Supermax prison

A super-maximum security (supermax) or administrative maximum (ADX) prison is a

"control-unit" prison, or a unit within prisons, which represents the most secure levels of
custody in the prison systems of certain countries.

United States Penitentiary, Florence ADMAX

The objective is to provide long-term, segregated housing for inmates classified as the
highest security risks in the prison system and those who pose an extremely serious threat to
both national and global security.[1]

Characteristics and practices

According to the National Institute of Corrections, an agency of the United States

government, "a supermax is a stand-alone unit or part of another facility and is designated for
violent or disruptive incarcerated individuals. It typically involves up to 23-hour-per-day,
single-cell confinement for an indefinite period of time. Those incarcerated in supermax
housing have minimal contact with staff and other inmates," a definition confirmed by a
majority of prison wardens.[2]

In 2001, academics Leena Kurki and Norval Morris wrote that there was no universal, agreed
upon definition for "supermax" and that prisons are classified inconsistently. They identified
four general features of supermax prisons:[3]

1. Long-term: once transferred to a supermax prison, incarcerated individuals tend to stay

there for several years or indefinitely.

2. Powerful administration: supermax administrators and correctional officers have ample

authority to punish and manage incarcerated individuals, without outside review or
prisoner grievance systems.

3. Solitary confinement: supermax prisons rely heavily on intensive (and long-term) solitary
confinement, which is used to isolate and punish prisoners as well as to protect them
from themselves and each other. Communication with outsiders is minimal to none.

4. Very limited activities: few opportunities are provided for recreation, education,
substance abuse programs, or other activities generally considered healthy and
rehabilitative at other prisons.

Those who are in a supermax prison are placed not as a punishment of their crimes but by
their previous history when incarcerated or based on reliable evidence of an impending
disruption, such as a gang leader or the leader of a radical movement. These decisions are
made as administrative protection measures and the prisoners in a supermax are deemed by
correctional workers as a threat to the safety and security of the institution itself.[3]

The amount of programming for those in prison varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Certain jurisdictions provide entertainment for their incarcerated population in the form of
television, educational and self-help programs. Others provide instructors who speak to
individuals who are incarcerated through the cell door. Some jurisdictions provide no
programming to its incarcerated population.[3] In a supermax, incarcerated people are
generally allowed out of their cells for only one hour a day (one-and-a-half hours in California
state prisons). Exercise is done in indoor spaces or small, secure, outdoor spaces, usually
alone or in a pair and always watched by correctional officers. Group exercise is offered only
to those who are in transition programs.
Those people who are in prison receive their meals through ports in the doors of their cells.[4]

People in these prisons are under constant surveillance, usually with closed-circuit television
cameras. Cell doors are usually opaque, while the cells may be windowless. Furnishings are
plain, with poured concrete or metal furniture. Cell walls, and sometimes plumbing, may be
soundproofed to prevent communication between people.[4]

Supermax and Security Housing Unit (SHU) prisons are controversial. One criticism is that
the living conditions in such facilities violate the United States Constitution, specifically, the
Eighth Amendment's proscription against "cruel and unusual" punishments.[5] A 2011 New
York Bar association comprehensive study suggested that supermax prisons constitute
"torture under international law" and "cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S.
Constitution".[6] In 2012, a federal class action suit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons and
officials who run ADX Florence SHU (Bacote v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, Civil Action 1:12-cv-
01570) alleged chronic abuse, failure to properly diagnose prisoners, and neglect of prisoners
who are seriously mentally ill. The suit was dismissed.[7]

History

Australia
…
An early form of supermax-style prison unit appeared in Australia in 1975, when "Katingal"
was built inside the Long Bay Correctional Centre in Sydney. Dubbed the "electronic zoo" by
inmates, Katingal was a super-maximum security prison block with 40 prison cells having
electronically operated doors, surveillance cameras, and no windows. It was closed down
two years later over human rights concerns.[8] Since then, some maximum-security prisons
have gone to full lockdown as well, while others have been built and dedicated to the
supermax standard. In September 2001, the Australian state of New South Wales opened a
facility in the Goulburn Correctional Centre to the supermax standard. While its condition is
an improvement over that of Katingal of the 1970s, this new facility is nonetheless designed
on the same principle of sensory deprivation.[9][10] It has been set up for 'AA' prisoners who
have been deemed a risk to public safety and the instruments of government and civil order
or are believed to be beyond rehabilitation. Corrections Victoria in the state of Victoria also
operates the Acacia and Melaleuca units at Barwon Prison which serve to hold the prisoners
requiring the highest security in that state including Melbourne Gangland figures such as
Tony Mokbel, and Carl Williams, who was murdered in the Acacia unit in 2010.

Brazil
…
In 1985, the state government of São Paulo created an annex to a psychiatric penitentiary
hospital meant to house the most violent inmates of the region and established the
Penitentiary of Rehabilitation Center of Taubaté, also known as Piranhão. Previously, high-risk
inmates were housed at a prison on Anchieta Island; however, that closed down after a
bloody massacre. At Taubaté, inmates spent 23 hours of a day in solitary confinement and
spent 30 minutes a day with a small group of seven to ten inmates. Ill-treatment of inmates
occurred on a daily basis, causing major psychological impairment.[11]

Throughout the 1990s, and the early-2000s, Brazil faced major challenges with gang
structures within its prisons. The gang Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) gained notoriety
in the prison system and had new members joining within the prisons. Riots were a common
occurrence and the gang culture became uncontrollable, leading authorities to pass the
controversial Regime Disciplinar Diferenciado (RDD), a culture founded from disciplinary
punishment.[12]

Germany …
Stammheim Prison, in Stuttgart, Germany, opened as a supermax-style prison in 1964, with
an additional wing built in 1975 to house members of the far-left militant Red Army Faction.
At the time, it was considered one of the most secure prisons in the world.

United Kingdom
…
Britain's Her Majesty's Prison Service in England and Wales has had a long history in
controlling prisoners that are high-risk. Prisoners are categorized into four main
classifications (A, B, C, D) with A being "highly dangerous" with a high risk of escaping to
category D in which inmates "can be reasonably trusted in open conditions."[13]

The British government formed the Control Review Committee in 1984 to allow for regulating
long-term disruptive prisoners. The committee proposed special units (called CRC units)
which were formally introduced in 1989 to control for highly-disruptive prisoners to be
successfully reintegrated. Yet a series of escapes, riots, and investigations by authorities saw
the units come to a close in 1998. They would soon be replaced by Close Supervision Centres
(CSC), which was meant to provide relief for long-term prisons which are still used in the
present day.[14] It was reported to hold 60 of the most dangerous men in the UK in 2015.[15]

United States
…

Alcatraz Island is a historical prototype of the supermax prison standard.

The United States Penitentiary Alcatraz Island, opened in 1934, has been considered a
prototype and early standard for a supermax prison.[16] A push for supermax prisons began in
1983, after two correctional officers, Merle Clutts and Robert Hoffman, were stabbed to death
by inmates at Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. Norman Carlson, the director of the
Federal Bureau of Prisons, argued for a new type of prison to isolate uncontrollable inmates
who "show absolutely no concern for human life".[17] USP Marion became the first "supermax"
prison where inmates were isolated for 23 hours in their cells. By 1999, the United States
contained at least 57 supermax facilities, spread across 30–34 states.[3]

In recent years a number of U.S. states have downgraded their supermax prisons, as has
been done with Wallens Ridge State Prison, a former supermax prison in Big Stone Gap,
Virginia. Other supermax prisons that have gained notoriety for their harsh conditions and
attendant litigation by inmates and advocates are the former Boscobel (in Wisconsin), now
named the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, Red Onion State Prison (in western Virginia,
the twin to Wallens Ridge State Prison), Tamms (in Illinois), and the Ohio State Penitentiary.
Placement policies at the Ohio facility were the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case
(Wilkinson v. Austin) in 2005[18] where the Court decided that there had to be some, but only
very limited, due process involved in supermax placement.

ADX Florence

There is only one supermax prison remaining in the U.S. federal prison system, ADX Florence
in Florence, Colorado.[19] It houses numerous inmates who have a history of violent behavior
in other prisons, with the goal of moving them from solitary confinement (up to 23 hours a
day) to a less restrictive prison within three years.

However, it is best known for housing several inmates who have been deemed either too
dangerous, too high-profile or too great a national security risk for even a maximum-security
prison.[17] They include several prisoners convicted of domestic and international terrorism,
such as Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, who perpetrated the Oklahoma City Bombing;
Richard Reid and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who separately attempted to detonate
explosives on a commercial airplane flight; Theodore Kaczynski ("Unabomber"), who carried
out a campaign of mail bombs; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for the 2013 Boston
Marathon bombing.[20] Other notable inmates include Robert Hanssen, convicted of
espionage for the Soviet Union and El Chapo, a Mexican drug lord convicted in 2019.

However, many states now have created supermax prisons, either as stand-alone facilities or
as secure units within lower-security prisons.[21] State supermax prisons include Pelican Bay
in California and Tamms in Illinois. In 2006, USP Marion, the original model for the modern
supermax prison, was downgraded to a medium-security prison. The California State Prison,
Corcoran (COR) is a hybrid model, incorporating a supermax partition, housing or having
housed high-security prisoners such as Charles Manson.
 Cost-benefit analysis of supermax prisons

There is no set definition of a supermax prison; however, the United States Department of
Justice and the National Institute of Corrections do agree on their purpose: "these units have
basically the same function: to provide long-term, segregated housing for inmates classified
as the highest security risks in a state’s prison system."[22]

Costs of operating a supermax prison

…
Building a supermax prison, or even retrofitting an existing prison, is expensive. Construction
of ADX Florence cost $60 million [a] when it opened in 1994.[25]

Compared to a maximum security facility, supermax prisons cost about three times more on
average.[26] The 1999 average annual cost for inmates at Colorado State Penitentiary, a
supermax facility, was $32,383, compared with the annual inmate cost of $18,549 at the
Colorado Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison (less than twice as expensive).[27]
The increased cost is due to the technology needed to further maintain a supermax: high-
security doors, fortified walls, and sophisticated electronic systems, and because more
people must be hired to maintain the buildings and facilities.[27]

Prisons with supermax facilities

North America
…
Canada
…
Special Handling Unit (Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec) – Houses Canada's most
dangerous and violent inmates

Mexico
…
Penal del Altiplano – Almoloya de Juarez, State of Mexico. Full Supermax and the only
facility of this kind in Mexico.

United States
…
 

Allan B. Polunsky Unit houses State of Texas supermax units

Mississippi State Penitentiary houses State of Mississippi supermax units

Most of these facilities only contain supermax wings or sections, with other parts of the
facility under lesser security measures.

Alabama
Holman Correctional Facility – Atmore, Alabama

Arizona
ASPC-Eyman, SMU I – Florence, Arizona

ASPC-Eyman, Browning Unit (Previously SMU II) – Florence, Arizona

United States Penitentiary – Tucson, Arizona

Arkansas
Varner Supermax – Lincoln County, Arkansas
California
United States Penitentiary – Atwater, California

Pelican Bay State Prison – Crescent City, California

United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island – San Francisco, California (Closed 21

March 1963)

California Correctional Institution – Tehachapi, California

High Desert State Prison – Susanville, California

Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility – San Ysidro, California

Colorado
Centennial Correctional Facility – Cañon City, Colorado

Colorado State Penitentiary – Cañon City, Colorado

United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (USP Florence ADMAX) –

Florence, Colorado

Connecticut
Northern Correctional Institution – Somers, Connecticut

Florida
United States Penitentiary – Coleman, Florida

Florida State Prison – Raiford, Florida

Georgia
United States Penitentiary – Atlanta, Georgia

Idaho
Idaho Maximum Security Institution – Boise, Idaho

Illinois
Tamms Correctional Center – Tamms, Illinois (Closed January 2013)

Menard Correctional Center – Chester, Illinois

United States Penitentiary – Thomson, Illinois

Indiana
Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, SHU – Carlisle, Indiana
 Westville Correctional Facility, WCU – Westville, Indiana

United States Penitentiary – Terre Haute, Indiana

Kansas
United States Disciplinary Barracks – Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (military prison)

United States Penitentiary – Leavenworth, Kansas (being downgraded to medium

security)

Kentucky
Kentucky State Penitentiary – Eddyville, Kentucky (the only prison in Kentucky housing
supermax units)

Louisiana
Louisiana State Penitentiary – West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana

United States Penitentiary – Pollock, Louisiana

Maine
Maine State Prison – Warren, Maine

Maryland
Chesapeake Detention Facility – Baltimore, Maryland

North Branch Correctional Institution – Cumberland, Maryland (final housing unit

began operation in summer of 2008)

Massachusetts
Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center – Lancaster, Massachusetts

Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Cedar Junction – Walpole, Massachusetts

Minnesota
Minnesota Correctional Facility Oak Park Heights – Oak Park Heights, Minnesota
(Although Oak Park Heights is classified as a Supermax, the majority of inmates are
not housed in solitary confinement)[28]

Mississippi
Mississippi State Penitentiary – Sunflower County, Mississippi (Unit 32)[29]

Missouri
Jefferson City Correctional Center – Jefferson City, Missouri
 Potosi Correctional Center – Mineral Point, Missouri

Southeast Correctional Center – Charleston, Missouri

South Central Correctional Center – Licking, Missouri

Chillicothe Correctional Center – Chillicothe, Missouri

New Hampshire
New Hampshire State Prison for Men – Concord, New Hampshire

New Jersey
New Jersey State Prison – Trenton, New Jersey

East Jersey State Prison – Woodbridge, New Jersey

Northern State Prison – Newark, New Jersey

Essex County Correctional Facility – Newark, New Jersey

New Mexico
Penitentiary of New Mexico – unincorporated Santa Fe County, New Mexico – Uses
the Bureau Classification System – Level 6 being Supermax

New York
Attica Correctional Facility – Attica, New York

Five Points Correctional Facility – Romulus, New York[30]

Sing Sing Correctional Facility – Ossining, New York

Southport Correctional Facility – (disciplinary supermax prison with only solitary

confinement), Pine City, New York

Upstate Correctional Facility – Malone, New York

North Carolina
Polk Correctional Institution – Butner, North Carolina

Ohio
Ohio State Penitentiary – Youngstown, Ohio

Oklahoma
Oklahoma State Penitentiary – McAlester, Oklahoma

Oregon
 Oregon State Penitentiary – Salem, Oregon

Pennsylvania
United States Penitentiary – Allenwood, Pennsylvania

United States Penitentiary – Lewisburg, Pennsylvania

State Correctional Institution – Greene – Waynesburg, Pennsylvania

State Correctional Institution – Phoenix – Skippack Township, Pennsylvania

South Carolina
Kirkland Correctional Institution – Columbia, South Carolina

Tennessee
Riverbend Maximum Security Institution – Nashville, Tennessee

Texas
United States Penitentiary – Jefferson County, Texas

Estelle High Security Unit – W.J. Estelle Unit – Walker County, Texas[31]

Allan B. Polunsky Unit (formerly Terrell Unit) – West Livingston, Texas[32]

Gib Lewis Unit High Security Expansion Cellblock "super seg" — Woodville, Texas

Utah
Utah State Prison – Draper, Utah

Virginia
Wallens Ridge State Prison – Big Stone Gap, Virginia

Red Onion State Prison – Wise County, Virginia

United States Penitentiary, Lee - Jonesville, Virginia - Lee County

Washington
Washington State Penitentiary – Walla Walla, Washington

West Virginia
Mt. Olive Correctional Complex – Fayette County, West Virginia

Wisconsin
Wisconsin Secure Program Facility – Boscobel, Wisconsin

South America
…
Brazil
…
In Brazil, the "regime disciplinar diferenciado" (differentiated disciplinary regime), known by the
acronym RDD, and strongly based on the Supermax standard, was created primarily to handle
inmates who are considered capable of continuing to run their crime syndicate or to order
criminal actions from within the prison system, when confined in normal maximum security
prisons that allow contact with other inmates. Since its inception, the following prisons were
prepared for the housing of RDD inmates:

Presidente Bernardes Provisional Readaptation Center (Presidente Bernardes, São Paulo,

Brazil) – inspired by the supermax standards, although prisoners can only stay there for a
maximum of 2 years. Is a part of the prison system of the Brazilian State of São Paulo.

Catanduvas Federal Penitentiary (Catanduvas, Paraná, Brazil) – also based on the

supermax standards. It is the first federal prison in Brazil, designed to receive prisoners
deemed too dangerous to be kept in the states' prison systems (in Brazil, ordinarily, both
convicts sentenced by States' courts or by the Federal Judiciary fulfill their prison terms in
state-run prisons; the Federal Prison System was created to handle only the most
dangerous prisoners in Brazil, such as major drug lords, convicted either by the Federal
Judiciary or by the judiciary of a state).

Campo Grande Federal Penitentiary (Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil) – the
second of two Brazilian Federal prisons based on the supermax specifications.

Colombia
…
Penitenciaría de Cómbita (Colombia) – follows supermax specifications, hosts terrorists
and drug lords.

Establecimiento Penitenciario de Alta y Mediana Seguridad de Girón EPAMSGIRON.

Europe
…
Leopoldov Prison – (Leopoldov, Slovakia) a 17th-century fortress built against Ottoman
Turks that was converted into a high-security prison

Portlaoise Prison (Portlaoise, Ireland) – One of the most secure prisons in Europe,
protected full time by members of the Irish Defence Forces. Held many convicted IRA
prisoners.

Nieuw Vosseveld – Dutch High Security prison in Vught

 Stammheim Prison – German High Security Prison, partly purpose-built to keep Red Army
Faction terrorists in the 1970s and 1980s.

Politigårdens Fængsel – (Copenhagen – Denmark) There are 25 maximum security cells

located in the prison of the central police station of Copenhagen

The State Prison of East Jutland – (Horsens – Denmark) – High Security Prison. Holds
many of Denmark's most dangerous criminals.

Penal colony № 6 Federal Penitentiary Service – Sol-Iletsk – Russia – correctional facility

in Sol-Iletsk, Orenburg Oblast, Russia.

Kumla Prison, Hall Prison, and Saltvik Prison – Sweden – All three prisons have a similar
security unit called Fenix, which can house 24 inmates.
Italy
…
Sassari District Prison "Giovanni Bacchiddu" at Bancali, Sardinia. The only italian prison
specially designed and built as a Supermax, housing about 90 super-high security criminals
all subject to the provisions of the Article 41-bis prison regime, detained in self-contained
sections, each with 4 cells, a small courtyard and a video-conference room where they can
be interrogated and undergo trials without leaving the prison. This specially-designed
supermax has been built to replace the old maximum-security prison of the Asinara island,
the so-called "Italian Alcatraz", that was closed in 2002.[33]

Other 10 italian prisons have Supermax sections housing 41-bis inmates, besides the
ordinary detention facilities, as follows:
L'Aquila District Prison. The largest Supermax section in Italy, housing over 150
inmates.[34] Contains a section for female prisoners.

Cuneo District Prison. About 90 inmates.[35]

Novara District Prison. About 90 inmates.[36]

Parma District Prison . About 70 inmates.[37]

Rebibbia District Prison, in Rome. About 60 inmates - also contains a section for
female prisoners.[36]

Secondigliano District Prison "Pasquale Mandato", in Naples. About 24 inmates.[36]

Spoleto Detention Structure. About 80 inmates.[38]

Terni District Prison. About 24 inmates.[36]

 Tolmezzo District Prison. About 24 inmates.[36]

Viterbo District Prison "Mammagialla". About 50 inmates.[39]

Another Supermax section was closed down during 2018.

Ascoli Piceno District Prison at Marino del Tronto.
United Kingdom
…
Belmarsh – London, England, United Kingdom – many of the terrorists of the 2006
transatlantic aircraft plot are imprisoned there.

Frankland – Durham, England, United Kingdom – High Security Prison with a special unit
for prisoners suffering from Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorders.

Full Sutton – York, England, United Kingdom – High Security Prison.

Long Lartin – Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom – High Security Prison.

Maghaberry – Lisburn, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom – High Security Prison

Manchester – Strangeways, Manchester, England, United Kingdom – High Security Prison

with a special unit for prisoners suffering from Dangerous and Severe Personality
Disorders.

Prison Shotts – Shotts, Scotland, United Kingdom – High Security Prison. Holds some of
the UK's most dangerous and violent criminals.

Whitemoor – March, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom – houses up to 500 of the

most dangerous criminals in the UK. It has a unit known as the 'Close Supervision Centre'
which is referred to as a "Prison inside a Prison". It has a special unit for prisoners with
Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorders.

Wakefield – Wakefield, England, United Kingdom – High Security Prison with a 'Close
Supervision Centre'. It is nicknamed "The Monster Mansion" due to the many high-profile
convicted murderers incarcerated there.

Woodhill – Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom – High Security Prison with a
specialist 'Close Supervision Centre'.

Africa
…
C Max (Pretoria, South Africa) – for violent and disruptive prisoners.

Scorpion Prison (Cairo, Egypt) – Supermax prison located inside the Tora Prison complex.
Asia
…
Gyeongbuk Northern the Second Correctional Center (Prison), Cheongsong,
Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea

KEMTA, Taiping, Perak Malaysia

Al Hayer Prison (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)

Bilibid Prison (Manila, Philippines) – Large maximum security prison with around 17,000–
20,000 convicted prisoners.[40]

Nusa Kambangan Correctional Facility, Central Java, Indonesia – Supermax prison built
during the Dutch era, now under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Law and Human Rights

Black Dolphin – Russian maximum-security prison for convicts sentenced to life

imprisonment.

White Swan – Russian maximum-security prison for convicts sentenced to life

imprisonment.

Al-Muwaqqar II Correctional and Rehabilitation Center is a super-maximum security prison

with 240 cells in Jordan, see also Correction centers in Jordan. It is designed to hold
incorrigibly violent inmates in separate isolation cells.

Khao Bin Central Prison, Ratchaburi, Thailand – Supermax facility being opened in the first
half of 2014.[41]

Australia
…
Goulburn Correctional Centre – Full Supermax prison, the highest level of security in
Australia – 75-bed centre, (Goulburn, New South Wales).[9]

Casuarina Prison – Special Handling Unit (SHU) (Perth, Western Australia)

Her Majesty's Prison Risdon – 8 cell Tamar Unit (Risdon Vale, Tasmania)

Her Majesty's Prison Barwon – Barwon Supermax (Lara, Victoria)

Port Phillip Prison – Charlotte unit (Truganina, Victoria)

Brisbane Correctional Centre – 18-cell Maximum Security Unit (Brisbane, Queensland)

Alexander Maconochie Centre – 12-cell Supermax Section (Hume, Australian Capital

Territory)
 Yatala Labour Prison – G Division (Northfield, South Australia)

Alice Springs Correctional Centre – 12-cell Supermax Unit (Alice Springs, Northern
Territory)

Popular media

The movie Escape Plan starring Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jim Caviezel
is based on an ocean-based "supermax facility".

In various Marvel Comics, "The Raft" is the name of a Supermax prison located near Ryker's
Island designed to hold the most dangerous heroes and villains. It subsequently is mentioned
in and appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, albeit amended to appear as a floating fully
submersible prison.

See also

List of prisons

Penology

Panopticon

Solitary confinement

Incarceration in the United States (security levels)

Article 41-bis prison regime the Italian high security treatment for Mafiosi and terrorists

Prisoner security categories in the United Kingdom

F-type Prisons (Turkey)

Black Dolphin Prison

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1 . Wilkinson v. Austin 04-495 (2005), Link to case text (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.p

l?court=us&vol=000&invol=04-495)

19. Vick, Karl (30 September 2007). "Isolating the Menace In a Sterile Supermax" (https://www.washingto
npost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/29/AR2007092900928_pf.html) . The Washington
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20. "Just how bad are American 'supermax' prisons?" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17663629) .

BBC News. 10 April 2012.

21. Riveland, C. (1999) Supermax prisons: overview and general considerations. Washington D.C.: U.S.
Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections

22. U.S. Department of Justice; National Institute of Corrections. "Supermax Prisons and the
Constitution" (https://info.nicic.gov/nicrp/system/files/019835.pdf) (PDF).

23. [2] (https://www.usinflationcalculator.com)

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25. Binelli, Mark (26 March 2015). "Inside America's Toughest Federal Prison" (https://www.nytimes.com/
2015/03/29/magazine/inside-americas-toughest-federal-prison.html) . The New York Times.
ISSN 0362-4331 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331) . Retrieved 10 March 2019.

2 . Mears, Daniel P. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Super max Prisons." PsycEXTRA Dataset (2006): n.
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27. Pizarro, Jesenia; Stenius, Vanja M. K. (June 2004). "Supermax Prisons: Their Rise, Current Practices,
and Effect on Inmates". The Prison Journal. 84 (2): 254–260. doi:10.1177/0032885504265080 (http
s://doi.org/10.1177%2F0032885504265080) . S2CID 35051886 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/Co
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2 . "Inside Maximum Security" (http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/lockdown/episodes/inside-maxi

mum-security/) . Retrieved 15 April 2018.
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2CSf) ." WLBT. 18 August 2008. Retrieved on 10 August 2010.

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ww.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/Prison-escapee-David-Sweat-severely-isolated-6402763.php
#photo-8354215) . Times Union. "In corrections parlance, Five Points is known as a "super-max." It
was built 15 years ago and the modular cell units were hauled to the rural prison site two at a time on
flatbed trucks and bolted together end-to-end to form a cellblock."

31. Ward, Mike. "Hunt is on for escaped killer (http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product

=AASB&p_theme=aasb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0E9C22F36
0B43A8D&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GoogleP
M) ." Austin American-Statesman. 29 June 1999. A1. Retrieved on 27 November 2010. "Clifford
Dwayne Jones' escape from the Estelle High-Security Unit on Sunday afternoon was the first from a
Texas prison this year and the first from the "super max" lockup, as the unit is called."

32. Ward, Mike. "Death row inmates free guard, meet with activists (http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/w
e/Archives?p_product=AASB&p_theme=aasb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text
_direct-0=0E9B7EA8738B9264&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s
_trackval=GooglePM) ." Austin American-Statesman. 23 February 2000. "A prison guard held
hostage by two execution-bound killers inside Texas'``super maxdeath row[...]" and "Tuesday deep
inside the maximum-security Terrell Unit just outside[...]"

33. Abbate, Lirio (2 February 2015). "L'isola dei reclusi: ecco il carcere durissimo (e segreto) per 90
superboss mafiosi" (http://espresso.repubblica.it/plus/articoli/2015/11/04/news/l-isola-dei-reclusi-e
cco-il-carcere-durissimo-e-segreto-per-90-superboss-mafiosi-1.237305) . L'Espresso (in Italian).
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34. "Carcere L'Aquila, record italiano di detenuti al 41bis" (https://www.ilcapoluogo.it/2020/01/07/carcere

-laquila-record-italiano-di-detenuti-al-41bis/) . ilcapoluogo.it (in Italian). 7 January 2020. Retrieved
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35. "Cuneo - Casa circondariale" (https://www.giustizia.it/giustizia/it/dettaglio_scheda.page?s=MII173

764#) . giustizia.it (in Italian). 7 January 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2021.

3 . "Carceri nelle quali ci sono sezioni di "41 bis" " (http://www.ristretti.it/areestudio/disagio/associazion

i/caino/41bis.htm) . ristretti.it (in Italian). 7 January 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2021.

37. "Nel carcere di Parma 625 detenuti: 127 sono ergastolani; 67 al 41 bis" (https://parma.repubblica.it/cr
onaca/2020/08/16/news/nel_carcere_di_parma_625_detenuti_127_soo_ergastolani_67_al_41_bis-26
4748469/) . repubblica.it (in Italian). 16 August 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2021.

3 . "Le Due Città" (https://www.polizia-penitenziaria.it/index.php/archivio/526-archivio/2010/settembre-2

010/1890-il-carcere-sicuro-1890) . polizia.penitenziaria.it (in Italian). September 2010. Retrieved
21 June 2021.
 39. Strocchia, Raffaele (7 January 2020). "Mammagialla, 49 detenuti al 41 bis" (http://www.tusciaweb.eu/
2019/04/mammagialla-49-detenuti-al-41-bis/) . tusciaweb (in Italian). Retrieved 21 June 2021.

40. "The Commandos Fact File From Inside The Gangsters' Code on DiscoveryUK.com" (http://www.disco
veryuk.com/web/inside-the-gangsters-code/about/fact-file-the-commandos/) . discoveryuk.com.
Retrieved 8 March 2015.

41. "Prison troublemakers face 'supermax' unit" (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Prison-troub

lemakers-face-supermax-unit-30237395.html) . The Nation. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2015.

External links

California's Security Housing Units (https://web.archive.org/web/20061010053734/http://

prisonactivist.org/cpf/CPFshu.html)

Recording Carceral Landscapes: Security Housing Unit (https://web.archive.org/web/2006

0411212946/http://www.paglen.com/pages/projects/carceral/shu.htm)

Supermax lockup for spammer Rizler (http://spamkings.oreilly.com/archives/2006/03/sup

ermax_lockup.html)

The Resistable (sic) Rise and Predictable Fall of the U.S. Supermax (http://monthlyreview.o
rg/091116eisenman.php) by Stephen F. Eisenman, Monthly Review, November 2009

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