Supermax prison
The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (October 2009) |
Supermax (short for "super-maximum security") is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries. The objective is to provide long term, segregated housing for inmates classified as the highest security risks in the prison system — the "worst of the worst" criminals, and those who pose a threat to national and international security.[1]
History
The United States Penitentiary Alcatraz Island, opened in 1934, has been considered a prototype and early standard for a supermax prison.[2]
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 security prison block with 40 prison cells having electronically operated doors, surveillance cameras, and no windows. It was closed down two years later over human rights concerns.[3] Since then, some maximum-security prisons have gone to full lockdown as well, while others have been built and dedicated to the supermax standard.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons' solitary confinement units are known as Special Housing Units (SHU).[4]
In recent years a number of US states have downgraded their supermax prisons, [citation needed] as has been done with Wallens Ridge State Prison, a former supermax prison in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Other supermax prisons that have gained notoriety for their harsh conditions and attendant litigation by inmates and advocates are the former Boscobel (in Wisconsin), now named the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, Red Onion State Prison (in Western Virginia, the twin to Wallens Ridge State Prison), 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)[5] where the Court decided that there had to be some, but only very limited, due process involved in supermax placement.
There is only one supermax prison in the United States federal system, ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado.[6] However, many states now have created supermax prisons, either as stand-alone facilities or as secure units within lower-security prisons.[7] State supermax prisons include Pelican Bay in California and Tamms in Illinois. The USP in Marion, Illinois was recently downgraded to a medium-security facility.
In September 2001, the Australian state of New South Wales 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.[8][9] It has been set up for 'AA' prisoners who are deemed a risk to public safety and the instruments of government and civil order, or believed to be beyond rehabilitation. Corrections Victoria in the state of Victoria also operates the Acacia and Maleuca units at Barwon Prison which serve to hold the prisoners requiring the highest security in that state including Melbourne Gangland figures such as Tony Mokbel and Carl Williams, who was murdered in the Acacia unit in 2010.
Prisoner life
In supermax, prisoners are generally allowed out of their cells for only one hour a day (in California state prisons they are allowed out for one-and-a-half hours); often they are kept in solitary confinement. They receive their meals through ports, also known as "chuck holes" or "bean slots," in the doors of their cells. When supermax inmates are allowed to exercise, this may take place in a small, enclosed area where the prisoner will exercise alone.[10]
Prisoners are under constant surveillance, usually with closed-circuit television cameras. Cell doors are usually opaque, while the cells may be windowless. Conditions are plain, with poured concrete or metal furniture common. Often cell walls, and sometimes plumbing, are soundproofed to prevent communication between the inmates.[citation needed]
Controversy
Supermax and Security Housing Unit (SHU) prisons are controversial; some claim[11] that the living conditions in such facilities violate the United States Constitution, specifically, the Eighth Amendment's proscription against "cruel and unusual" punishments. In 1996, a United Nations team assigned to investigate torture described SHU conditions as "inhuman and degrading."[12] A 2011 New York Bar association comprehensive study suggested that supermax prisons constitute "torture under international law" and "cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution."[13] In 2012, a federal class action suit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons and officials who run ADX Florence SHU (Bacote v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, Civil Action 1:12-cv-01570) alleged chronic abuse, failure to properly diagnose and neglect of prisoners who are seriously mentally ill.[14]
The U.S. government houses a number of convicted terrorists, gang leaders, spies, and similar prisoners in a supermax prison known as ADMAX, the Federal administrative maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado, west of Pueblo. Al-Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced to life without parole at Florence upon his conviction on May 4, 2006.[citation needed] Residents also include Theodore Kaczynski, a domestic terrorist otherwise known as the Unabomber, who once attacked via mail bombs; Robert Hanssen, an American FBI Agent turned Soviet spy; Terry Nichols, an accomplice to the Oklahoma City bombing; and Richard Reid, known as the "Shoe Bomber", who was jailed for life for attempting to detonate explosive materials in his shoes while on board an aircraft.[15]
Prisons with supermax facilities
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North America
United States
Most of these facilities only contain supermax wings or sections, with other parts of the facility under lesser security measures.
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- United States Penitentiary - Marion, Illinois (Downgraded to a medium-security facility in September 2006)[16]
- Tamms Correctional Center - Tamms, Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- United States Disciplinary Barracks - Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (military prison)
- United States Penitentiary - Leavenworth, Kansas (being downgraded to medium security)
- El Dorado Correctional Facility - El Dorado, Kansas
- Kentucky
- Kentucky State Penitentiary - Eddyville, Kentucky (Presently the only prison in Kentucky housing supermax units)
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center - Baltimore, Maryland
- North Branch Correctional Institution - Cumberland, Maryland (final housing unit will begin operation in summer of 2008)
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- Penitentiary of New Mexico - unincorporated Santa Fe County, New Mexico - Uses the Bureau Classification System - Level 6 being Supermax
- New York
- Attica Correctional Facility-Attica, New York
- Upstate Correctional Facility - Malone, New York
- Sing Sing Correctional Facility - Ossining, New York
- Southport Correctional Facility - (disciplinary supermax prison with only solitary confinement), Pine City, New York
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Texas
- United States Penitentiary - Jefferson County, Texas[citation needed]
- Estelle High Security Unit - W.J. Estelle Unit - Walker County, Texas[18]
- Allan B. Polunsky Unit (formerly Terrell Unit) - West Livingston, Texas[19]
- Utah
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
Canada
- Edmonton Institution - Edmonton, Alberta - Canadian Prairie Region Maximum Security Prison
- Millhaven Institution (Bath, Ontario, Canada) - Houses non-Canadian citizens being held by Security certificates and those considered "the worst of the worst".
- Kingston Penitentiary (Kingston, Ontario, Canada)
- Special Handling Unit (Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec) - Maximum Security Prison, with a supermax wing - Houses Canada's most dangerous and violent inmates.
- Kent Institution - British Columbia - Pacific Region Maximum Security Institution
Mexico
- Penal del Altiplano - Almoloya de Juarez, State of Mexico. Full Supermax and the only facility of this kind in Mexico.
South America
Brazil
In Brazil, the "regime disciplinar diferenciado"(differentiated disciplinary regime), known by the acronym RDD, and strongly based on the Supermax standard, was created primarily to handle inmates who are considered capable of continuing to run their crime syndicate or to order criminal actions from within the prison system, when confined in normal maximum security prisons that allow contact with other inmates. Since its inception, the following prisons were prepared for the housing of RDD inmates:
- Centro de Readaptação Provisória de Presidente Bernardes (Presidente Bernardes, São Paulo, Brazil) - inspired by the supermax standards, although prisoners can only stay there for a maximum of 2 years. Is a part of the prison system of the Brazilian State of São Paulo.
- Penitenciária Federal de Catanduvas (Catanduvas, Paraná, Brazil) - also based on the supermax standards. It is the first federal prison in Brazil, designed to receive prisoners deemed too dangerous to be kept in the states' prison systems (in Brazil, ordinarily, both convicts sentenced by States' courts or by the Federal Judiciary fulfill their prison terms in state-run prisons; the Federal Prison System was created to handle only the most dangerous prisoners in Brazil, such as major drug lords, convicted either by the Federal Judiciary or by the judiciary of a state).
- Penitenciária Federal de Campo Grande (Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil) - the second of two Brazilian Federal prisons based on the supermax specifications.
Colombia
- Penitenciaría de Cómbita (Colombia) - follows supermax specifications, hosts terrorists and drug lords.
Europe
- Portlaoise Prison (Portlaoise, Ireland) - one of the most secure prisons in Europe, protected full time by members of the Irish Defence Forces.
- Nieuw Vosseveld - Dutch High Security prison in Vught
- Stammheim Prison - German High Security Prison, partly purpose-built to keep Red Army Faction terrorists in the 1970s and 1980s.
- Politigårdens Fængsel - (Copenhagen - Denmark) There are 25 maximum security cells located in the prison of the central police station of Copenhagen
- Østjyllands Statsfængsel - (Horsens - Denmark) - High Security Prison. Holds many of Denmarks most dangerous criminals.
- Kumla Prison, Sweden - Have security cells called "Fenix".
United Kingdom
- Her Majesty's Prison Belmarsh - London, England, United Kingdom - its most notable residents are terrorists, including many of the alleged terrorists of the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot imprisoned there.
- Her Majesty's Prison Frankland - Durham, England, United Kingdom - High Security Prison with a special unit for prisoners suffering from Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorders.
- Her Majesty's Prison Full Sutton - York, England, United Kingdom - High Security Prison.
- Her Majesty's Prison Long Lartin - Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom - High Security Prison.
- Her Majesty's Prison Maghaberry - Lisburn, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom - High Security Prison
- Her Majesty's Prison Manchester - Strangeways, Manchester, England, United Kingdom - High Security Prison.
- Her Majesty's Prison Shotts - Scotland - High Security Prison. Holds some of the UK's most dangerous and violent criminals.
- Her Majesty's Prison Whitemoor - March, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom - houses up to 500 of the most dangerous criminals in the UK. It has a unit known as the 'Close Supervision Centre' which is referred to as a "Prison inside a Prison". It has a special unit for prisoners with Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorders.
- Her Majesty's Prison Wakefield - Wakefield, England, United Kingdom - High Security Prison with a Close Supervision Centre
- Her Majesty's Prison Woodhill - Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom - High Security Prison with a specialist 'Close Supervision Centre'.
Africa
- C Max (Pretoria, South Africa) - for violent and disruptive prisoners.
Asia
- KEMTA, Taiping, Perak Malaysia
- Al Hayer Prison (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
- Black Dolphin prison - Russian maximum-security prison for convicts sentenced to life imprisonment.
- White Swan - Russian maximum-security prison for convicts sentenced to life imprisonment.
Australia
- Goulburn Correctional Centre – High Risk Management Correctional Centre (HRMCC) – 75 bed centre, (Goulburn, New South Wales).[8]
- Casuarina Prison – Special Handling Unit (SHU) (Perth, Western Australia)
- Risdon Prison – Wilfred Lopes Centre (Risdon Vale, Tasmania)
- Barwon Prison – Barwon Supermax (Lara, Victoria)
- Port Phillip Prison – Sirius East Unit (Laverton, Victoria)
- Brisbane Correctional Centre – 18-cell Maximum Security Unit (Brisbane, Queensland)
- Alexander Maconochie Centre – 12-cell Supermax Section (Hume, Australian Capital Territory)
- Yatala Labour Prison – G Division (Northfield, South Australia)
- Alice Springs Correctional Centre – 12-cell Supermax Unit (Alice Springs, Northern Territory)
See also
- List of prisons
- Penology
- Panopticon
- Solitary confinement
- Maximum Security Prisons in the United States (supermax)
- Article 41-bis prison regime the Italian high security treatment for Mafiosi and terrorists
- Prisoner security categories in the United Kingdom
- F-type Prisons (Turkey)
References
- ^ Mears, Daniel. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Supermax Prisons" (PDF). Urban Institute - Justice Policy Center. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
- ^ Carlson, Peter M.; Garrett, Judith Simon, Prison and Jail Administration: Practice and Theory, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 1999. Cf. Chapter 35, p.252, "Supermaximum Facilities", by David A. Ward.
- ^ Kennedy, Les (19 May 2004). "Final release for Katingal, misguided experiment in extreme jails". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
- ^ "USP McCreary, Visiting Regulations" accessed May 1, 2008 http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/mcr/MCR_visit_hours.pdf
- ^ Wilkinson v. Austin 04-495 (2005), Link to case text
- ^ Vick, Karl (September 30, 2007). "Isolating the Menace In a Sterile Supermax". Washington Post. pp. A03. Retrieved 21 December 2007.
- ^ Riveland, C. (1999) Supermax prisons: overview and general considerations. Washington DC: US Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections
- ^ a b Masters, Chris (17 November 2005). "SuperMax". Four Corners. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
- ^ Watson, Rhett (9 May 2009). "Inside the walls of SuperMax prison, Goulburn". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
- ^ Shalev, S. (2009) Supermax: controlling risk by solitary confinement. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.
- ^ PrisonActivist.org – California's Security Housing Units
- ^ Paglen.com – Security Housing Unit
- ^ [1] – The Brutality of Supermax Confinement
- ^ Cohen, Andrew (18 June 2012) An American Gulag: Descending into Madness at Supermax The Atlantic, Retrieved 20 June 2012
- ^ "Just how bad are American 'supermax' prisons?". BBC News. 10 April 2012.
- ^ Marion, IL
- ^ "George Bell III Transferred from Parchman." WLBT. August 18, 2008. Retrieved on August 10, 2010.
- ^ Ward, Mike. "Hunt is on for escaped killer." Austin American-Statesman. June 29, 1999. A1. Retrieved on November 27, 2010. "Clifford Dwayne Jones' escape from the Estelle High-Security Unit on Sunday afternoon was the first from a Texas prison this year and the first from the "super max" lockup, as the unit is called."
- ^ Ward, Mike. "Death row inmates free guard, meet with activists." Austin American-Statesman. February 23, 2000. "A prison guard held hostage by two execution-bound killers inside Texas'``super maxdeath row[...]" and "Tuesday deep inside the maximum-security Terrell Unit just outside[...]"
External links
- Supermaxed: Supermax and Maximum Security Prison Website
- California's Security Housing Units
- Recording Carceral Landscapes: Securit y Housing Unit
- Supermax lockup for spammer Rizler
- The Resistable (sic) Rise and Predictable Fall of the U.S. Supermax by Stephen F. Eisenman, Monthly Review, November 2009