Tag: Supermax

I missed the news earlier this week that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was moved from the USP at Florence to ADX (Supermax.)

Supermax has 9 units and 6 maximum security levels, but because Tsarnaev has Special Administrative Measures (SAMS), restricting his ability to communicate with the outside world, he's likely in the Special Security Unit -- the H Unit Here are the 2013 regulations for the H Unit.

Even the H Unit has phases, similar to the step down programs of the Supermax general population units. Supposedly, inmates can work their way down to more favorable conditions.

Like what? With really good behavior, after a period of time, they can get a job out of their cells for an hour a day as an orderly, cleaning or mopping floors. And an expanded commissary list. But no ice cream. You have to be in a general population unit for that. Here's the Commissary List for the H Unit. And here's the list for the USP (US Penitentiary, High Security, General Population) at Florence. [More...]

Yesterday and today, the defense in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial presented evidence about life at Supermax in Florence, CO.

Lawyers for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sought Wednesday to convince jurors in the death-penalty case that Tsarnaev could end up in the country’s most secure federal prison, locked in a cell 23 hours a day, with limited communication with the outside world — if the jury votes for a life sentence.

...Under those conditions, Tsarnaev would be limited to two 15-minute telephone conversations with only immediate family members each month, his mail would be screened, and he would be confined to a single-inmate cell.

[More...]

A class action has been filed against the Bureau of Prisons and several top officials by 11 mentally ill inmates, on behalf of all mentally ill inmates, alleging horrific mistreatment at Supermax Prison in Florence, Colorado. The case is Bacote, et al v. Federal Bureau of Prisons. A website has been set up with information about the case, SuperMaxLawsuit.com. According to the 108 page complaint which alleges deliberate mistreatment:

Some prisoners mutilate their own bodies with razors, shards of glass, sharpened chicken bones, writing utensils and whatever other objects they can obtain. Others swallow razor blades, nail clippers, broken glass and other dangerous objects. Many engage in fits of screaming and ranting for hours on end. Others carry on delusional conversations with the voices they hear in their heads, oblivious to reality and the danger that such behavior might pose to themselves and to anyone who interacts with them.

Still others spread feces and other waste throughout their cells, throw it at the correctional staff and otherwise create health hazards at ADX. Suicide attempts are common; many have been successful."

[More...]

The European Court of Human Rights yesterday blocked the transfer to the U.S. of four suspected terrorists. The grounds: They might get sent to Supermax in Florence, CO which has inhumane conditions.

Egyptian-born Hamza, a former imam of the once-notorious Finsbury Park mosque in north London who has one eye and a hook for one hand, is serving a seven-year jail term for inciting followers to murder non-believers.

The other men in jail awaiting extradition are British nationals Babar Ahmad, Haroon Rashid Aswat and Seyla Talha Ahsan.

Interestingly, the court rejected their claims that their designation as enemy combatants could lead to the death penalty, and that their trials would be unjust. It was the Supermax argument that won the day.

[T]heir complaints "concerning the stringency of conditions there for what could be the rest of their lives, raised serious questions of fact and law". [More...]

A federal judge yesterday dismissed "Shoebomber" Richard Reid's civil lawsuit challenging the conditions of his confinement at Supermax.

(Note: This is an extremely long post because while I don't want to post all the pleadings directly, I think many people who are curious about what life is like at Supermax will be interested in reading the description contained in affidavits by BOP officials in this lawsuit.)

Back in June, I wrote about Richard Reid's lawsuit challenging SAMS's restrictions and noted the Government in a pleading stated the SAMS would not be renewed.

In December, I noted the SAMS had been lifted, Reid had been moved to general population at Supermax, but was still fighting to be able to take Arabic correspondence courses and have greater media access. Reuters has more here. [More...]

Criminal defense attorney Gerry Shargel makes the argument today at Daily Beast that isolating Guantanamo detainees in a new Supermax facility may be a worse fate and unnecessary.

Do the untried and unconvicted Guantanamo inmates require this level of security? Absent a particularized showing of need, locking up a "detainee" in virtual isolation—unearned suffering—is abject cruelty.

He does a good job of summarizing the draconian conditions at a supermax facility: [more...]

This is pretty funny. Officials at Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado have turned down an inmate's request to read the two books written by President Obama. Why?

The federal government's most secure prison has determined two books written by President Barack Obama contain material "potentially detrimental to national security" ....

What standards did the use to make the determination? Ones supplied by the F.B.I. Who requested the books?

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is serving a 30-year sentence at the federal supermax prison in Florence for joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate then-President George W. Bush.

Related to my long post on Shoe Bomber Richard Reid's hunger strike at Supermax in Florence, Colorado, I see that the Canadian press is reporting that convicted terrorist Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, serving life at Supermax, is also on a hunger strike:

Mohammed Mansour Jabarah has refused to eat since mid-April and prison officials are allegedly pumping food into his stomach using a tube inserted in his nose. The convicted al-Qaeda terrorist is protesting restrictions on his mail, his lawyer said, but his father said Jabarah and other Muslim inmates also want to pray together.

The ACLU condemns force-feeding here.

There's lots of speculation that the Guantanamo detainees may be moved to Supermax at Florence, Colorado, home to the nation's supposedly most dangerous criminals. Not so fast. Right now, there's no room at the inn.

It would probably take the building of a separate facility. Or, the moving of our supposedly most dangerous criminals to prisons in other states.

As for the folks in Florence, many of whom have jobs because of the prison industry there, they have no problem with accomodating the Gitmo detainees:[More...]

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has suggested that Supermax in Florence, Colorado would be appropriate for Guantanamo detainees.

Ritter wouldn't oppose transferring the Guantanamo Bay detainees to Supermax because it was built for just that type of high-risk inmate, Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said today. "If Supermax is chosen, there's no reason to take a 'not in my backyard' approach," Dreyer said.

Not quite. Supermax is for "the worst of the worst" of convicted felons. None of the remaining detainees at Guantanamo has been convicted of a crime yet. [More...]

Jose Padilla has been shipped to Supermax in Florence, Colorado, known as Alcatraz of the Rockies. He'll be joining Ted Kaczinski, Eric Rudolph, Zacarias Moussaoui, Richard "shoe bomber" Reid, OKC conspirator Terry Nichols and others. Padilla was convicted in August and sentenced to 17 years. He's got 13 years left.

Padilla attorney Michael Caruso said in an e-mail Friday that Supermax is "a living hell" where inmates spend most days in 7-foot-by-12-foot cells and have little contact with the outside world. Caruso noted that others convicted of supporting terrorism, such as the "Lackawanna Six" group in upstate New York, were not sent to the nation's toughest prison.

Caruso called the decision "yet another example of Jose being treated differently and in a more punitive fashion than others who have been accused of similar crimes. I genuinely fear that Jose's mental health will erode to an even greater degree."

More on the life awaiting Padilla at Supermax below:

Denver journalist and CBS legal analyst Andrew Cohen was one of a small group of journalists permitted to tour the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado yesterday. It was the first time journalists have been afforded the opportunity.

He didn't get to see the prison's most infamous prisoners like Terry Nichols or Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber" but he saw and heard enough to write an interesting article. Some highlights:

We saw cement desks and bed frames and stainless steel toilets and sinks. We saw cages—straight out of the circus—where inmates who are going along with the warden’s “program” are allowed to “recreate” outside for about 10 hours a week. We saw that the windows in the cells are only a few inches wide and all look inward toward the other windows of other cells. No one has a view of the beautiful Rocky Mountains which surround the facility in the southern portion of Colorado.

More...