ADX Florence
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The United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX Florence) is an American federal prison in unincorporated Fremont County, near Florence, Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the US Department of Justice.
ADX Florence, which opened in 1994, is classed as a supermax "control unit" prison, thus providing a higher level of custody than a maximum security prison. ADX Florence forms part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FCC Florence), which is situated on 49 acres (20 ha) of land and houses different facilities with varying degrees of security, including the United States Penitentiary, Florence High.
ADX Florence was commissioned as 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. As at September 2020, there were 356 prisoners. They are confined 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.[1]
Function
The institution is unofficially known as ADX Florence, 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 (BOP), a division of the US Department of Justice. The complex also includes an adjacent minimum-security camp that 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.[3]
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Your Man in the Public Gallery: Assange Hearing Day 16 | blog post | 24 September 2020 | Craig Murray | "As James Lewis QC and Edward Fitzgerald QC exchange pleasantries, as the friendly clerks try to make the IT systems work, and my mind swims in horrified disbelief. They are discussing a fate for Julian Assange, my friend, as horrible as that of the thousands who over 500 years were dragged from this very spot and strung up outside. They are all chatting and working away as though we were a normal part of civilised society." |
References
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