Supermax prisons

SIGNIFICANCE: Supermax prisons are a modern innovation in American corrections. By separating the most dangerous inmates from general prison populations and keeping those inmates in what amounts to long-term solitary confinement, supermax prisons appear to have reduced levels of prison violence. However, no studies have yet shown what effect the prisons are having on the inmates themselves and on crime problems generally.

Supermax prisons are based upon the concept of selective incapacitation—the notion that because most offenses are committed by a small minority of offenders, incapacitating that minority will reduce crime by an amount disproportionate to their numbers. The concept grew out of a now-classic study of juvenile offenders in Philadelphia published by Marvin E. Wolfgang, Robert M. Figlio, and Thorsten Sellin in 1972. Replications of the Philadelphia study elsewhere produced remarkably similar results. Consequently, policy analysts concluded that if this small group of chronic recidivists—both in society and in prison—could be identified and isolated, the total crime rate should drop considerably. Supermax prisons are thus designed to incapacitate these violent recidivists who do not respond well to treatment.

It has been estimated that up to 20 percent of inmates in prison are psychopaths who are not motivated to change. However, psychopaths and other dangerous repeat offenders generally "burn out," or moderate their behavior, with the passage of time. Meanwhile, less-serious offenders in traditional prisons feel safer and more secure when separated from the hard-core repeat offenders and tend to take fuller advantage of the vocational and therapeutic programs offered to rehabilitate them.

Alcatraz: The First Supermax Prison

The first supermax prison in America was Alcatraz Island. Built by the federal government on a small island in the frigid, shark-infested waters of San Francisco Bay in 1934, Alcatraz held a comparatively small number of violent and notorious criminals, including "Machine Gun" Kelly and Al Capone, in tiny cells. Alcatraz proved to be a secure facility but was expensive to operate because of its isolation. All its supplies, including fresh water, had to be shipped to it by boat, and all its waste materials had to be shipped off the island. Less than thirty years after it opened to prisoners, Alcatraz was closed down in 1963 and replaced by a federal penitentiary in Marion, Illinois.

Marion Penitentiary soon developed problems of its own. Designed as a traditional congregate penitentiary, it was ill equipped to deal with exceptionally violent offenders placed in it. In response to the staff’s ever-tightening security the prison’s inmates carried out a work strike in 1980. Prison officials responded by shutting down the prison factory and terminating all education classes. After two correctional officers were killed by inmates in separate incidents in the prison’s most secure housing unit in October 1983 and an inmate was found murdered in his cell four days later, federal officials from the Bureau of Prisons decided to place the penitentiary on permanent lock-down status. From that time, Marion’s inmates were confined alone within their cells for more than twenty-three hours each day, and group programs were virtually eliminated.

In 1985 Marion inmates challenged their living conditions in federal court in the case of Bruscino v. Carlson. The judge in that case ruled that conditions in Marion met constitutional requirements. After a federal appellate court upheld that decision in 1988 and the US Supreme Court let the ruling stand in 1989 there was a rapid expansion of supermax prisons throughout the country. By the early twenty-first century, the federal government and a majority of the states were operating supermax prisons. These facilities ranged from the Bureau of Prison’s Florence, Colorado, facility—which replaced the Marion Penitentiary—to California’s Pelican Bay State Prison, which opened in late 1989.

Supermax Prison Design

While some supermax prisons are standalone units and others are units of larger prison complexes, virtually all supermax facilities have certain things in common as their designs seek to minimize the risk of escape and the potential for inmates to harm themselves or others. They all have tight perimeter security and severely restricted inmate movement within their walls. They all have small concrete-encased solitary cells. These cells generally measure about seven by twelve feet in area and are typically furnished with metal doors; narrow, barred windows; small steel sinks and toilets; shower stalls; small steel desks with pull-out stools; small steel bookshelves anchored to the walls; and raised concrete slabs or metal-frame beds. Radio and television receivers may or may not be allowed.

Supermax inmates typically spend twenty-three hours a day alone in their cells, eating, exercising, and taking part in whatever programming is available through video, correspondence, or written materials. Individual inmates rarely, if ever, have contact with other inmates. Their human contacts are generally restricted to counselors, clergy members, and medical personnel who see them in their cells. When inmates leave their cells, they are handcuffed, placed in leg irons, and escorted to their destinations by at least two prison guards. When they are allowed to have visits, they are separated from their visitors by concrete, steel, and thick glass and must communicate by speakerphones or, in more extreme cases, via video screens.

Critics of the Prisons

Proponents of supermax prisons argue that they deter as well as incapacitate. Inmates housed in supermax prisons must serve a minimum of two years in solitary confinement before becoming eligible for transfer back to traditional penitentiaries.

Opponents of supermax prisons note that the facilities are more expensive to build and operate than standard maximum-security institutions. Staff-to-inmate ratios are generally higher because inmates spend so much time locked down within their cells that everything they need must be carried to them. Moreover, in contrast to most prisons, in which inmates perform many of the routine cooking, cleaning, and maintenance chores that keep the institutions running smoothly, all chores in supermax prisons must be done by staff members.

Critics also charge that the criteria for selecting inmates for supermax prisons are vaguely worded and capriciously applied. For example, some prisoners are sent to the facilities because they have become labeled as "troublemakers" for making themselves nuisances to administrators by filing frequent grievances and lawsuits. Members of gangs are sometimes sent to supermax prisons because of their gang membership, even if they have no histories of serious assault or escape.

Supermax prisons are also criticized for fostering repressive environments in which staff abuses are more likely to occur. Courts have documented abuses at Pelican Bay. Inmates who are mentally ill or prone to mental illness may deteriorate further in solitary confinement over extended periods of time. Moreover, supermax prisons typically offer inmates no work, treatment programs, or vocational training to prepare them for successful reintegration into the community.

It has also been charged that some supermax prisons have been built at the behest of politicians wanting to appear "tough on crime," even when correctional officials themselves do not think the facilities are needed. In any case, in the modern rush to build supermax prisons, little research has been conducted to prove their actual effectiveness. The Bureau of Prisons has reported that levels of violence have gone down throughout the federal prison system since supermax prisons were introduced. States such as California and Texas have also reported curbing waves of violence in their prison systems with the widespread use of solitary confinement. However, other states have not reported reductions in inmate-on-inmate assaults since the introduction of their supermax prisons. Findings on the impact of supermax prisons on inmate-on-staff assaults have also been mixed.

Bibliography

Alarid, Leanne, and Paul Cromwell. Correctional Perspectives: Views from Academics, Practitioners, and Prisoners. Los Angeles: Roxbury, 2002.

Binelli, Mark. "Inside America's Toughest Federal Prison." The New York Times, 26 Mar. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/magazine/inside-americas-toughest-federal-prison.html. Accessed 10 July 2024.

Briggs, Chad S., Jody L. Sundt, and Thomas C. Castellano. “The Effect of Supermaximum Security Prisons on Aggregate Levels of Institutional Violence.” Criminology 41, no. 4 (2003): 1341-1376.

Burge, Simon. "What Is a Supermax Prison?" Security Journal Americas, 1 May. 2024, securityjournalamericas.com/supermax-prison/. Accessed 10 July 2024.

Kurki, Leena, and Norval Morris. “The Purposes, Practices, and Problems of Supermax Prisons.” In Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, edited by Michael Tonry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.

Neal, Donice, ed. Supermax Prisons: Beyond the Rock. Lanham, Md.: American Correctional Association, 2003.

Peters, Justin. "How a 1983 Murder Created America's Terrible Supermax-Prison Culture." Slate, 23 Oct. 2013, www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2013/10/23/marion‗prison‗lockdown‗thomas‗silverstein‗how‗a‗1983‗murder‗created‗america.html. Accessed 10 July 2024.

Pizarro, Jesenia, and Vanja M. K. Stenius. “Supermax Prisons: Their Rise, Current Practices, and Effect on Inmates.” Prison Journal 84, no. 2 (2004): 248-264.

Wolfgang, Marvin E., Robert M. Figlio, and Thorsten Sellin. Delinquency in a Birth Cohort. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972.