The ADX Florence facility from the outside

The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, CO. is a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, USA. It is unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies. It is operated by the federal government and is part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FCC). ADX houses the prisoners who are deemed the most dangerous and in need of the tightest control. Image File history File links Photo of ADX Florence from http://www. ... Image File history File links Photo of ADX Florence from http://www. ... Supermax is the name used to describe control-unit prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in prison systems. ... Florence is a city in Fremont County, Colorado, USA. The population was 3,653 at the 2000 census. ... Alcatraz Island is located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California. ... This article describes the government of the United States. ... The Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) consists of three main facilities: 1. ...

History

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ADX Florence was constructed as a response to the October 22, 1983, correctional officer killings at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. Two inmates were able to independently kill their accompanying guards. 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 subsequently unlock his handcuffs with a stolen key and provide him with a knife. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... is the 295th day of the year (296th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... A prison officer is a person charged with the responsibility of the supervision of prisoners in a prison. ... U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois. ... A pair of handcuffs Handcuffs are restraint devices designed to secure an individuals wrists close together. ...

As a result, the prison in Marion went into "permanent lockdown" and entirely 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. These practices are used as administrative measures to keep prisoners under control. A lockdown is an emergency protocol to prevent people or information escaping, which usually can only be ordered by someone in command. ... Solitary confinement, colloquially referred to as the hole (or in British English the block), is a punishment in which a prisoner is denied contact with any other persons, excluding guards, chaplains and doctors. ...

Following the killings, Norman Carlson, then director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, successfully persuaded the federal government that a more secure type of prison needed to be designed. There was a need to isolate uncontrollable prisoners from both officers and each other for the sake of security and personal safety. Marion became a model for the subsequent construction of ADX Florence, a facility built specifically and entirely as a control unit prison.

ADX Florence was opened in November 1994. The residents in Florence's surrounding area, Fremont County, gladly welcomed the prison 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 (2.4 km²) for the new prison. Hundreds of people attended the groundbreaking. Creating ADX Florence cost $60 million. Fremont County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. ...

The prison

ADX Florence is a federal prison, comprising a 37 acre, 490-bed complex at 5880 Highway 67, Florence, Colorado. It is one of 3 correctional facilities of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FFCC), each with a different overall security level.^[1]

ADX Florence generally houses around 430 male prisoners, each assigned to one of six security levels.^[2] ADX Florence was designed jointly by DLR Group (a part of the architecture, engineering, planning and interiors firm specializing in incarceration-related facilities in the U.S.A.) and LKA Partners of Colorado Springs.^[2]

About 22% of inmates have killed fellow prisoners in other correctional facilities; 35% have attempted to attack other prisoners or officers. As a result, most individuals are kept for at least 23 hours each day in solitary confinement. They are housed in a 7 ft (2.13 m) by 12 ft (3.66 m) room, built behind a steel door and grate. The remaining free hour is spent exercising alone in a separate concrete chamber. Prisoners rarely see each other, and the inmates' only direct human interaction is with correctional officers. Visiting from outside the prison is conducted through glass, with each prisoner in a separate chamber. Religious services are broadcast from a small chapel.

Part of the prison is a "stepdown" program, designed to encourage less antisocial behavior and eventually transfer prisoners out of the ADX and back to the Maximum Security population. The program is three years in length, each year allowing more freedom and social contact with other inmates. Any violation during the program means participants revert to year one.

Most cells' furniture is made almost entirely out of poured concrete, including a desk, stool, and bed covered by a thin mattress. 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 tap. Rooms may also be fitted with polished steel mirrors bolted to the wall, an electric light, a radio, a 13-inch black and white television set that shows recreational, educational and religious programming,^[3] and a cigarette lighter^{[citation needed]}. These privileges can be taken away as punishment. The 4 in (0.10 m) by 4 ft (1.22 m) windows confuse the prisoner as to his specific location within the complex because one can see only the sky and roof. Telecommunication with the outside world is forbidden, and food is hand-delivered by correctional officers. This article is about the construction material. ... For other uses, see Steel (disambiguation). ... Copy of the original phone of Alexander Graham Bell at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris Telecommunication is the assisted transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ...

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. A Motion Detector is a device connected to a burglar alarm that is used to detect motion. ... This article is about the photographing device. ... Image:Scheermes-prikkeldraad. ... For alternative meanings see laser (disambiguation). ... A pressure pad is a trigger activated by weight. ... An attack dog is a dog trained (and possibly bred) to attack, and possibly kill, living creatures. ...

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."^{[citation needed]} Eric Robert Rudolph (born September 19, 1966) is a suspect in the July 27, 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, which killed Alice Hawthorne and wounded 111 others. ...

Reporters' first-ever tour

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.^[4] is the 257th day of the year (258th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Tour may mean: Concert tour, series of performances in different markets Tourism, travel for pleasure James Tour, nanoscientist Le Tour de France, the worlds biggest bicycle race This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a subdivision of the United States Department of Justice, and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. ... Look up eerie in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Criticisms

Understaffing

In 2006, the corrections officers' union filed a grievance over staffing levels at ADX Florence, and critics asked Congress to funnel more money for staffing. Of the 240 guard positions originally allotted to ADX Florence, and of the 221 currently allotted, only 186 are filled. The union contends the understaffing has led to dangerously unsafe conditions for both staff and inmates. In 2005, two prisoners were beaten to death by other inmates, the first slayings ADX Florence has seen. Nationwide, the Bureau of Prisons has pledged to reduce its 35,000-strong workforce by 3118 corrections officers.^[5] The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a subdivision of the United States Department of Justice, and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. ...

Lax security

Related to the understaffing problems, recent reports allege that security at ADX Florence is less than optimal, specifically in the monitoring of prisoners' communications. A Justice Department inquiry was initiated when an ADX inmate, Mohammed Salameh, was caught by Spanish authorities sending letters to a terror cell with links to suspects in the 2004 Madrid train bombings. The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C. “Justice Department” redirects here. ... Mohammed A. Salameh (born September 1, 1967) is a convicted perpertrator of the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing. ... Spanish police forces currently operating: Guardia Civil Policía Nacional Ertzaintza in the Basque Country Mossos dEsquadra in Catalonia Miqueletes in Navarre Local police in every town and city. ... Terrorist redirects here. ... A covert cell structure is a method for organizing undercover or unconventional fighters against a large and well-established organization. ... This article is about the Spanish capital. ... Atocha Station The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spanish as 11-M) consisted of a series of coordinated bombings against the Cercanías (commuter train) system of Madrid, Spain on the morning of 11 March 2004 (three days before Spains general elections), killing 191 people and wounding...

More recently, two inmates, members of the Aryan Brotherhood, were convicted of conspiracy charges that included instigating the murder of two African-American prisoners at a Pennsylvania prison by sending secret messages written in grapefruit juice. In 2006 gangster Ruben Castro was served a federal indictment for continuing to run his Los Angeles drug gang from within his ADX cell. The Aryan Brotherhood, (also known as the AB or The Brand) is a prison gang numbering about 15,000 members in and out of prison. ... In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between natural persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... In the common law legal system, an indictment (IPA: ) is a formal accusation of having committed a criminal offense. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ...

According to a federal arbitrator, "Inmate cells [are] no longer being searched on a regular basis due to lack of staff."^[6]

Notable inmates

Main article: List of prisoners at ADX Florence

• Omar Abdel-Rahman, 34892-054, Islamist terrorist, nicknamed "The Blind Sheik"; involved in World Trade Center bombing planning in 1993
• Anthony "Gaspipe" 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
• Robert Hanssen, 48551-083, FBI agent; convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia
• Larry Hoover, 86063-024, leader of the Gangster Disciples Nation based in Chicago
• Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, of the Gambino crime family
• Theodore Kaczynski, 04475-046, the "Unabomber"
• David Lane (deceased), 12873-057, Neo-Nazi leader, involvement in Alan Berg's murder
• John Walker Lindh, 45426-083, dubbed "The American Taliban"
• Juan Matta-Ballesteros, 37671-133, drug trafficker, co-conspirator in 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, Islamic terrorist, "Shoe Bomber"
• Eric Robert Rudolph, 18282-058, Christian Identity terrorist, Olympic Park bomber
• Dwight York, 17911-054, leader of the Nuwaubianists; convicted for child molestation, racketeering and financial reporting charges
• Ramzi Yousef, 03911-000, Islamist terrorist, 1993 World Trade Center bombing
• Timothy McVeigh (deceased), Oklahoma City Bombing executed on June 11, 2001
• Kenneth McGriff, 26301-053, an American drug trafficker and organized crime figure.
• H. Rap Brown, 99974-555, former civil rights activist convicted of murdering an Georgia sheriff deputy.

This is a list of prisoners at ADX Florence, the United States supermax federal prison in Florence, Colorado. ... Omar Abdel-Rahman Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman (Arabic: عمر عبد الرحمن) (born May 3, 1938) is a blind Egyptian Muslim cleric who is currently serving a life sentence at the Federal Administrative Maximum Penitentiary hospital in Florence, Colorado, United States. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... For the second attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, see September 11, 2001 attacks. ... Anthony Gaspipe Casso. ... Capo Bastone or Beat Head, known as the Underboss is second in command to the Capo Crimini. ... The Lucchese crime family is one of the Five Families that controls organized crime activities in New York City, USA, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra). ... Wadih el-Hage (born 1960) was an Al-Qaida member accused of conspiring in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. ... In the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings (August 7, 1998), 257 people were killed and over 4,000 wounded in simultaneous car bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the East African capital cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. ... Matthew F. Hale (center) at the Peoria Public Library. ... White supremacy is the variety of white nationalism that believes the white race should rule over other races. ... A federal judge is a judge appointed in accordance with Article III of the United States Constitution. ... This article is about a former FBI official and convicted spy. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... Larry Hoover (born November 30, 1950, Jackson, Mississippi) is the leader of the Chicago-based Growth & Development Nation, formally Gangster Disciple Nation. ... The Gangster Disciples are a largely African-American, Chicago-based street gang. ... Salvatore Sammy the Bull Gravano (born March 12, 1945) was the Mafia underboss of the Gambino crime family in the 1980s under John Gotti. ... John Gotti, The Dapper Don The Gambino Crime Family is one of the Five Families that controls organized crime activities based in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra). ... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... Unabomber is a nickname applied to three people: Theodore Kaczynski, an American terrorist. ... David Lane David Eden Lane (November 2 1938 — May 28, 2007) was an American white supremacist leader and author, who died while serving a 190-year prison sentence in the Federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. ... The terms Neo-Nazism and Neo-Fascism refer to any social or political movement to revive Nazism or Fascism, respectively, and postdates the Second World War. ... Alan Berg on the air shortly before his assassination. ... For other persons named John Walker, see John Walker (disambiguation). ... The Taliban (Pashto: , also anglicized as Taleban) are a Sunni Muslim and ethnic Pashtun movement [2] that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, when their leaders were removed from power by a cooperative military effort between the Northern Alliance, United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. ... Juan Ramón Mata Ballesteros, AKA Ramón Mata, AKA Juan Ramón Mata del Pozo, AKA Juan Ramón Matta Lopez, former Drug lord with ties to the Medellin Cartel was born on January 12, 1945 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. ... Enrique Kiki Camarena Salazar (July 26, 1947 - c. ... This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. ... A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced nine eleven or nine one one) consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist[1] suicide attacks upon the United States, predominantly... Terry Lynn Nichols (born April 1, 1955) was convicted of being an accomplice of Timothy McVeigh, the man convicted of murder in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, April 19, 1995), which claimed 168 lives. ... The Oklahoma City bombing was an attack on April 19, 1995 aimed at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, a U.S. government office complex in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. ... Richard Colvin Reid, aka Abdul Raheem and often referred to in the media as the shoe bomber (born August 12, 1973), is an individual convicted on charges of terrorism and currently serving a life sentence in the United States for attempting to detonate a commercial aircraft in-flight using plastic... ... Eric Robert Rudolph (born September 19, 1966), also known as the Olympic Park Bomber, is an American domestic terrorist,[2][3] who committed a series of bombings across the southern United States, which killed three people and injured at least 150 others. ... // For the general identity of an individual with certain core essential religious doctrines, see Christianity. ... An Olympic Park is a venue or group of venues set up when a country hosts the Olympic Games. ... This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. ... Nuwaubian flag as designed by Malachi Z. York The various doctrines and practices of the followers of Malachi Z. York are sometimes referred to as “Nuwaubu”/“Nuwaupu”, “Wu-Nuwaubu”, “Right Knowledge”, “Sound Right Reasoning”, “Overstanding”, and “Factology” but have had many other names through the years. ... Ramzi Ahmed Yousef or Ramzi Mohammed Yousef (also transliterated as Ramzi Yusuf, Ramzi Youssef) (Arabic: رمزي يوسف ), birth name possibly Abdul Basit Mahmoud Abdul Karim (Arabic: عبد الباسط كريم) and also known by dozens of aliases,[1] is a Kuwaiti of Pakistani descent who was one of the planners of the 1993 World Trade Center... For the second attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, see September 11, 2001 attacks. ... For the Navy sailor, see Timothy R. McVeigh. ... The Oklahoma City bombing was an attack on April 19, 1995 aimed at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, a U.S. government office complex in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. ... Kenneth Supreme McGriff (born 1961) is a former drug dealer and former leader of Supreme Team. ... H. Rap Brown in 1967 H. Rap Brown now known as Jamil Al-Amin (born October 4, 1943) came to prominence in the 1960s as a civil rights worker, black activist, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Justice Minister of the Black Panther Party. ...

References

Fox News Channels slogan is We Report, You Decide The Fox News Channel is a U.S. cable and satellite news channel. ... The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ... The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ... The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ...

External links

• ADX Florence is at coordinates 38°21′32″N 105°06′04″W / 38.359, -105.101Coordinates: 38°21′32″N 105°06′04″W / 38.359, -105.101
• End of the line
• Official website of Federal Bureau of Prisons and its section on ADX Florence. Information on visiting is on the linked PDF