U.S. Supermax prison in Colorado has quite the crew of inmates

From Islamic terrorists to New York mafia dons Florence Supermax prison has them all.  And they all sleep on concrete beds.

Officially it is the “Administrative Maximum” facility at the Florence Correctional Complex (FCC). It is the federal Bureau of Prison’s highest security lock-up and is already home to a number of prisoners incarcerated as part of what the US calls its war on terror.

British “shoe bomber” Richard Reid is held there. Omar Abdel-Rahman, jailed for conspiracy after the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, is also believed to be an inmate.

Ramzi Yousef, also implicated in the 1993 plot, is also behind bars at the institution known for its harsh conditions.

Abdel-Rahman, also known as the blind sheik, has been transferred to a minimum security facility in Butner, North Carolina due to failing health.  He is in the same institution as Bernie Madoff.

The U.S. government uses the abbreviation ADX for the Florence supermax.  ADX stands for Administrative Maximum Security.

Built in 1994 at a cost of about $60m, ADX Florence is said to be equipped with 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors, motion detectors, pressure pads and gun towers with perfect sightlines across the complex.

Tightly controlled and technologically advanced, such facilities are designed for the most dangerous and disruptive prisoners – and have been a source of controversy for many years.

Solitary confinement is an almost permanent way of life, with ADX Florence’s 400-or-so prisoners locked in spartan cells for at least 23 hours each day.

An hour each day can be spent in a concrete-walled recreation yard.

A typical “Supermax” cell’s furniture – bed, desk, stool – is made from poured concrete.

The cells are equipped with showers that run on a timer, and a toilet that shuts off if plugged. Meals are delivered to inmates in their cells to restrict interaction.  Each cell also is equipped for 24-hour video and audio surveillance.

                                                                                                                                                               

Typical supermax cell.

1. Typical cell sized 7ft x 12ft (3.5x2m) with small slit window 2. Shower works on timer 3. Small black and white TV showing educational programmes (some prisoners only)

4. Heavy duty steel door or grate 5. Writing desk 6. Toilet which shuts off if blocked 7. Sink 8. Steel mirror, rather than smashable glass

 

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Breeding monsters

Supermaxes tend to be the end of the road for those in the prison system.

Transfer to an even marginally less restrictive environment can require several years of good behaviour.

To their supporters, these jails are the most appropriate way to house the worst of the worst in the prison population.

Critics describe them as a breeding ground for monsters – with regimes that are tantamount to torture.

Notable inmates at ADX Florence.

Name	Number	Details
Anthony 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
Larry Hoover	86063-024	Leader of the Gangster Disciples Nation based in Chicago
Jeff Fort	92298-024	Co-founder of the Black P. Stones gang in Chicago, and founder of its El Rukn faction
Omar Portee	30063-037	Co-founder of the United Blood Nation based in New York
Theodore Kaczynski	04475-046	The “Unabomber”
Juan Matta-Ballesteros	37671-133	Drug trafficker, co-conspirator in the Enrique Camarena case
Zacarias Moussaoui	51427-054	Conspirator in the September 11, 2001 attacks
Terry Nichols	08157-031	Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator
Richard Colvin Reid	24079-038	British, Islamist terrorist, nicknamed the “Shoe Bomber”
Eric Robert Rudolph	18282-058	Convicted of the 1996 Olympic Park bombing
Dwight York	17911-054	Leader of the Nuwaubians; convicted for transporting minors across state lines, racketeering and financial reporting charges
Salvador Magluta	26012-037	Co-leader, along with Augusto “Willy” Falcon of a Miami-based cocaine trafficking organization that trafficked over 75 tons of cocaine into the United States.
Timothy McVeigh (deceased)	12076-064	Oklahoma City bomber (moved to USP Terre Haute in 1999,  executed on June 11, 2001)
Kenneth McGriff	26301-053	Drug trafficker and organized crime figure
H. Rap Brown	99974-555	Civil rights activist and former Justice Minister of the Black Panther Party, convicted of murdering a Fulton County, Georgia, deputy Sheriff
Thomas Silverstein	14634-116	Convicted of murdering Federal Correctional Officer Merle E. Clutts
Luis Felipe	14067-074	Founder of the New York chapter of the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation
Howard Mason	24651-053	Drug trafficker who ordered the murder of police officer Eddie Byrne
Barry Mills	14559-116	Leading member of the Aryan Brotherhood
Charles Harrelson (deceased)	02582-016	Texan hitman, convicted of murdering a federal judge, father of actor Woody Harrelson
Jose Padilla	20796-424	Convicted of aiding terrorists
Michael Swango	08352-424	American physician and serial killer; convicted of three fatal poisonings.
Mahmud Abouhalima	28064-054	So-called Mujahideen leader, 1993 World Trade Center bombing implication and conviction
Raul “Sherm” Leon	95335-198	Mexican Mafia leader, featured in Chris Blatchford’s “The Black Hand: The Bloody Rise and Redemption of “Boxer” Enriquez, a Mexican Mob Killer.”
Robert Hanssen	48551-083	Former senior FBI agent serving life for espionage
Ramzi Yousef	03911-000	A planner of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing terrorism
Gregory Scarpa, Jr.	10099-050	Mobster and son of mob capo Gregory Scarpa RICO

 

The Canadian equivalent to an American supermax prison is Millhaven in Bath, Ontario. Located on the shore of Lake Ontario southwest of Kingston it houses the “worst of the worst” in the Canadian Federal prison system.

Security at Millhaven.

The perimeter is surrounded by a double 30-foot razor fence, and has observation towers at the corners. There is a 4-foot “warning fence” inside the perimeter of the exercise yard, that acts as a boundary inmates cannot cross without deadly force being used. Armed patrol vehicles with AR-15 rifles and parabolic microphones are on guard 24/7. There are motion sensors in the outlying property, and multiple CCTV units throughout.

Specialized perimeter security patrols are equipped with TOW rockets to guard against extraction from the prisoners yard via helicopter. (This was enacted after such an escape was successful on June 19, 1990 from Kent maximum security in BC.)

Visitors are subject to search once on the property (both person and vehicle) and an ION scanner is used upon entry to detect drugs or other compounds. The visiting area is equipped with CCTV, and listening devices are in each table.

Inmates in the MAU (intake) are allowed only screened visits (behind glass).