United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility
Location in Colorado
ADX Florence (the United States)
LocationFremont County, near Florence, Colorado
CoordinatesCoordinates: 38°21′23″N105°05′41″W / 38.35630°N 105.09482°W
StatusOperational
Security classSupermax
Population(490 Capacity, 384 Inmates)[1]
OpenedNovember 1994
Managed byFederal Bureau of Prisons
WardenAndre Matevousian [2]
The United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (USP Florence ADMAX) is an American federal prison which provides a higher level of custody than a maximum security prison. It is classed as a supermax or 'control unit' prison, where the safety of inmates and staff is paramount. It is located in Fremont County, Colorado and opened in 1994, and it is informally known as the 'Alcatraz of the Rockies'.
Aug 30, 2017  The former U.S. Air Force Sergeant had been on the run for a year and a half after a spectacular escape from a federal prison in the southern U.S. Richard McNair’s account of his time in the Supermax forms Chapter 24 of my book, The Man Who Mailed Himself Out of Jail. Click on the link for Amazon books at the very end of this post.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons needed a unit designed specifically for the secure housing of those prisoners most capable of violence toward staff or other inmates. Prisoners spend 23 hours per day in single cells with facilities made of poured concrete to deter self-harm, and 24-hour supervision, carried out intensively with high staff-inmate ratios. Phones are generally banned and only limited broadcast entertainment is permitted. After three years in maximum confinement, some prisoners may be transferred to a less restrictive prison. The aim is to encourage 'reasonably peaceful behavior' from the most violent 'career' prisoners.
The high standard of security has been noted by many, though there is some concern about the impact of extended confinement and isolation on mental health.
  • 6Notable current inmates

Function[edit]

The institution is unofficially known as ADX Florence, or the 'Alcatraz of the Rockies'.[3] It is part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex, which is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a division of the United States Department of Justice. The complex also includes an adjacent minimum-security camp that, as of February 2019, houses more prisoners than the supermax unit.
ADX Florence houses male inmates in the federal prison system who are deemed the most dangerous and in need of the tightest control, including prisoners whose escape would pose a serious threat to national security. The BOP does not have a designated 'supermax' facility for women. Women in the BOP system who are classified as 'special management concerns' due to violence or escape attempts are confined in the administrative unit of Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.[4]
The current warden of ADX Florence is Andre Matevousian. New serial podcast follow-up.

History[edit]

In 1983, members of the Aryan Brotherhood stabbed two federal correction officers to death at the United States Penitentiary, Marion. The stabbings were blamed on inadequate prison design.[5] Federal Bureau of Prisons director Norman Carlson argued for the creation of a new type of facility where the most dangerous, uncontrollable inmates could be isolated from correction officers and other prisoners for security and safety. Marion Penitentiary went into 'permanent lockdown' following the 1983 murders and became a model for the construction of ADX, designed as a control unit prison.[6] Carlson said that such a prison would hold criminals desperate enough to murder corrections officers or other inmates in the hopes of being sentenced to death.[5]
ADX opened in November 1994,[7] and the residents of Fremont County, Colorado[8] welcomed it as a source of employment. The county already had nine prisons, but the lure of 750 to 900 permanent jobs (plus temporary jobs during the prison's construction) led residents to raise $160,000 to purchase 600 acres (240 ha) for the new prison. Hundreds of people attended the groundbreaking for the facility, which was designed by two leading architecture firms in Colorado Springs and cost $60 million to build.[9]

Inmate population[edit]

The supermax unit at ADX Florence houses about 400 male inmates, each assigned to one of six security levels.[10] It is designed for 490 inmates but has never been at full capacity.[11] The facility is best known for housing inmates who have been deemed too dangerous, too high-profile, or too great a national security risk for even a maximum-security prison. The majority of current inmates, however, have been placed there because they have an extensive history of committing violent crimes against corrections officers and fellow inmates in other prisons, including murder. These inmates are kept in administrative segregation. They are confined in a single-person cell for 23 hours a day and are removed under restraint (handcuffed, shackled, or both); their one hour out of their cell may occur at any time of the day or night. The hour outside of the cell is for exercise and a phone call if they have earned the privilege. Their diet is restricted to ensure that the food cannot be used to harm themselves or to create unhygienic conditions in their cell. Some cells have showers which reduces the amount of handling that guards need to do.[11]
Inmates are then gradually allowed out for longer periods after at least one year, depending on their conduct. The long-term goal is to keep them at ADX for three years, then transfer them to a less restrictive prison to serve out the remainder of their sentences. According to a 1998 report in the San Francisco Chronicle, ADX Florence's main purpose is to 'try and extract reasonably peaceful behavior from extremely violent career prisoners'.[12]

Prison facility[edit]

Design of a cell at ADX Florence
Artist's view of the cell
ADX Florence is a 37-acre (15 ha) complex located at 5880 Highway 67, Florence, Colorado, about 100 miles (160 km) south of Denver and 40 miles (64 km) south of Colorado Springs.[13] It is part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FFCC) which consists of three correctional facilities, each with a different security rating.[14]
The majority of the facility is above ground, with the exception of a subterranean corridor which links cellblocks to the lobby. Each cell has a desk, stool, and bed, which are almost entirely made out of poured concrete, as well as a toilet that shuts off if blocked, a shower that runs on a timer to prevent flooding, and a sink lacking a potentially dangerous tap. Rooms may also be fitted with polished steel mirrors bolted to the wall, an electric light that can be shut off only remotely, a radio, and a television that shows recreational, educational, and religious programming.[15] All cells are sound-proofed to prevent prisoners from communicating with each other.
The 1⁄3 by 4 feet (0.10 by 1.22 m) windows are designed to prevent inmates from knowing their specific location within the complex. They can see only the sky and roof through them, so it is virtually impossible to plan an escape. Inmates exercise in a concrete pit resembling an empty swimming pool, also designed to prevent them from knowing their location in the facility.[16] The pit is only large enough for a prisoner to walk 10 steps in a straight line or 31 steps in a circle. Correction officers deliver food to the cells, although inmates sent to ADX from other prisons can potentially be allowed to eat in a shared dining room.[12] The prison as a whole contains a multitude of motion detectors and cameras and 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors. Officers in the prison's control center monitor inmates 24 hours a day and can activate a 'panic button' which instantly closes every door in the facility should an escape attempt be suspected. Pressure pads and 12-foot-tall (3.7 m) razor wire fences surround the perimeter, which is patrolled by heavily armed officers. The center of the prison houses an area known as the 'Z-Unit' for inmates who are deemed extreme security risks. Each of the three Z-Unit cells is equipped with a full set of body restraints that are built directly into the concrete bed.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons allowed the media to take a guided tour of ADX on September 14, 2007. 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.[17]60 Minutes producer Henry Schuster 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.'[18]

Controversies[edit]

The prison has come under far less criticism than comparable facilities at the state level, which tend to suffer from over-population, low staff-to-inmate ratios, and security issues. 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.'[12] In 2012, 11 inmates filed a federal class-action suit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons and officials who run ADX Florence in Cunningham v. Federal Bureau of Prisons.[19][20] The suit alleged chronic abuse and failure to properly diagnose prisoners who are seriously mentally ill.[21] Critics believe that the use of extended confinement in solitary cells adversely affects prisoners' mental health. As of March 2015, settlement negotiations were underway with the help of a federal magistrate and some improvements had been made by the Bureau of Prisons.[22][23]

Notable current inmates[edit]

Foreign Inmates[edit]

This list contains foreign citizens who committed or attempted to commit terrorist attacks against United States citizens and interests. All sentences are without parole.
Inmate nameRegister numberPhotoStatusDetails
Zacarias Moussaoui51427-054Serving 6 life sentences.French citizen and Al-Qaeda operative, pleaded guilty to terrorism conspiracy charges in 2005 for playing a key role in planning the September 11 attacks by helping the hijackers obtain flight lessons, money and material used in the attacks.[24]
Ramzi Yousef03911-000Serving life plus 240 years.Convicted in 1994 of terrorism conspiracy and other charges in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed 6 people and injured more than 1000. Yousef was also convicted in 1996 of planning Project Bojinka, a foiled plot conceived by senior Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to bomb twelve planes in a 48-hour period.[25]
Wadih el-Hage
Khalfan Mohamed
Khalid al-Fawwaz		42393-054
44623-054
67497-054		Serving life sentences.Al-Qaeda operatives from Lebanon, Tanzania, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia; convicted in connection with the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, Africa, which were conceived by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden; the bombings killed 224 people and injured more than 4000.[26][27][28][29]
Abu Hamza al-Masri67495-054Serving a life sentence under the name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa.Egyptian cleric and former associate of deceased Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden; extradited from the UK in 2012; convicted in 2014 of masterminding the 1998 kidnapping of Westerners in Yemen and conspiring to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon in 1999.[30]
Richard Reid24079-038Serving 3 life sentences plus 110 years.British national who became an Al-Qaeda operative; pleaded guilty in 2002 to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction in connection with his 2001 attempt to detonate explosive devices hidden in his shoes on a plane traveling from Paris to Miami; known as the 'Shoe Bomber.'[31]
Umar Abdulmutallab44107-039Serving 4 life sentences plus 50 years.A Nigerian national and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula operative, follower of the late militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki; pleaded guilty in 2011 to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction for trying to detonate an explosive sewn into his underwear on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day 2009; known as the 'Underwear Bomber.'[32]
Ahmed Ressam29638-086Serving a 37-year sentence; scheduled for release on December 16, 2032.[33]Algerian national 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.[34][35]
Simón Trinidad27896-016Serving a 60-year sentence under the name Juvenal Ovidio Palmera Pineda; scheduled for release on April 10, 2056.Member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a guerrilla group on the U.S. State Department list of Terrorist Organizations; convicted in 2007 of terrorism conspiracy for his involvement in the 2003 kidnapping of three American military contractors.[36][37][38]
Adis Medunjanin65114-053Serving a life sentence.Al-Qaeda operative; convicted in 2012 of plotting to conduct coordinated suicide bombings in the New York City subway system in September 2009; co-conspirators Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay pleaded guilty.[39][40]
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith91969-054Serving a life sentence.Al-Qaeda spokesman and son-in-law to Osama Bin Laden. Convicted in March 2014 for conspiring to kill Americans and providing material support to terrorists.[41]
Mamdouh Mahmud Salim42426-054Serving a life sentence.Al-Qaeda co-founder and advisor to Osama Bin Laden. Extradited in 1998 for participating in the U.S. Embassy bombings and sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder during an escape attempt in 2000.[42]
Shain Duka61284-066Serving a life sentenceConvicted in 2008 for conspiring to kill members of the Army at the Fort Dix, New Jersey, army base. His two brothers were also convicted: Eljvir Duka, who is being held at USP Florence High and Dritan Duka, who is being held at USP Marion.
Waad Alwan
Mohanad Hammadi		13523-033
13522-033		Alwan: serving a 40 year sentence. Hammadi: serving a life sentence.Two Iraqi Al-Qaeda operatives that entered the United States as refugees. Arrested for trying to acquire weapons to commit a terrorist attack in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Both men were identified as the perpetrators of a 2005 IED attack in Baiji, Iraq.
Oussama Kassir05151-748Serving a life sentence.Arrested in the Czech Republic in 2005 on an American warrant for conspiring to support terrorism by flying from London to Bly, Oregon to set up a jihad terrorist training camp. Kassir allegedly spent 2 months in Bly, where he learned to train with firearms.

Domestic Inmates[edit]

This list contains U.S. citizens regardless of origin who committed or attempted to commit terrorist attacks against United States citizens and interests.
Inmate nameRegister numberPhotoStatusDetails
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev95079-038Sentenced to death on June 24, 2015.Participant in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; Dzhokhar planted a pressure cooker bomb at the direction of his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev near the finish line, which killed 3 people and injured over 250. He will be transferred to USP Terre Haute in Indiana when an execution date is set.
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali70250-083Serving a life sentence.Al-Qaeda operative; convicted in 2005 of plotting to assassinate U.S. President George W. Bush. Federal prosecutors based their case on a confession Abu Ali provided to Saudi Arabian intelligence officials, which Abu Ali claimed was extracted by torture.[43][44]
Theodore Kaczynski04475-046Serving 8 life sentences.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 targeting those involved with modern technology, which killed 3 people and injured 23 others.[45][46]
Terry Nichols08157-031Serving 161 consecutive life sentences.Co-conspirator in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people. Timothy McVeigh, who planned and carried out the bombing was executed in Indiana in 2001.[47]
José Padilla20796-424Serving a 21-year sentence; scheduled for release on December 25, 2025.[48][49]Al-Qaeda operative and one of the first U.S. 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 citizens of a foreign country.[50][51]
Eric Rudolph18282-058Serving 4 consecutive life sentences.Member of the Christian extremist group Army of God; pleaded guilty in 2005 to carrying out four bombings between 1996 and 1998, including the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta; 3 people were killed during the bombing spree.[52][53]
Faisal Shahzad63510-054Serving a life sentence.Tehrik-i-Taliban operative; 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.[54][55]
Naser Jason Abdo80882-280Serving 2 life sentences plus 60 years.U.S. Armyprivate who refused to deploy to Afghanistan and went AWOL; convicted in 2012 of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction for plotting to detonate a bomb at a restaurant near Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, when it was filled with soldiers in 2011.[56][57]
Glendon Scott Crawford20658-052Serving a 30 year sentence. Scheduled for release in 2039.White supremacist and Ku Klux Klan member sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for plotting to build an industrial X-ray machine that would spew lethal doses of radiation powerful enough to kill people from a distance. His plan, according to a federal complaint, was to place the machine inside a truck or a van, park the vehicle outside Muslim institutions and activate it remotely.

Espionage[edit]

Inmate nameRegister numberPhotoStatusDetails
Noshir Gowadia95518-022Serving a 32-year sentence; scheduled for release on September 11, 2033.Former engineer for the U.S. Department of Defense and principal designer of the B-2 stealth bomber; convicted in 2011 of using classified information to assist the People's Republic of China in producing cruise missiles with stealth technology.[58]
Robert Hanssen48551-083Serving 15 consecutive life sentences.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, which was regarded as the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history at the time; betraying dozens of U.S. intelligence agents, several of whom were executed directly due to Hanssen's betrayal.[59][60]
Walter Myers29796-016Serving a life sentence.Former intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department; pleaded guilty in 2009 to conspiracy to commit espionage for providing classified U.S. national defense information to Cuba. His wife, Gwendolyn Myers, was sentenced to 6 years.[61][62]
Harold Nicholson49535-083Serving a 23-year sentence; scheduled for release on June 27, 2024.Highest-ranking CIA officer to be convicted of espionage; pleaded guilty in 1997 to passing classified information to Russia from 1994 to 1996; pleaded guilty in 2010 to attempting to collect payments from Russian agents for his past espionage activities.[63][64][65]

Organized crime figures[edit]

Inmate nameRegister numberPhotoStatusDetails
Edgar Hevle13950-116Serving life sentences.High ranking member of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. Faced death sentence for murder and racketeering in 2002 indictment against 29 of the brotherhood leaders.
Joseph Lombardo89305-024Serving a life sentence.A high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit crime organization, the Consigliere of the Outfit. He was found guilty of racketeering, extortion, and loan sharking on September 10, 2007.
James Marcello99076-012Serving a life sentence.'Front Boss' of the Chicago Outfit; convicted of racketeering, conspiracy for participating in 18 murders, and directing criminal activities including extortion, illegal gambling, loan sharking, and bribery.[66][67]
Luis Felipe14067-074Serving life plus 45 years.Leader of the New York chapter of the Latin Kings gang; convicted in 1996 of murder conspiracy and racketeering for running a criminal enterprise whose members engage in murder, assault, armed robbery, and drug trafficking; Felipe is known as 'King Blood.'[68][69]
Ruben Castro
Raul Leon
Francisco Martinez		03328-112
95335-198
91147-011		Serving life sentences.Leaders of the Mexican Mafia; convicted of racketeering and murder conspiracy for running violent drug trafficking operations.[70][71][72][73]
Tyler Bingham03325-091Serving a life sentence.Aryan Brotherhood prison gang founder; transferred to ADX in 2006 after being connected to violent gang activities in prison; convicted of murder, murder conspiracy, and racketeering for ordering the killing of two inmates at USP Lewisburg in Pennsylvania.[74][75]
Larry Hoover86063-024Serving 6 life sentences.Leader of the Gangster Disciples 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.[76][77]
Jeff Fort92298-024Serving a 68-year sentence; scheduled for release on October 14, 2044.Founder of the El-Rukn (Black P. Stones) gang in Chicago; convicted of drug trafficking in 1983; convicted of terrorism conspiracy in 1987 for plotting to commit attacks inside the U.S. in exchange for weapons and $2.5 million from Libya.[78][79]
Gino Colon07984-424Serving life sentence.Leader of the Latin Kings - North side, in Chicago; sentenced to life in federal prison 2000.
O. G. Mack30063-037Serving a 50-year sentence under his actual name Omar Portee; scheduled for release on February 4, 2045.Founder of the United Blood Nation gang; convicted in 2002 of racketeering and murder conspiracy, as well as narcotics and weapons charges.[80]
Kaboni Savage58232-066Sentenced to death on June 3, 2013.[81]Philadelphia drug kingpin; convicted in 2013 of 12 counts of murder in aid of racketeering for ordering six drug-related homicides, as well as fire bombing the home of a federal witness which killed two adults and four children.[82][83] He will be transferred to United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute in Indiana when an execution date is set.
Chevie Kehoe21300-009Serving 3 consecutive life sentences.Murderer and white supremacist. Convicted in 1998 of the torture-murders of William, Nancy, and Sarah Mueller. Serving three life sentences. Accomplice Daniel Lewis Lee was sentenced to death.
Perry Roark
James Sweeney
53975-037Both serving life sentences.Founders of Dead Man Incorporated, a prison gang active in four states; pleaded guilty in 2012 to leading a racketeering enterprise which engaged in murder and threats to commit murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking, and extortion.[84][85]
Salvador Magluta26012-037Serving a 205-year sentence; scheduled for release on June 11, 2170.Leader of a drug trafficking network in Miami that transported over 75 tons of cocaine into the United States. Convicted in 2002 of money laundering and conspiracy charges. Was held at USP Florence High but moved back to ADX.
Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez92043-280Serving a life sentence.One of the leaders of the La Línea (gang), the enforcer unit of the Juárez Cartel that was operated by former and current police officers. Said to have carried out over 1,500 murders under the order of the Cartel.
Marciano Millan Vasquez55741-380Serving 7 life sentences.Assassin and regional boss for the Los Zetas cartel. Indicted on 18 killings that took place in Mexico between 2009 and 2015. Sentenced to seven life sentences to be served consecutively by US District Court Judge Xavier Rodriguez for committing and aiding and abetting the commission of numerous murders and other acts of violence.
Arturo Gallegos Castrellon86139-080Serving a life sentence.Leader of the Barrio Azteca cartel. Ordered the execution of two American consulate workers and a Mexican with ties to the agency in Ciudad Juárez on 13 March 2010. According to Reuters, the killings were part of an ongoing effort by Barrio Azteca to take control of the El Paso–Juárez drug trafficking corridor.
Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán89914-053Life in prison plus 30 yearsFormer leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. Guzmán was extradited from Mexico to the United States in January 2017, where he pleaded not guilty to all counts against him in Brooklyn, New York.[86] His charges included drug trafficking, money laundering, and murder. His defense asserted that he was not the organized crime leader that the prosecution claimed. The trial, often characterized as a trial of the century, began on November 5, 2018, and lasted until February 12, 2019, when the jury found him guilty of all counts. He was sentenced on July 17, 2019 to life imprisonment without parole.

Other crimes[edit]

Inmate nameRegister numberPhotoStatusDetails
Dwight York17911-054Serving a 135-year sentence; scheduled for release on June 7, 2122.Founder and leader of the Nuwaubian Nation, a black supremacist cult. Convicted in 2004 of child molestation, racketeering and conspiracy, and fraud.[87][88]
Richard McNair13829-045Serving 2 life sentences on a state murder charge from North Dakota in 1987.Held at ADX due to multiple prison escapes; escaped from the Ward County Jail in Minot, North Dakota in 1987 by using lip balm to slip out of handcuffs, from the North Dakota State Penitentiary in Bismarck in 1992 by crawling through a ventilator duct, and from USP Pollock in Louisiana in 2006 by concealing himself in a pallet of used and damaged mailbags being moved from the prison factory to a prison warehouse outside of the secure perimeter.[89][90]
Michael Swango08352-424Serving 3 life sentences.Physician and serial killer; pleaded guilty in 2000 to fatally poisoning four patients; has been linked to scores of other deaths.[91][92]
Paul Bergrin16235-050Serving a life sentence.Attorney convicted of conspiracy to murder a witness and racketeering, cocaine, and prostitution offenses.[93]
Matthew F. Hale15177-424Serving a 40-year prison term; scheduled for release on December 30, 2037Neo-Nazi leader of the WCOTC cult. Convicted in 2005 for soliciting an FBI informant to kill federal judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow. Transferred to Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute in 2016 but was moved back to ADX.
Joseph Romano72247-053Serving two life sentences.Convicted of conspiracy to murder the judge and federal prosecutor who helped sentence him to 15 years in prison for master-minding a coin fraud operation. Transferred to ADX Florence for attempting to have an undercover officer murdered who took part in the investigation.[94]
Dominick Maldonado02071-122Serving a 163-year state sentence.Perpetrator of the 2005 Tacoma Mall shooting. Injured six in the mall before committing four armed kidnappings. Transferred to ADX by the state of Washington due to safety and security concerns.

See also[edit]

  • Black Dolphin Prison, a similar facility operated by the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation
  • Federal Medical Center, Carswell, contains an Administrative Unit which is the equivalent to the ADX for federal female inmates. It also houses female federal inmates sentenced to death.
  • Special Handling Unit, a supermax prison operated by Corrections Canada

References[edit]

  1. ^'BOP: Weekly Population Report'. United States Bureau of Prisons. February 7, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  2. ^https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ne8bpd/from-the-alcatraz-of-the-rockies-to-the-streets
  3. ^Fernandes, Edna (2006-05-04). 'Supermax prison, the Alcatraz of the Rockies'. London: The Times. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
  4. ^Bosworth, Mary. The U.S. Federal Prison System. SAGE, 2002. 108. Retrieved from Google Books on October 14, 2010. ISBN0-7619-2304-7, ISBN978-0-7619-2304-6.
  5. ^ abTaylor, Michael (1998-12-28). 'The Last Worst Place / The isolation at Colorado's ADX prison is brutal beyond compare. So are the inmates'. SF Gate. Archived from the original on 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  6. ^Perkinson, Robert (September 22, 1994). 'Shackled justice: Florence federal penitentiary and the new politics of punishment'. Social Justice. Crime and Social Justice Associates. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
  7. ^Pilkington, Ed. 'ADX Florence supermax prison: the Alcatraz of the Rockies'. The Guardian. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  8. ^'Zoning Map.' (Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine) City of Florence, Colorado. Retrieved on December 30, 2009.
  9. ^'Fast Facts: Supermax Prison'. Fox News Channel. May 4, 2006. Archived from the original on June 1, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  10. ^'DLR Group'. Archived from the original on 5 December 2006. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  11. ^ abhttps://www.cbc.ca/news/world/el-chapo-guzman-prison-adx-florence-1.5017828
  12. ^ abcTaylor, Michael (28 December 1998). 'The Last Worst Place'. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  13. ^Shane, Scott. 'Beyond Guantánamo, a Web of Prisons for Terrorism Inmates.' The New York Times. December 10, 2011. Retrieved on December 12, 2011.
  14. ^USP Florence ADMAX – Bureau of Prisons
  15. ^'Fast Facts: Supermax Prison' – Fox News – May 04, 2006
  16. ^'How to Survive a Supermax Prison'. ABC News. August 2, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
  17. ^Frieden, Terry. ' Reporters get first look inside mysterious Supermax prison' – CNN – September 14, 2009
  18. ^'My Trip to SuperMax'. CBS News. October 14, 2007. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
  19. ^Case 1:12-cv-01570 Complaints and ExhibitsArchived 2012-07-04 at the Wayback Machine The United States District Court for the District of Colorado, retrieved 20 June 2012
  20. ^Richard P. Matsch (November 26, 2012). 'Harold Cunningham, John v. Federal Bureau of Prisons'. Find a Case. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  21. ^Cohen, Andrew (18 June 2012). 'An American Gulag: Descending into Madness at Supermax'. The Atlantic. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  22. ^Mark Binelli (March 26, 2015). 'Inside America's Toughest Federal Prison'. The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  23. ^'USP Florence ADMAX Contact Information.' Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on December 30, 2009.
  24. ^'Indictment of ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI'. Justice.gov. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  25. ^Bernstein, Richard (1994-03-05). 'EXPLOSION AT THE TWIN TOWERS; 4 ARE CONVICTED IN BOMBING AT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER THAT KILLED 6, STUNNED U.S.'The New York Times.
  26. ^Warren Richey. 'Ahmed Ghailani gets life sentence for Al Qaeda bombing of US embassies'. CSMonitor.com. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  27. ^Weiser, Benjamin (2010-11-17). 'Acquittal on All but One Charge for Ghailani, Ex-Detainee'. The New York Times.
  28. ^Weiser, Benjamin (2001-05-30). 'THE TERROR VERDICT: THE OVERVIEW; 4 GUILTY IN TERROR BOMBINGS OF 2 U.S. EMBASSIES IN AFRICA; JURY TO WEIGH 2 EXECUTIONS'. The New York Times.
  29. ^'Two Terrorists - A Portrait Of Wadih El Hage, Accused Terrorist | Hunting Bin Laden | FRONTLINE'. PBS. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  30. ^Wald, Jonathan; Andrew Carey (5 October 2012). 'Radical Islamist Abu Hamza al-Masri extradited to U.S.' CNN. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  31. ^'Held in darkness for the rest of his natural life'. The Telegraph. London. 2006-04-12. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
  32. ^Davey, Monica (2011-10-12). 'Would-Be Detroit Plane Bomber Pleads Guilty, Ending Trial'. The New York Times.
  33. ^'Terrorist sentenced to 37 years in millennium plot'. USA Today. Associated Press. October 24, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  34. ^'22 Years For Millennium Bomb Plot'. CBS News.
  35. ^Schwartz, John (2010-02-03). 'Appeals Court Throws Out Sentence in Bombing Plot, Calling It Too Light'. The New York Times.
  36. ^'#07-494: 07-11-07 Senior Member of FARC Narco-Terrorist Organization Found Guilty of Hostage-Taking Conspiracy'. Justice.gov. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  37. ^World War 4 Report. 'FARC negotiator gets Colombia's max —in US prison | World War 4 Report'. Ww4report.com. Retrieved 2012-08-13.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  38. ^'Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) - Terrorist Groups'. Nctc.gov. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  39. ^Secret, Mosi (2012-11-16). 'Medunjanin, Convicted of Subway Bomb Plot, Gets Life Sentence'. The New York Times.
  40. ^'FBI — Al Qaeda Operative Sentenced to Life Imprisonment in One of the Most Serious Terrorist Threats to the United States Since 9/11'. Fbi.gov. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
  41. ^'Abu Ghaith, a Bin Laden Adviser, Is Sentenced to Life in Prison'. The New York Times. 2014-09-23.
  42. ^'Reputed bin Laden Adviser Gets Life Term in Stabbing'. The New York Times. 2010-08-31.</
  43. ^All Things Considered (2005-11-22). 'Jury Finds Abu Ali Guilty on Terrorism Charges'. NPR. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  44. ^Pilkington, Ed (2009-07-10). 'Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado blocked Barack Obama books requested by detainee'. The Guardian. London.
  45. ^'Unabomber Guilty Plea'. Undueinfluence.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  46. ^MacFarquhar, Neil (1996-04-04). 'ON THE UNABOMBER'S TRACK: THE VICTIMS;At the Places Where Bombs Killed, a Day for Memories and Nervous Optimism'. The New York Times.
  47. ^'Nichols and McVeigh Partners in crime'. CNN. 1997-11-03. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07.
  48. ^'Terror suspect Padilla charged'. CNN. 2005-11-22. Archived from the original on 2011-12-22.
  49. ^''Dirty bomb' plotter Jose Padilla resentenced to 21 years on terrorism charges - Chicago Tribune'. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  50. ^'Padilla sentenced on terror charges - US news - Security - NBCNews.com'. MSNBC. 2008-01-22. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  51. ^'#07-624: 08-16-07 Jose Padilla and Co-Defendants Convicted of Conspiracy to Murder Individuals Overseas, Providing Material Support to Terrorists'. Justice.gov. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  52. ^'NBC: Victims irate over Rudolph's lack of remorse - US news - Crime & courts - NBCNews.com'. MSNBC. 2005-04-13. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  53. ^'Why did Rudolph do it?'. CNN. 2005-04-11. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07.
  54. ^'USDOJ: Faisal Shahzad Pleads Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to 10 Federal Crimes Arising from Attempted Car Bombing in Times Square'. Justice.gov. 2010-06-21. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  55. ^Goldman, Henry; Tannenbaum, Mark (2010-05-02). 'New York Averts 'Deadly Event' as Police Disarm Car Bomb in Times Square'. Bloomberg.
  56. ^'Army private gets 2 life sentences for plan to attack soldiers'. CNN.com. 2012-08-10. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  57. ^'USAO Press Release - | ATF'. Atf.gov. 2012-05-24. Archived from the original on 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  58. ^'Hawaii Man Sentenced to 32 Years in Prison for Providing Defense Information and Services to People's Republic of China'. United States Department of Justice. 2011-01-25. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  59. ^'Accused spy Hanssen could face death penalty'. CNN. 2001-05-16. Archived from the original on 2011-12-28.
  60. ^Shannon, Elaine (2002-05-04). 'Robert Hanssen Gets Ready for His Closeup'. Time.
  61. ^Hsu, Spencer S. (2010-07-17). 'Walter Myers, State Dept. analyst who spied for Cuba, gets life; wife 6 years'. The Washington Post.
  62. ^'Former State Department Official Sentenced to Life in Prison for Nearly 30-year Espionage Conspiracy'. United States Department of Justice. 2010-07-16. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  63. ^TIM WEINER (1997-06-06). 'C.I.A. Traitor, Saying He Wanted Cash for Family, Gets 23 Years - New York Times'. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  64. ^'CNN - CIA turncoat sentenced to 23 years in prison - June 5, 1997'. Articles.cnn.com. Archived from the original on 2013-01-19. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  65. ^Nigel Duara (2011-01-18). 'Harold Nicholson, Ex-CIA Spy, Gets 8 More Years'. Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  66. ^Associated Press (September 11, 2007). '5 Guilty in Chicago Mob Case'. The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  67. ^Sweeney, Annie (February 10, 2012). 'Judge orders reputed onetime head of Chicago mob back to Chicago from California prison'. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  68. ^Richardson, Lynda (1996-11-20). 'Leader of Latin Kings Is Convicted in Slayings'. The New York Times.
  69. ^'UNITED STATES v. FELIPE, Docket Nos. 97-1155, 97-1186 and 97-1484., June 19, 1998 - US 2nd Circuit | FindLaw'. Caselaw.findlaw.com. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  70. ^'Archived copy'(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-10-29. Retrieved 2012-02-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  71. ^'USAO/CDCA Press Release'. Justice.gov. 2006-09-12. Archived from the original on 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  72. ^Mozingo, Joe; Winton, Richard (2006-09-13). 'Drug Web Reportedly Spun in Cell'. Los Angeles Times.
  73. ^'Feds Aim to Dismantle L.A.'s 18th Street Gang'. NPR. 2008-06-03. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  74. ^'Aryan Brotherhood Leaders Convicted of Murder'. NPR. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  75. ^'SuperMax prison is super lax, court cases allege'. CNN. 2009-11-14. Archived from the original on 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2011-07-13.
  76. ^'DEA Briefs & Background, Law Enforcement, Major Operations, Larry Hoover & The Gangster Disciples'. Justice.gov. Archived from the original on 2012-08-17. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  77. ^'Larry Hoover Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story'. Biography.com. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  78. ^'Jeff Fort Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story'. Biography.com. 1947-02-20. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  79. ^'GANG CHIEF GUILTY IN RIVAL'S SLAYING'. The New York Times. 1988-10-20.
  80. ^Weiser, Benjamin (2003-04-15). 'Founder of East Coast Bloods Is Given 50 Years'. The New York Times.
  81. ^'Philadelphia Drug Kingpin Sentenced to Death, Co-defendant to Face Life in Prison'. www.justice.gov. 2013-06-13. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  82. ^'Indictment in firebomb that killed 6 Overall, Kaboni Savage is accused of 12 murders linked to one of the city's most violent drug gangs'. Philly.com.
  83. ^'Philadelphia Drug Kingpin Sentenced to Death, Co-defendant to Face Life in Prison - OPA - Department of Justice'. justice.gov.
  84. ^[1]Archived January 9, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  85. ^Justin Fenton (2013-01-07). 'Leader of Dead Man Inc. prison gang renounces group at sentencing - tribunedigital-baltimoresun'. Articles.baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  86. ^Paybarah, Azi (February 13, 2019). 'N.Y. Today: Why El Chapo Ended Up in a Brooklyn Court'. The New York Times. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  87. ^Southern Poverty Law Center. 'Nuwaubian Nation of Moors'. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  88. ^'United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Dwight D. York, A.k.a. Malakai Z. York, Etc., Defendant-appellant, 428 F.3d 1325 (11th Cir. 2005)'. Justia Law.
  89. ^'America's Most Wanted with John Walsh'. AMW. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  90. ^'Escaped Murderer Richard Lee McNair'. Crime.about.com. 2007-10-25. Archived from the original on 2006-06-27. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  91. ^'Life In Jail For Poison Doctor'. CBS News.
  92. ^ABC News. 'Swango Pleads Guilty To Ohio Slaying'. ABC News.
  93. ^'Jury Finds Attorney Paul W. Bergrin Guilty On All Counts After Racketeering Trial'.
  94. ^Aly Vander Hayden (June 9, 2019). 'Inmate Plots To Mutilate, Behead Judge And Prosecutor Who Put Him Behind Bars'. Oxygen.

Further reading[edit]

  • Vick, Karl. 'Isolating the Menace in a Sterile Supermax'. The Washington Post. Sunday September 30, 2007.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to ADX Florence.
  • Official website of Federal Bureau of Prisons and its section on ADX Florence. Information on visiting is on the linked PDF
  • 'Supermax: A Clean Version of Hell'. CBS News. October 14, 2007. Updated on June 19, 2009.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ADX_Florence&oldid=918735977'
The Supermax federal prison in Florence, Colorado was built out of necessity when it became apparent that even the hardest U.S. prisons could not guarantee full control over some of the most heinous criminals.
To protect prisoners and prison employees, the ADX Supermax facility was built and housed with prisoners who are unable to adapt to prison life elsewhere and those who pose too high a security risk to be incarcerated under the normal prison system.
Inmates at Supermax do hard time in an environment of solitary confinement, controlled access to outside influences, and an unyielding system of total compliance to the prison rules and procedures.
The employees call Supermax the 'Alcatraz of the Rockies,' which seems fitting for a prison where inmates either learn to adapt and comply, or risk their sanity by trying to fight the system.
Here is a look at some of those inmates and their crimes that earned them a cell at one of the toughest prisons in the world.
of 06

Francisco Javier Arellano Felix

Francisco Javier Arellano Felix is the former leader of the deadly drug trafficking Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO). He was admittedly a principal administrator of the AFO and responsible for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana into the U.S. and committing countless acts of violence and corruption.
Arellano-Felix was apprehended by the U.S. Coast Guard in August 2006 in international waters off the coast of Mexico, aboard the Dock Holiday.
In a plea deal, Arellano-Felix admitted to heading up the drug distribution and to participating in and directing the murders of numerous persons in the advancement of the AFO’s activities.
He also admitted that he and other AFO members repeatedly and willfully obstructed and impeded the investigation and prosecution of AFO activities by paying millions of dollars in bribes to law enforcement and military personnel, murdering informants and potential witnesses and murdering law enforcement personnel.
AFO members also routinely wiretapped rival drug traffickers and Mexican law enforcement officials, impersonated Mexican military and law enforcement officials, trained assassination squads, 'taxed' individuals seeking to conduct criminal activities in Tijuana and Mexicali, and kidnapped individuals for ransom.
Arellano-Felix was sentenced to serve life in prison. He was also told he had to forfeit $50 million and his interest in a yacht, the Dock Holiday.
In 2015, Arellano-Felix received a reduced sentence, from life without parole to 23 years and 6 months, for what prosecutors described as his 'extensive post-sentencing cooperation.' stating that he 'provided substantial and significant information that helped the government identify and charge other large-scale drug traffickers and corrupt public officials in this country and Mexico.”
of 06

Juan Garcia Abrego

Juan Garcia Abrego was arrested on January 14, 1996, by Mexican authorities. He was extradited to the U.S. and arrested on a warrant from Texas charging him with conspiracy to import cocaine and the management of a continuing criminal enterprise.
He actively engaged in the bribery and attempted bribery of Mexican and American officials in an effort to promote his drug enterprise, most of which occurred in the Matamoros Corridor along the South Texas border.
These drugs were widely distributed throughout the U.S., including Houston, Dallas, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and California.
García Abrego was convicted on 22 criminal counts, including drug trafficking, money laundering, intent to distribute, and running an ongoing criminal enterprise. He was found guilty on all charges and was sentenced to 11 consecutive life terms. He was also forced to turn over $350 million in illegal proceeds to the U.S. Government.
In 2016, after spending almost 20 years in the USP Florence ADMAX, Garcia Abrego was transferred to the high-security facility at the same complex. Unlike the solitary confinement at ADX Florence, he can now interact with other inmates, eat in the dining hall rather than his cell, and have access to the chapel and prison gymnasium.
of 06

Osiel Cardenas Guillen

Guillen headed a drug cartel known as the Cartel of the Gulf and was on the Mexican government's most wanted list. He was captured by the Mexican army after a gunfight March 14, 2003, in the city of Matamoros, Mexico. While head of the Gulf Cartel, Cardenas-Guillen oversaw a vast drug trafficking empire responsible for the importation of thousands of kilograms of cocaine and marijuana into the U.S. from Mexico. The smuggled drugs were further distributed to other areas of the country, including Houston and Atlanta.
Drug ledgers seized in Atlanta in June 2001 indicated that the Gulf Cartel generated more than $41 million in drug proceeds over one three-and-a-half-month period in the Atlanta area alone. Cardenas-Guillen used violence and intimidation to strengthen his criminal enterprise.
In 2010, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being charged with 22 federal charges, including conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and threatening to assault and murder federal agents.
In exchange for the sentence, he agreed to forfeit nearly $30 million of assets that were illegally earned and to provide intelligence information to U.S. investigators. The $30 million was distributed to several Texas law enforcement agencies.
In 2010, Cardenas transferred from ADX Florence to the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, a medium-security prison.
of 06

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, H. Rap Brown

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, birth-name Hubert Gerold Brown, also known as H. Rap Brown, was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on October 4, 1943. He came to prominence in the 1960s as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the justice minister of the Black Panther Party. He is probably most famous for his proclamation during that period that 'violence is as American as cherry pie,' as well as once stating that 'If America doesn't come around, we're gonna burn it down.'
After the collapse of the Black Panther Party in the late 1970s, H. Rap Brown converted to Islam and moved to the West End of Atlanta, Georgia. Here, he operated a grocery store and was recognized as a spiritual leader at a neighborhood mosque. He also worked to try to rid the area of street drugs and prostitutes.

The Crime

On March 16, 2000, two African-American Fulton County deputies, Aldranon English and Ricky Kinchen, tried to serve Al-Amin with a warrant for his failure to appear in court on charges that he impersonated a police officer and for receiving stolen goods.
The deputies drove away when they found out he was not at home. On the way down the street, a black Mercedes passed them and was headed towards Al-Amin's home. The officers turned around and drove up to the Mercedes, stopping directly in front of it.
Deputy Kinchen went up to the driver's side of the Mercedes and instructed the driver to show his hands. Instead, the driver opened fire with a 9mm handgun and .223 rifle. An exchange of gunfire ensued and both English and Kinchen were shot. Kinchen died from his wounds the next day. English survived and identified Al-Amin as the shooter.
Believing that Al-Amin was hurt, police officers formed a manhunt and followed a blood trail to a vacant house, hoping to corner the shooter. There was more blood found, but there was no site of Al-Amin.
Four days after the shooting, Al-Amin was found and arrested in Lowndes County, Alabama, almost 175 miles from Atlanta. At the time of the arrest, Al-Amin was wearing body armor and near to where he was arrested, officers found a 9mm handgun and .223 rifle. A ballistics test showed the bullets inside the weapons that were found matched the bullets removed from Kinchen and English.
Al-Amin was arrested on 13 charges including murder, felony murder, aggravated assault on a police officer, obstructing a law enforcement officer, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Supermax Prison Game
During his trial, his lawyers used the defense that another man, known only as 'Mustafa,' did the shooting. They also pointed out that Deputy Kinchen and other witnesses thought that the shooter had been wounded during the shoot out and that officers had followed a blood trail, but when Al-Almin was arrested he had no wounds.
On March 9, 2002, a jury found Al-Amin guilty of all charges and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
He was sent to the Georgia State Prison, which is a maximum security prison in Reidsville, Georgia. It was later determined that because Al-Amin was so highly-profiled that he was a security risk and he was handed over to the federal prison system. In October 2007, he was transferred to the ADX Supermax in Florence.
On July 18, 2014, al-Amin was transferred from ADX Florence to Butner Federal Medical Center in North Carolina and later to the United States Penitentiary, Tucson, after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, cancer of the plasma cells.
of 06

Matt Hale

Matt Hale was a self-styled 'Pontifex Maximus,' or supreme leader, of a racist neo-Nazi group formerly known as World Church of the Creator (WCOTC). This was a white-supremacist organization based in East Peoria, Illinois.
On January 8, 2003, Hale was arrested and charged with soliciting the assault and murder of U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow. This judge was presiding over a trademark infringement case that involved the TE-TA-MA Truth Foundation and the WCOTC.
Judge Lefkow was requiring Hale to change the group's name because it had already been trademarked by the Oregon-based religious organization, the TE-TA-MA, who did not share the WCOTC racist views. Lefkow barred the WCOTC from using the name in publications or on its website, giving Hale a deadline to make the changes. She also set a $1,000 fine that Hale would have to pay for each day that went past the deadline.
In late 2002, Hale filed a class action lawsuit against Lefkow and publically claimed that she was biased against him because she was married to a Jewish man and had grandchildren who were biracial.

Solicitation of Murder

Furious with Lefkow's orders, Hale sent an email to his security chief seeking the judge's home address. He didn't know the security chief was actually helping the FBI, and when he followed up the email with a conversation, the security chief tape-recorded him ordering the judge's murder.
Hale was also found guilty of three counts of obstruction of justice, partly for coaching his father to lie to a grand jury that was investigating a shooting rampage by one of Hale's close associates, Benjamin Smith.
In 1999, after Hale was prevented from obtaining a law license because of his racist views, Smith went on a three-day shooting spree targeting minorities in Illinois and Indiana — ultimately killing two people and wounding nine others. Hale was recorded laughing about Smith's rampage, imitating gunfire, and noting how Smith's aim had improved as the days went on.
On the secretly taped conversation played for the jury, Hale was heard saying 'it must have been pretty fun' in reference to Smith killing former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong.

The Arrest

Female Inmates In Supermax Prisons

On January 8, 2003, Hale attended what he thought was going to be a hearing about being in contempt of court for failing to comply with Lefkow's orders. Instead, ​he was arrested by agents working for the Joint Terrorism Task Force and charged with soliciting the murder of a federal judge and three counts of obstructing justice.
In 2004, a jury found Hale guilty and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Since Hale's imprisonment at the ADX Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, his followers, under what is now called the Creativity Movement, have broken into small groups littered around the country. Because of the tight security and censorship of inmate mail in and out of the Supermax, communication with his followers has, for the most part, come to an end.
In June 2016, Hale was transferred out of ADX Florence to the medium-security federal prison FCI Terre Haute, Indiana.

Who Is In Supermax Prison In Colorado

of 06

Richard McNair

In 1987, Richard Lee McNair was a sergeant stationed at the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota when he murdered Jerome T. Thies, a truck driver, and injured another man in a botched robbery attempt.
When McNair was brought into the Ward County jail to be questioned about the murder, he managed to slip away when he was left alone. He did this by greasing his wrists, which were handcuffed to a chair. He led the police on a short chase through the town but was apprehended when he attempted to jump from a rooftop onto a tree branch (which broke). He hurt his back in the fall and the chase was ended.
In 1988, McNair pleaded guilty to the crimes of murder, attempted murder, and burglary. He was sentenced to two life sentences and 30 years. He was sent the North Dakota State Penitentiary, in Bismarck, North Dakota, where he and two other inmates escaped by crawling through a ventilation duct. He changed his appearance and remained on the run for ten months, until he was captured in Grand Island, Nebraska in 1993.
McNair was then categorized as a habitual troublemaker and turned over to the federal prison system. He was sent to the maximum-security prison in Pollock, Louisiana. There, he landed a job repairing old mailbags and began planning his next escape.

Federal Prison Escape

McNair constructed a special 'escape pod,' which included a breathing tube, and placed it under a pile of mail bags that were on the top of a pallet. He hid inside the pod as the pallet of mailbags was shrink-wrapped and taken to a warehouse outside of the prison. McNair then cut his way out from under the mailbags and walked freely away from the warehouse.
Within hours after escaping, McNair was jogging down railroad tracks right outside of Ball, Louisiana, when he was stopped by police officer Carl Bordelon. The incident was caught on a camera mounted on Bordelon's police car.
McNair, who had no identification on him, told Bordelon that his name was Robert Jones. He said he was in town working on a post-Katrina roofing project and that he was just out for a jog. McNair continued to joke with the officer while he obtained a description of the escaped prisoner. Bordelon again asked him his name, which this time he mistakenly said was Jimmy Jones. Luckily for McNair, the officer missed the name swap and suggested that he carry identification the next time he was out for a jog.
According to later reports, the physical description of McNair that had been distributed to the police was completely off from what he actually looked like, and the picture that they had was of poor quality and six months old.

Supermax Prison In Florence Colorado

On the Run

It took two weeks for McNair to make it to Penticton, British Columbia. On April 28, 2006, he was stopped and questioned about a stolen car he was sitting in at a beach. When the officers asked him to step out of the car, he complied, but then managed to run away.
Two days later, McNair was featured on 'America's Most Wanted,' and the Penticton police realized that the man they had stopped was a fugitive.
McNair stayed in Canada until May, then returned to the U.S. through Blaine, Washington. He later returned to Canada, crossing over in Minnesota.
'America's Most Wanted' continued to run McNair's information, forcing him to keep a low profile for days after the program aired. He was finally recaptured on October 25, 2007, in Campbellton, New Brunswick.
He is currently being held at the ADX Supermax in Florence, Colorado.
Chapman, Steve. 'Column: Political violence is 'as American as cherry pie.' Chicago Tribune, June 14, 2017.
Supermax Prison Game
Morgan, Greg. 'Cartel leader’s help earns cut in sentence.' San Diego Union-Tribune, June 17, 2015.

Supermax Prison Cell

'New Wave Sweeping U.S., A CORE Leader Tells Rally.' New York Times, August 28, 1967.