ADX FLORENCE
SUPERMAX PRISON
ADX FLORENCE
The United States Penitentiary,
Administrative Maximum Facility (USP
Florence ADMAX) is an American federal prison
in Fremont County near Florence, Colorado.
It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a
division of the United States Department of Justice
. USP ADX Florence, which opened in November
30, 1994, is classed as a supermax or "control
unit" prison, thus providing a higher, more
controlled level of custody than a
maximum security prison.
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CONTINUED
USP ADX Florence was commissioned as the
Federal Bureau of Prisons needed a unit designed
specifically for the secure housing of those prisoners
most capable of extreme, sustained violence toward
staff or other inmates. They are confined 23 hours
per day in single cells with facilities made of poured
reinforced concrete to deter self-harm, and are
under 24-hour supervision, carried out intensively
with high staff-inmate ratios. After three years in
maximum confinement, some prisoners may be
transferred to a less restrictive prison. The aim is to
encourage "reasonably peaceful behavior" from the
most violent "career" prisoners.
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In 1983, Thomas Silverstein and
Clayton Fountain, members of the
Aryan Brotherhood, fatally stabbed correctional
HISTORY officers Merle Clutts and Robert Hoffman at the
United States Penitentiary, Marion. The stabbings
OF took place only a few hours apart and were blamed
on inadequate prison design.
ADX FLORENCE
Federal Bureau of Prisons director
Norman Carlson argued for the creation of a new
type of facility where the most dangerous,
uncontrollable inmates could be isolated from
correction officers and other prisoners for security
and safety.
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Continued
It became a model for the design of ADX as a
control unit prison. Carlson said that such a prison
would hold criminals desperate enough to murder
corrections officers or other inmates in the hopes
of being sentenced to death. He argued that as
draconian as these measures were, they were the
only way to deal with inmates who have
"absolutely no concern for human life.
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Function
The institution is unofficially known as ADX
Florence or the Alcatraz of the Rockies. It is
part of the
Federal Correctional Complex, Florence, is
operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a
division of the
United States Department of Justice. The
complex also includes an adjacent minimum- USP ADX Florence houses male inmates
security camp that, as of February 2019, in the federal prison system deemed the
houses more prisoners than the supermax most dangerous and in need of the tightest
unit. control, including prisoners whose escape
would pose a serious threat to national
security.
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Upper left hand corner is maximum security prison, upper right hand is medium security
prison, Lower right hand corner is minimum security, lower left hand corner is boot camp
Overview of ADX Florence Prison 7
PRISON SECURITY
AND SET-UP
• 400 cameras in the facility
• Holds 500 inmates
• 95% are transferred from other prison
• All prisoners are males
• In the middle of nowhere; entire facility designed
to be escape-proof
• Cells are 77-87 square feet; 8 units in the prison
• 1,400 remote controlled steel doors
• 12ft. High razor wire fences
• Laser beams
• Pressure pads
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CONTINUED
Everything
•S U B T I T L inside
E GO theE cell
S H areE made
R E of concrete
• Beds have straps in them
• The inmate to staff ratio is 1.5 to 1
• 100% of the mail is monitored; nothing is sent or
received until it is read by guards
• Inmates held in 23 hour solitary confinement
• Ten hours or less of exercise outside a week
• When inmates are taken out of cell, they wear leg irons,
handcuffs, stomach chains, and are escorted by guards
• Inmates are punished by “Goon squad” – guards come
in the units with tear gas, knight sticks, steel boots and
riot gear ( shields, stick)
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CELL DESIGN
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NOTORIOUS CRIMINALS IN ADX FLORENCE
Terry L. Nichols
Ted John Kaczynski Mamdouh Mahmud Salim
Domestic terrorist/
Domestic terrorist,
Oklahoma City bomber, Al-Qaida cofounder,
aka the “Unabomber,” serving a life sentence
serving 161 consecutive
serving eight life sentences
life sentences
Robert P. Hanssen Michael Swango
Richard C. Reid
Soviet spy, serving Serial killer nicknamed
Shoe Bomber, serving three
15 consecutive “Dr. Death,” serving
consecutive life sentences
life sentences three consecutive life terms
Ramzi Ahmed Yousef Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev
One of the 1993
Terrorist,
Dwight York
World Trade Center Pedophile and cult leader,
aka the Boston bomber,
bombers; serving life serving a life sentence
life in prison
plus 240 years
Richard Lee McNair Larry Hoover Eric R. Rudolph
Master escapist, Chicago gang leader, Olympic Park bomber,
serving life but could serving six life sentences serving two life sentences
be transferred to state prison
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CONTROVERSIES
The prison has received far less criticism
than comparable facilities at the state
level, which tend to suffer from over-
population, low staff-to-inmate ratios,
and security issues. Jamie Fellner of
Human Rights Watch said after a tour of
the facility, "The Bureau of Prisons has
taken a harsh punitive model and
implemented it as well as anybody I
know.
Critics claim the use of extended
confinement in solitary cells adversely
affects prisoners' mental health;
numerous studies support this conclusion.
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CONCLUSIONS
Supermax prisons address a need that correctional
systems face, not the least of which is effective and
safe management of prison populations. However, the
effectiveness of these prisons is unknown and
debatable, and conducting empirical evaluations of
their effectiveness presents significant challenges.
Empirical research on the magnitude of a variety of
impacts associated with these prisons is desperately
needed, as are rigorous benefit-cost studies that
include reasonable estimates of both benefits and
costs.
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RECOMMENDATION
The Bureau should implement more programs
like the STAGES Program as alternatives to
solitary confinement for those with mental illness;
and the Bureau must go further to use similar
programs to reduce the use of solitary
confinement for all incarcerated persons.
Especially given the deleterious effects of
solitary confinement and distance from home, it is
recommended that the Bureau view
communication less as a privilege to be denied
and more as a public safety issue, allowing for
more efficient communication with home via mail
and video conferencing, which would increase
safety and increase chances of successful reentry.
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TITLE:
Reference:
binelli, M. (2015). Inside America's Toughest
Federal Prison.
New York:New York Times CompanyHager, E.
(2016).
My Life in theSupermax.
The Marshall ProjectFamous Supermax Prisoners.
(2015).
Cable News Network.
The United States Department ofJustice.
Washington, DC.Biography.com.
A&E TelevisionNetworks, LLC.
5280.com 14 most notorious inmates at the adx in
Florence Colorado
Wikipedia - ADX_Florence
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