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Supermax

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Supermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons or units within prisons, representing the most secure and austere levels of custody in the prison systems of the United States and other countries.

There are only two "purely" Supermax prisons in the United States: USP in Marion, Illinois, and ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado. However, other less-secure prisons often have areas of supermax level.

Contents

History

An early form of supermax-style prison unit appeared in Australia in 1975, when "Katingal" was built inside the Long Bay Correctional Centre in Sydney. Dubbed the "electronic zoo" by inmates, "Katingal" was a super-maximum prison block designed for sensory deprivation, with its 40 prison cells having electronically-operated doors, surveillance cameras, and no windows. It was closed down two years later over human rights concern, and was finally demolished in early 2006.

The term "supermax", however, originated in the United States as a contraction of "super-maximum," and the concept developed from the permanent lockdown of the Federal penitentiary in Marion, Illinois dating from 1983 when two corrections officers at that prison were murdered by inmates in two separate incidents on the same day. Since then, some maximum security prisons have gone to full lockdown as well, while others have been built and dedicated to the Supermax standard. Supermax prisons are also known as SHU prisons (Security Housing Unit).

There is a nationwide trend to downgrade Supermax prisons, as has been done with the infamous Wallens Ridge State Prison, a former-supermax prison in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Other Supermax prisons that have gained notoriety for their cruel conditions and attendant litigation by inmates and advocates are the former Boscobel (in Wisconsin), now named the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, Red Onion (in Western Virginia, the twin to Wallens Ridge), Tamms (in Illinois), and the Ohio State Penitentiary. Placement policies at the Ohio facility were recently the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case (Wilkinson v. Austin) Wilkinson v. Austin 04-495 (2005), [Link to case text] where the Court decided that there had to be some, but only very limited, due process involved in Supermax placement.

Recently, Australia has opened a facility in the Goulburn Correctional Centre to the supermax standard. While its condition is an improvement over that of "Katingal" of the 1970s, this new facility is nonetheless designed on the same principle of sensory deprivation.

Prisoner life

In Supermax prisons, prisoners are generally allowed out of their cells for only an hour a day; often they are kept in solitary confinement. They receive their meals through "food ports" in the doors of their cells. Prisoners are given no work and very little access to leisure activities, though some categories of prisoner are allowed to have a television. When Supermax inmates are allowed to exercise, this may take place in a small, enclosed area where the prisoner will exercise alone.

Prisoners are under constant surveillance, usually with closed-circuit television cameras. Cell doors are usually opaque, while the cells may be windowless. Conditions are spartan, with poured concrete or metal furniture common. Cell walls, and sometimes plumbing, are often soundproofed to prevent communication between the inmates.

Controversy

Supermax/SHU prisons are very controversial, as some claim [PrisonActivist.org] – California's Security Housing Units that they violate the United States Constitution, and in 1996, a United Nations team assigned to investigate torture described SHU conditions as "inhuman and degrading". [Paglen.com] – Security Housing Unit

Proponents say that Supermax prisons offer a way to contain prisoners that could otherwise be harmed by the general prison population, especially more infamous individuals who wouldn't function well in a general prison population. [[Citing sources citation needed]] A Supermax prison intended to fulfill such a role is the Federal ADMAX, or administrative maximum security, prison in Florence, Colorado, west of Pueblo. There the U.S. government houses a long list of convicted terrorists, gang leaders and similar prisoners; September 11th terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced to life without parole at Florence upon his conviction on May 4, 2006. Also resident are Ted Kaczynski, a terrorist otherwise known as the Unabomber who once attacked via mail bombs, and Richard Reid, an Islamic fundamentalist jailed for life for attempting to detonate explosive materials in his shoe.

Prisons with supermax facilities

United States

This list is [Incomplete listsincomplete]; you can help by [http://encycl.opentopia.com/ expanding it].
Most of these facilities only contain supermax wings or sections, with other parts of the facility under lesser security measures.

Maximum security prisons in other countries

Well-known Supermax inmates

See also

References

External links

 

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