secondly by tunneling his way to freedom under his shower in 2015.

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- 'Horrid' security -

After he was recaptured, Mexico lost patience and agreed to his extradition. On January 20 he pleaded not guilty to a raft of firearms, drug trafficking and conspiracy charges at an initial hearing in New York.

Although a handful of inmates have in the past escaped from the MCC, American authorities are adamant that Guzman will have no chance of freedom.

His lawyers say he is locked in a cell 23 hours a day with only one hour of solitary exercise.

Friday's hearing was conducted under stringent security measures, with armed guards dressed in bullet-proof vests at the court door and attendees required to pass through two security checkpoints before entering the room.

Cogan allowed defense lawyers to access Guzman's public extradition documents in Mexico without their client having to sign for them after Gelernt complained that the Mexican government had otherwise denied access.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Gelernt questioned the legality of his extradition to the United States, which one of his Mexican lawyers also branded illegal at the time, saying that another petition had been pending.

"He's very concerned as are we about the legality of his extradition to the US, to the eastern district of New York," the American public defender said.

Gelernt again complained about the "horrid," and "excessive" security precautions in which he is being held, saying that only four to five members of his legal team were admitted to the jail.

Coronel appeared alongside her husband's lawyer but did not speak.

The judge set the next hearing in May.

If he stands trial and is convicted, Guzman is likely to spend the rest of his life in a maximum security US prison. Prosecutors are also seeking to obtain a $14 billion criminal forfeiture order against him.