ADX Florence
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 | |
| Location | Fremont County, Colorado |
|---|---|
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | Supermax |
| Capacity | 490 |
| Opened | 1994 |
| Managed by | Federal Bureau of Prisons |
The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) is a supermax prison for men in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, United States, south of Florence.[1][2] It is unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies.[3] It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the federal government. ADX, a part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FCC), houses the prisoners who are deemed the most dangerous and in need of the tightest control.
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[edit] History
ADX Florence was constructed as a response to two incidents that occurred on October 22, 1983, in which inmates murdered their escorting corrections officers at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. Relatively lax security procedures allowed each prisoner, while walking down a hall, to turn to the side and approach a particular cell so an accomplice could unlock his handcuffs with a stolen key and provide him with a knife. Two officers were killed in two separate incidents by this tactic.[4]
As a result, the prison in Marion went into "permanent lockdown" and transformed itself into a "control unit" prison. This penal construction and operation theory dictates that inmates remain in solitary confinement for 22–23 hours each day. They do not allow communal dining, exercising, or religious services.[5]
Following the killings, Norman Carlson, then director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, persuaded the federal government that a more secure type of prison needed to be designed. There was a need to isolate uncontrollable prisoners from officers and from other prisoners for the sake of security and safety. Marion became a model for the subsequent construction of ADX Florence, a facility built as a control unit prison.[6]
ADX Florence opened in November 1994. The residents in Florence's surrounding area, Fremont County, welcomed the prison as a source of employment in a time of economic hardship. At the time, the county was already home to nine existing prisons. However, the lure of between 750 to 900 permanent jobs, in addition to another 1,000 temporary jobs during the prison's construction, led residents in the area to raise $160,000 to purchase 600 acres (242.8 ha) for the new prison. Hundreds of people attended the groundbreaking construction of ADX Florence, which cost over $60 million.[7]
On September 14, 2007, the first-ever media tour of the U.S. Bureau of Prison's Administrative Maximum prison, or "Supermax," was allowed. Attending reporters remarked on "an astonishing and eerie quiet" within the prison as well as a sense of safety due to the rigorous security measures in place within the facility.[8] One person who went on this tour was 60 Minutes producer Henry Schuster, who said: "A few minutes inside that cell and two hours inside Supermax were enough to remind me why I left high school a year early. The walls close in very fast."[9]
[edit] Prison facility
ADX Florence is a federal prison, comprising a 37-acre (15 ha), 490-bed complex at 5880 Highway 67, Florence, Colorado. It is one of three correctional facilities of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FFCC), each with a different overall security level.[10]
ADX Florence generally houses around 430 male prisoners, each assigned to one of six security levels.[11] ADX Florence was designed jointly by DLR Group and LKA Partners of Colorado Springs.[11]
Most cells' furniture is made almost entirely out of poured concrete, including the desk, stool, and bed. 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 trap. Rooms may also be fitted with polished steel mirrors bolted to the wall, an electric light, a radio, and a television that shows recreational, educational and religious programming.[12] These are considered privileges that may be taken away as punishment, so they are placed and remotely controlled such that the inmate does not actually come into contact with them. The 4 in (10 cm) by 4 ft (1.2 m) windows are designed to prevent the prisoner from knowing his specific location within the complex because he can see only the sky and roof through them. Additionally, inmates exercise in what has been described as an "empty swimming pool," so they do not know their location for possible escape.[13] 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 (3.66 m) high razor wire fences, laser beams, pressure pads, and attack dogs guard the area between the prison walls and razor wire.[citation needed]
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."[14] Charles Harrelson, who was sent to ADX after a failed attempt to escape from a Georgia prison, said "Part of the plan here is sensory deprivation," and "It could be infinitely worse."[13] A former ADX warden described the place as "a cleaner version of Hell."[15] There have been hundreds of "involuntary feedings" and four suicides.[15] Most recently, in June 2009 Richard Reid, commonly known as the "shoe bomber", went on a hunger strike and was force-fed.[16]
[edit] Notable inmates
- Main article: List of prisoners 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 conspirator |
| Richard Colvin Reid | 24079-038 | English, 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,[17] executed on June 11, 2001) |
| Kenneth McGriff | 26301-053 | Drug trafficker and organized crime figure |
| H. Rap Brown | 99974-555 | Black supremacist 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 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. | 10-17-2035 | Mob boss and son of mob boss Gregory Scarpa RICO |
