Elite: Supermax

July 1, 2007

The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence is a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. It is unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or the Alcatraz of the Rockies. It is operated by the federal government and is part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FCC). ADX houses the prisoners who are deemed the most dangerous and in need of the tightest control.

There is only one supermax prison in the United States federal system. However, many states now have created supermax prisons; either as stand alone facilities, or as secure units within lower security prisons. The federal supermax prison is currently ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado. State supermax prisons include Pelican Bay in California and Tamms in Illinois. The USP in Marion, Illinois, was recently downgraded to a medium security facility.

ADX Florence is a federal prison, comprising a 37-acre, 490-bed complex at 5880 Highway 67, Florence, Colorado. It is one of 3 correctional facilities of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FFCC), each with a different overall security level.[1]

ADX Florence generally houses around 430 male prisoners, each assigned to one of six security levels.[2] ADX Florence was designed jointly by DLR Group Justice (a part of the architecture, engineering, planning and interiors firm specializing in incarceration-related facilities in the U.S.A.) and LKA Partners of Colorado Springs.[3]

About 22% of inmates have killed fellow prisoners in other correctional facilities; 35% have attempted to attack other prisoners or officers. As a result, most individuals are kept for at least 23 hours each day in solitary confinement. They are housed in a 7-by-12 ft (3.5-by-2 m) room, built behind a steel door and grate. The remaining free hour is spent exercising alone in a separate concrete chamber. Prisoners rarely see each other, and the inmates’ only direct human interaction is with correctional officers. Visiting from outside the prison is conducted through glass, with each prisoner in a separate chamber. Religious services are broadcast from a small chapel.

Part of the prison is a “stepdown” program, designed to encourage less antisocial behavior and eventually transfer prisoners out of the ADX and back to the Maximum Security population. The program is three years in length, each year allowing more freedom and social contact with other inmates. Any violation during the program means participants revert to year one.

Most cells’ furniture is made almost entirely out of poured concrete, including a desk, stool, and bed covered by a thin mattress. Each chamber contains a toilet that shuts off if plugged, a shower that runs on a timer to prevent flooding, and a sink missing a potentially dangerous tap. Rooms may also be fitted with polished steel mirrors bolted to the wall, an electric light, a radio, a 13-inch black and white television set that shows recreational, educational and religious programming,[4] and a cigarette lighter. These privileges can be taken away as punishment. The 4-in by 4-ft windows confuse the prisoner as to his specific location within the complex because one can see only the sky and roof. Telecommunication with the outside world is forbidden, and food is hand delivered by correctional officers.

The prison as a whole contains a multitude of motion detectors and cameras, 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors, and 12 ft (3.7 m) high razor wire fences. Laser beams, pressure pads, and attack dogs guard the area between the prison walls and razor wire.

Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park bomber, lamented in a series of 2006 letters to a Colorado Springs newspaper that the ADX is meant to “inflict misery and pain.”[5]

Notable inmates
* Omar Abdel-Rahman, 34892-054, Islamist terrorist, nicknamed “The Blind Sheik”; involved in World Trade Center bombing planning in 1993
* Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso, 16802-050, mobster and former underboss of the Lucchese crime family
* Wadih el-Hage, 42393-054, conspirator in the 1998 United States embassy bombings
* Matthew F. Hale, 15177-424, white supremacist leader; convicted of soliciting the murder of a federal judge
* Robert Hanssen, 48551-083, FBI agent; convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia
* Larry Hoover, 86063-024, leader of the Gangster Disciples Nation based in Chicago
* Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, of the Gambino crime family
* Theodore Kaczynski, 04475-046, the “Unabomber”
* David Lane (deceased), 12873-057, Neo-Nazi leader, involvement in Alan Berg’s murder
* John Walker Lindh, 45426-083, dubbed “The American Taliban”
* Juan Matta-Ballesteros, 37671-133, drug trafficker, co-conspirator in Enrique Camarena case
* Zacarias Moussaoui, 51427-054, conspirator in the September 11, 2001 attacks
* Terry Nichols, 08157-031, Oklahoma City Bombing conspirator
* Richard Colvin Reid, 24079-038, Islamic terrorist, “Shoe Bomber”
* Eric Robert Rudolph, 18282-058, Christian Identity terrorist, Olympic Park bomber
* Dwight York, 17911-054, leader of the Nuwaubianists; convicted for child molestation, racketeering and financial reporting charges
* Ramzi Yousef, 03911-000, Islamist terrorist, 1993 World Trade Center bombing

Source

July 1, 2007 | Filed Under Randomness

Comments

19 Responses to “Elite: Supermax”

Dave on July 19th, 2007 8:04 am

This is a great post. I searched Supermax on google blogsearch and this came up. I searched because my work is essentially like this. I work in a dimly-lit, windowless office doing tedious tasks all day and I wanted to read about how people in socially isolated existences survive. While this isn’t quite what I found, the layout of the office is pretty close to mine.
andria on September 24th, 2007 7:13 pm

Well, I would rather be dead that to live in such a small space…Is that really worth our tax dollars…
Lis on September 25th, 2007 9:09 am

I’ve heard that it’s more expensive to terminate a prisoner then to have him serve life in prison. I’m not exactly sure how that works out. I’ll research it more when I have a second.

Thanks for posting Andria.
Quinton on November 8th, 2007 8:07 pm

MY OPINION IS THAT THIC FACILITY IS ONE OF THE SAFEST AND HEAVILY SECURED PRISON THAT PRISONERS SHOULD BE IN. I THINK THAT ALL THE INMATES THAT CALL THE PRISON HOME DESERVE TO BE THERE. PRISON IS NOT A FUN HOUSE, AND I ‘AM WRITING THIS AS A PEACE OF ADVICE TO MY SON WHO VISITS THE WEBSITE. HE IS 14, AND ALREADY HAS 4 JUVINIELLE ARREST IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO. OUR BLACK MALES NEED TO STAND UP, AND I’AM ONLY WRITING THIS AS A PEACE OF ADVICE.. THANK YOU….
Lis on November 8th, 2007 11:11 pm

Hi Quinton,
Thanks for sharing what’s on your heart. Here’s a few things that come to mind.

First and foremost I try best I can to keep this site kid friendly. So I hope your son continues to visit and enjoy the site.

Secondly, I’m very sad to hear your son’s troubled past. I said a prayer for him tonight.

And lastly, I do believe that America desperately needs black men to be men of character and responsibility. I hope your son grows up to be a respectful contributor to his family and community.
jack on June 14th, 2008 7:16 pm

i think this is the most secluded prison and one of the worst
Ylanne Sorrows on August 27th, 2008 6:00 pm

I think this prison is focused mainly on punishment. We should focus on punishing a wrong while working towards a better future–so rehabilitation.
ashley on September 9th, 2008 1:23 pm

this is one of the worst prisons i have ever read bout, and my brother is currently incarcerated in there. i will be glad when he comes home, and i hope he never goes back to prison or jail again.
barri john on October 27th, 2008 4:34 am

This is a Prison run solely on punishment lines, and does not from all accounts run a rehabilitation program! Its obviously privately owned and run to capacity to keep its shareholders happy. Its harsh, strict conditions and willingness to use Solitary Confinement to isolate most if not all the inmates, suggests to me that it could be put to a better use housing just Terrorist, as they are unredeemable. I dont believe it to be a suitable enviroment for domestic prisoners, caging people up in total isolation can only cause more pent up tension and agression, that has to be dealt with by staff that are only to quick to make use of weaponry rather than Phychology. What is frieghtening though, is Americas obsession with building these establishments, are they expecting civil war? why else do they need so many ultra aecure prisons?
Ken on November 7th, 2008 9:12 am

No matter what you did, besides some sex crimes upon kids, or terrorism should be locked up that long. The President or the Chief Justice of the United States needs to pardon him.
Ylanne on May 31st, 2009 9:20 am

It is more expensive to execute a prisoner because of the time, work, and materials invested in processing all of his appeals. The average wait time for a prisoner on death row is around 10 years, while his appeals drag on through the various levels of courts. Then when the execution rolls around, that requires use of appropriate equipment (depending on if it’s electric chair, which requires electricity and a generator; or if it’s lethal injection, which requires three types of chemicals and an IV line), personnel, and police coordination of the protestors (both for and against, outside).

Personally, I’m against capital punishment. I’ve heard of this facility and researched it thoroughly because I am a crime writer, and in one of my novels, a terrorist character is sentenced to death and sent here.
Ylanne on May 31st, 2009 9:21 am

P.S. Quinton, I will be praying for you and your son!
Barri John on May 31st, 2009 9:36 am

In any civilised society the death penalty should be avoided, but sadly there are those people that are totally irrideemable, child rapist / killers where if compulsory sterilization cannot be applied, then yes execute by all means. On all other cases the pro’s and cons of the case must be gone into thoroughly, but i stand against execution for any other crime than those i’ve stated above.
melissa on July 3rd, 2009 10:53 pm

I think this prison is excatly what all prison should be maybe people would not want to go there !
dp on September 14th, 2009 1:21 am

melisa bitch some ppl dont go in there on purpose!!, sometimes shit happens, and its wrong to lock ppl up for that long, instead they should try to help them better they selfs!!!!!
UncleBubba on April 21st, 2010 7:30 am

Nice word-for-word copy of a Wikipedia article! Why do that? Why not write your own stuff?
Joe on June 26th, 2010 7:47 pm

Yes, nice copy of a Wikipedia article. I especially enjoyed how you copied the footnote notations, but then didn’t include the actual footnotes in your copy-and-paste job.
Lis on June 27th, 2010 8:21 am

Bubba & Joe the intention of this post was for my family to read it. Something different then the usual stuff I post. I have not posted to this blog in almost a year. There’s a source referral at the bottom of the post. You guys can chillax now.
ree on June 27th, 2010 8:50 am

What you dont realize is that there is indefinate solitary confinement going on in this country violating the 8th amendment
This needs to stop. If you care to research there is a man in ADX in isolation for 27 years and counting not a terrorist but an American like you and me. I pray more people will become as outrage as I am and write their senators. My blog has a “how to write a senator” post.
I do not answer email only blog posts.