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 federal supermax prison for men located in the city of Florence in Fremont County, Colorado.[1] It is unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies.[2] It is part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex, which is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice, and houses the prisoners who are deemed the most dangerous and in need of the tightest control of all the prisoners in the United States federal prison system.
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ADX Florence was constructed as a response to two incidents that occurred on October 22, 1983, in which two inmates murdered their escorting corrections officers at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. Relatively lax security procedures allowed an inmate, 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.[3]
As a response, the prison in Marion went into "permanent lockdown" and transformed itself into a "control unit" prison for the next 23 years. 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.[4]
Following the killings, Norman Carlson, then director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, convinced 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.[5] Years later, Carlson said that building such a prison was the only way to handle inmates who "show absolutely no concern for human life." He pointed out that the two assailants were already serving multiple life sentences, and simply adding another would have had no effect.[3]
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.[6]
On September 14, 2007, the first 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.[7] 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."[8]
ADX Florence is a 37-acre (15 ha), 490-bed complex at 5880 Highway 67, Florence, Colorado, about 100 miles (160 km) south of Denver.[9] It is one part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FFCC), which comprises three correctional facilities, each with a different security rating.[10]
The prison houses several criminals who have been deemed too dangerous or too high-profile for even a maximum-security prison, as well as several terrorists and spies who are too great a national security risk to be housed in a normal prison. However, 95 percent of the inmates have been sent to Florence from other prisons due to a history of violent behavior. These prisoners are kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day for at least the first year. Depending on their records, they can be let out for longer periods. The long-term goal is to transfer them to a less-restrictive prison to serve out the remainder of their terms.[3]
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.
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] Nonetheless, the prison has come under far less scorn than comparable facilities at the state level. Jamie Fellner of Human Rights Watch said after a tour of the facility, "The Bureau of Prisons has taken a harsh punitive model and implemented it as well as anybody I know."[3]
This is a list of notable inmates who are currently held at Florence ADX. For a list of notable inmates formerly held at Florence ADX, please see Notable former inmates of US Penitentiary, Florence ADX.
Inmate Name | Register Number | Status | Details |
---|---|---|---|
Mahmud Abouhalima | 28064-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda operative; convicted in 1994 of terrorism conspiracy and other charges for assisting in building the bomb used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six people and injured over 1000. [17] |
Juan Abrego | 09935-000 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Convicted in 1996 of operating the Gulf Cartel, a criminal enterprise that smuggled thousands of tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United States from Mexico over a 16-year period.[18] |
H. Rap Brown | 99974-555 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX under his actual name, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. | Sentenced to life in state prison for the 2000 murder of Sheriff's Deputy Ricky Kinchen in Fulton County, Georgia, but is currently held at ADX because he is a high-profile inmate.[19][20] |
Nidal Ayyad | 16917-050 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda operative; convicted in 1994 of terrorism conspiracy and other charges for purchasing chemicals and assisting in building the bomb used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six people and injured over 1000.[17] |
Vincent Basciano | 30694-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Served as Acting Boss of the Bonanno Crime Family in 2004 after Boss Joseph Massino was arrested; convicted in 2006 of murder, murder conspiracy, and racketeering charges; convicted in 2011 of ordering the 2004 murder of Bonanno associate Randolph Pizzolo; Massino testified against Basciano in the 2011 trial.[21][22] |
Tyler Bingham | 03325-091 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Aryan Brotherhood prison gang founder; transferred to ADX after being connected to violent gang activities in prison; convicted in 2006 of murder, murder conspiracy, and racketeering for ordering the murders of two African-American inmates at the United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg from ADX. Co-founder Barry Mills is also serving a life sentence at ADX.[23][24] |
Anthony Casso | 16802-050 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Former Underboss of the Lucchese Crime Family; apprehended in 1993 after 30 months on the lam and placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program; later dropped from the program due to multiple prison violations; subsequently pleaded guilty to murder, murder conspiracy and racketeering.[25] [26] |
Seifullah Chapman | 46868-083 | Currently serving a 65-year sentence at ADX; scheduled for release in 2060.[27] | Associated with the Virginia jihad network; former US Marine convicted in 2004 of providing material support to the Pakistani terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba by conducting paramilitary training for its members.[28][29] |
Dritan Duka | 61285-066 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Involved in the 2007 Fort Dix attack plot; convicted of conspiring to kill American soldiers and possessing firearms with the intent to conduct a terrorist attack at the New Jersey military base. Four accomplices are serving sentences in other federal facilities.[30] |
Iyman Faris | 46680-083 | Currently serving a 20-year sentence at ADX; scheduled for release in 2020. | Al-Qaeda operative; pleaded guilty in 2003 to terrorism conspiracy and providing material support to Al-Qaeda by researching potential targets, including the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, and obtaining equipment to be used in attacks at the behest of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.[31] |
Luis Felipe | 14067-074 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Leader of the Latin Kings gang; convicted in 1996 of multiple counts of murder and murder conspiracy for ordering the murders of rivals from state prison in New York and racketeering for running a criminal enterprise whose members engage in acts of violence, armed robbery, and narcotics trafficking; also known as "King Blood."[32][33] |
Jeff Fort | 92298-024 | Currently serving an 80-year sentence at ADX; scheduled for release in 2038. | Founder of the El-Rukn (Black P. Stones) gang in Chicago; convicted of drug trafficking charges in 1983; continued leading the gang from a minimum security federal prison; convicted of terrorism conspiracy in 1987 for agreeing to commit terrorist attacks inside the United States in exchange for weapons and $2.5 million from Libya.[34][35] |
Ahmed Ghailani | 02476-748 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda operative; convicted in 2010 of conspiracy to destroy property of the United States for planning the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa, which were conceived by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and killed 224 people. Acquitted of murder and terrorism conspiracy charges. Four other operatives are also serving life sentences at ADX in connection with the bombings.[36][37] |
Wadih el-Hage | 42393-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda operative; convicted in 2001 of terrorism conspiracy for organizing the terrorist cell that carried out the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa, which were conceived by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and killed 224 people. Four other operatives are also serving life sentences at ADX in connection with the bombings.[38][39] |
Matthew Hale | 15177-424 | Currently serving a 40-year sentence at ADX; scheduled for release in 2037. | Founder of the World Church of the Creator, which was once one of the largest neo-nazi groups in the United States; convicted in 2004 of soliciting the murder of Federal Judge Joan Lefkow in retaliation for ruling against him in a copyright lawsuit brought by a mainstream church with the same name.[40][41] |
Robert Hanssen | 48551-083 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Former senior FBI agent assigned to counterintelligence; pleaded guilty in 2002 to espionage for passing classified information to the Soviet Union and later to Russia over a 20-year period; perpetrated what is known as the worst intelligence disaster in United States history.[42][43] |
Syed Hashmi | 60011-054 | Currently serving a 15-year sentence at ADX; scheduled for release in 2019. | Pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists by sending military supplies to Al-Qaeda forces fighting American troops in Afghanistan.[44] |
Larry Hoover | 86063-024 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Leader of the Gangster Disciples gang in Chicago; sentenced to life in state prison in 1973 for murder; convicted in 1997 of drug conspiracy, extortion, money laundering, and running a continuing criminal enterprise for leading the gang from state prison.[45][46] |
Eyad Ismoil | 37802-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda operative; convicted in 1997 of terrorism conspiracy and other charges for transporting the bomb used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six people and injured over 1000.[47] |
Mohammed Jabarah | 06909-091 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Canadian citizen convicted of terrorism-related offenses in Canada, he was turned over to U.S. authorities after agreeing to assist them with terror investigations, but was sentenced to life in federal prison in 2003 as a result of violating the terms of his release.[48] |
Theodore Kaczynski | 04475-046 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Known as the Unabomber; pleaded guilty in 1998 to building, transporting, and mailing explosives to carry out 16 bombings from 1978 to 1995 in a mail bombing campaign aimed at destroying modern technology, which caused the deaths of computer store owner Hugh Scrutton, advertising executive Thomas Mosser and timber industry lobbyist Gilbert Murray, and injured 23 others.[49][50] |
Ali Saleh al-Marri | 12194-026 | Currently serving an 8-year sentence at ADX; scheduled for release in 2015. | Pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists; attended terrorist training camps in Pakistan from 1998 to 2001; traveled to the United States in 2001 to conduct a terrorist attack at the behest of high-ranking Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. [51] |
Howard Mason | 24651-053 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Convicted in 1989 of racketeering charges in connection with his leadership of "The Bebos," a violent drug gang in Queens, NY; ordered the 1988 murder of New York City Police Officer Edward Byrne.[52] |
Juan Matta-Ballesteros | 37671-133 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX under the name Juan Ramon Matta-Lopez. | Drug trafficker convicted of involvement in the 1985 kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique Camarena.[53] |
Richard McNair | 13829-045 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Convicted of a state murder charge; held at ADX due to multiple prison escapes; escaped from the Ward County Jail in Minot, North Dakota by stealing a detective's lip balm and using the lubricant to slip out of handcuffs in 1987; escaped from the North Dakota State Penitentiary by crawling through a ventilator duct in 1992; escaped from the United States Penitentiary, Pollock in Louisiana by hiding under bags of outgoing mail in 2006.[54][55] |
Barry Mills | 14559-116 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Aryan Brotherhood prison gang founder; transferred to ADX after being connected to violent gang activities; convicted in 2006 of murder, murder conspiracy, and racketeering for ordering the murders of two African-American inmates at the United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg from ADX. Co-founder Tyler Bingham is also serving a life sentence at ADX.[56][57] |
Khalfan Mohamed | 44623-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda operative; convicted in 2001 of conspiracy and murder for carrying out the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa, which were conceived by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and killed 224 people. Four other operatives are also serving life sentences at ADX in connection with the bombings.[38] |
Zacarias Moussaoui | 51427-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda senior member, in 2005 he pleaded guilty to planning the September 11th attacks.[58] |
Abdul Murad | 37437-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda operative; convicted in 1996 of terrorism conspiracy in connection with planning Project Bojinka, a foiled plot conceived by senior Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to bomb twelve planes over the Pacific Ocean in a 48-hour period.[59][60] |
Terry Nichols | 08157-031 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Convicted of orchestrating the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people. Co-conspirator Timothy McVeigh was executed in 2001.[61] |
Mohammed Odeh | 42375-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda operative; convicted in 2001 of aiding and abetting murder for assisting other operatives carry out the bombing of the United States embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, which was one of the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa conceived by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, which killed 224 people. Four other operatives are also serving life sentences at ADX in connection with the bombings.[38] |
Mohamed al-Owhali | 42371-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda operative; convicted in 2001 of conspiracy and murder for carrying out the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa, which were conceived by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and killed 224 people. Three co-conspirators are also serving life sentences at ADX.[38] |
Jose Padilla | 20796-424 | Currently serving a 17-year sentence at ADX; awaiting resentencing after a federal Appeals Court ruled that his original sentence was too lenient.[62] | One of the first American citizens to be designated as an enemy combatant after the September 11th attacks; convicted in 2007 of terrorism conspiracy for traveling overseas to attend an Al-Qaeda training camp in order to murder, kidnap, and maim citizens of a foreign country.[63][64] |
Uzair Paracha | 54896-054 | Currently serving a 30-year sentence at ADX; scheduled for release in 2029. | Convicted of providing material and financial support to Al-Qaeda member Majid Khan, who was planning terrorist bombings in Maryland.[65] Khan is currently being held at the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. |
Simón Trinidad | 27896-016 | Currently serving a 60-year sentence at ADX under the name Juvenal Ovidio Palmera Pineda; scheduled for release in 2056. | Member of the Colombian Armed Revolutionary Force (FARC), a Marxist group which advocates the violent overthrow of the Colombian government; convicted in 2007 of terrorism conspiracy for acting as a FARC negotiator in connection with the 2003 kidnapping of three American military contractors who were working with the Colombian government.[66][67][68] |
O.G. Mack | 30063-037 | Currently serving a 50-year sentence at ADX under his actual name, Omar Portee; scheduled for release in 2044. | Founder of the United Blood Nation gang; convicted in 2002 of racketeering and murder conspiracy, as well as narcotics and weapons charges.[69] |
Richard Reid | 24079-038 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda operative; pleaded guilty in 2002 to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder and other charges in connection with his 2001 attempt to detonate an explosive device hidden in his shoe on a plane traveling from Miami to Paris; known as the "Shoe Bomber."[70] |
Ahmed Ressam | 29638-086 | Currently serving a 22-year sentence at ADX; awaiting resentencing after a federal Appeals Court ruled that his original sentence was too lenient.[71] | Al-Qaeda operative; arrested in Port Angeles, Washington while transporting explosives in a vehicle on a ferry from Canada; convicted in 2001 of terrorism conspiracy for planning to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on December 31, 1999 in what is known as one of the 2000 millennium attack plots.[72][73] |
Randall Royer | 46812-083 | Currently serving a 20-year prison sentence at ADX; scheduled for release in 2021. | Associated with the Virginia jihad network; pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm during a violent crime and carrying an exposive device during the commission of a felony; assisted others gain entry to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan operated by the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba.[74][75] |
Eric Rudolph | 18282-058 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Member of the violent extremist group Army of God; pleaded guilty in 2005 to carrying out four bombings from 1996 to 1998 which killed two people and injured over 120, including the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, causing the death of Alice Hawthorne, and the bombing of an abortion clinic in Alabama, causing the death of Birmingham Police Officer Robert Sanderson.[76][77] |
Mohammed Salameh | 34338-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda operative; convicted in 1994 of terrorism conspiracy and other charges for having a central role in planning the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six people and injured over 1000, including obtaining the truck used to transport the bomb.[17] |
Mamdouh Salim | 42426-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda leader; arrested for involvement in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa; pleaded guilty to stabbing Correction Officer Louis Pepe at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City in 2000.[78] |
Faisal Shahzad | 63510-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda supporter; pleaded guilty to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and other charges in connection with the 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt; received explosives training in 2009 from the terrorist organization Tehrik-i-Taliban in Pakistan.[79][80] |
Thomas Silverstein | 14634-116 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Aryan Brotherhood prison gang leader, he was transferred to ADX after murdering Correction Officer Merle Clutts at the United States Penitentiary, Marion, a high security facility in Illinois, in 1983 while serving a sentence for bank robbery. |
Michael Swango | 08352-424 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Physician and serial killer; pleaded guilty in 2000 to fatally poisoning three patients in New York and one in Ohio; has been linked to scores of other deaths by award-winning investigative journalist James B. Stewart.[81][82] |
Dwight York | 17911-054 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Founder of the black separatist cult Nuwaubian Nation of Moors; made millions of dollars from the forced labor of cult members; convicted in 2004 on multiple counts of child molestation for having sex with underage members, and racketeering for interstate transportation of minors for the purpose of unlawful sexual activity and financial fraud; known by supporters as Dr. Malachi York.[83][84] |
Ramzi Yousef | 03911-000 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Al-Qaeda leader; convicted of terrorism conspiracy in 1996 for planning Project Bojinka, a foiled plot conceived by senior Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to bomb twelve planes over the Pacific Ocean in a 48-hour period; and in 1997 for masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City, which killed six people and injured over 1000.[59][85][86][87] |
Scott Fountain | 02158-090 | Currently serving a 60-year sentence at ADX; scheduled for release in 2044. | Aryan Brotherhood prison gang member; convicted of the 1984 murder of Correction Officer Boyd Spikerman at the Federal Correctional Institution, Oxford, a medium security facility in Wisconsin. Accomplice Matthew Granger has been transferred from ADX to a federal Community Corrections Facility in Seattle.[88] |
Fares Khallafalla | 34856-054 | Currently serving a 30-year sentence at ADX; scheduled for release in 2019. | Follower of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman; convicted in 1995 of seditious conspiracy and terrorism conspiracy for planning to bomb high-profile targets in New York City, including the United Nations, the Lincoln Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, and the George Washington Bridge as part of the foiled New York City landmark bomb plot. Several accomplices are serving sentences in oher federal facilities.[89] |
Gazi Mezer | 48705-053 | Currently serving a life sentence at ADX. | Member of the terrorist organization Hamas; convicted in 1998 of terrorism conspiracy for constructing pipe bombs he planned to use in a suicide attack in a New York City subway station.[90] |
Ahmed Sattar | 53506-054 | Currently serving a 24-year sentence at ADX; scheduled for release in 2023. | Co-defendant of disbarred attorney Lynne Stewart; convicted in 2005 of assisting Stewart pass messages from her client, Omar Abdel Rahman, to the terrorist organization Rahman heads, al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, in violation of special administrative measures prohibiting it.[91] Stewart is serving a 10-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Texas. |