Inside the World's Most Secure Supermax: ADX FLORENCE 'the Alcatraz of the Rockies'

'A cleaner version of Hell'

ADX Florence is a federal supermax prison with a capacity of 490 male inmates in central Colorado, about 40 mi. south of Colorado Springs. Part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex -and operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons
(a division of the Department of Justice)- the daunting facility only takes-on the MOST dangerous and difficult-to-contain in the entire country...

The immaculate, hyper-secure prison was built at a cost of $60M, and largely in response to high-profile security lapses at other federal penitentiaries, particularly a pair of 1983 incidents at Marion, Ill that left two guards dead. The Marion facility was itself built in 1963 to replace Alcatraz as America's toughest, yet it had to go into 'permanent lockdown', making the entire prison a 'control unit' until 2006 -that's 23 years- to keeps guards away from the prison gangs that had killed the two correctional officers. After that it was simply downgraded to 'medium security' and the inmate population tripled.

So ADX Florence was built to provide a state-of-the-art facility where prison employees are never physically-exposed to these godless killing machines... and from where you'd have to be Superman to ever even think of busting-out. 

And the Islamic terrorists we've slammed in there? Probably jealous of how good their craven brethren at Gitmo got it...

At ADX Florence each cell has a desk, a stool, and bed almost entirely made out of poured concrete, in addition to water with auto-shutoff, etc. Rooms can be equipped with polished steel mirrors bolted to the wall, faucet-free sink, an electric light, a radio, and a black and white television that shows recreational, educational, and religious programming.

Tall, narrow slit windows (4 x 48 inches) are specially designed to keep inmates from knowing their specific location within the complex: because they can see only the sky and roof, it is extremely difficult for them to plan any escape- how can you get somewhere when you don't even know where you are now? Similarly, inmates exercise in a concrete pit resembling a large, empty swimming pool- also designed to prevent them from gaining their bearings.

All telecommunication with the outside world is forbidden, and the prison features an incredible array of motion detectors and cameras- not to mention 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors. On the inside, visitors have describe ADX Florence as 'eerily quiet', and inmates have in-fact noted that sensory deprivation appears to be part of the plan-
that, along with 'extreme isolation'.

For those who insist on being a menace to even prison society, there's the special segregation 'Z-unit', featuring 8.5x10ft solitary-confinement cells with sturdy metal restraining straps/rings on the (cement) bed, 24-hour surveillance, a soundproofed door, an even smaller window, and only a 1-hour daily exercise session (alone) in an outside cage directly attached to the cell
(that resembles a dog kennel).

And if escape were to enter anybody's imagination, the perimeter of the facility is secured by pressure pads and 12-ft. (3.7 m) fences blossoming with razor-wire, and constantly patrolled on foot outside the fence. 

Inmate Eric Rudolph -the Olympic Park bomber- said in a letter to a newspaper that ADX is meant to 'inflict misery and pain.' 
A former ADX warden described the place as
'a cleaner version of Hell'- (as it should be!)

Infamous ADX Florence guests:

Zacarias Moussaoui

The Unabomber

'Shoe bomber' Richard Reid

Terry Nichols, OK City accomplice

Ramzi Yousef

Soviet/Russian spy Robert Hanssen

'Olympic Park Bomber' Eric Rudolph

'Times Square Bomber' Faisal Shahzad

BTW- Woody Harrelson's old man died in there, 
thus completing his life sentence...

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