The Globalization of Supermax Prisons

Chapter 2. The Invention of the American Supermax Prison

10 Chapter 2 The Invention of the American Supermax Prison Jeffrey Ian Ross Over the past three decades, a phenomenal number of individuals in the United States have been sentenced to jails and to state or federal prisons. However, not all correctional facilities are the same. Prisoners are sent to a wide array of institutions. These jails and prisons typically vary based on the level of security, ranging from minimum to maximum. Since the mid-1980s, however, a dramatic change has influenced corrections in the United States. Specifically, correctional systems at both the state and federal levels have introduced or expanded the use of supermax prisons. Supermax prisons, also known as special (or security) handling units (SHUs), control units, or control handling units (CHUs), incarcerate almost 2 percent of all prisoners (men only) doing time in the United States.1 For some inmates, being housed in a supermax is like a badge of honor, a source of pride. For others, including prison activists, it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.2 This chapter presents an overview of the American experiment with supermaximum security prisons. It describes the historical development of “supermax” facilities from their roots in the early prisons in America through the present day and explains various shifts in practice, the growth of correctional support for these institutions, and the emergence of resistance to these forms of confinement. The chapter also reviews various relevant legal challenges and rulings, as well as the international responses to these institutions. Historically, most jails and prisons temporarily housed “problem” inmates in a tier that was colloquially called solitary confinement but over time officially dubbed administrative segregation (also known as “ad seg”) or administrative/disciplinary segregation (both known as “the hole”).3 Prisoners transferred to these units typically violated one or more facility rules (e.g., fighting, possessing contraband, etc.). If they are suspected of such an infraction , inmates are formally issued a ticket or incident report (also known as a Invention of the American Supermax Prison 11 shot) by a correctional officer; they may then receive some sort of superficial administrative hearing, and if “officially” convicted, they are then sentenced to ad seg. Although conditions vary from one correctional facility to another, ad seg/administrative detention/disciplinary segregation (A.D./DS) inmates are typically required to stay in their cell twenty-three out of twenty-four hours a day and have only minimal contact with other prisoners and correctional workers. The inmates may eat the same meals as the general population , eat sack lunches, or be placed on a restricted diet, including a prison loaf (e.g., nutraloaf), which consists of food that is typically served to other inmates that day but is ground up, poured it into a baking pan, and reheated for the ad seg/A.D./DS inmates. Unlike the ad seg/A.D./DS tiers, supermaxes are usually stand-alone facilities where prisoners have minimal contact with other inmates and in many cases correctional officers too. In the United States, supermax prisons are characterized by their physical layout, the regime to which prisoners are subjected, the types of inmates who are incarcerated, and the effects of this type of incarceration on prisoners. The Historical Origins of the Supermax Idea Supermax prisons in the United States can be traced back to a reliance on solitary confinement and the use of administrative segregation. This kind of sanction is not solely exclusive to jails and prisons since a considerable number of mental hospitals use this kind of practice as well. In terms of chronology, there are four major periods in the growth of supermaxes and supermax-like facilities: the early period (e.g., Walnut Street Jail, Eastern Correctional Facility), the turn of the century (i.e., Alcatraz Prison), the 1950s–1980s (e.g., conversion of Marion Prison), and the past two decades (the failure of USP Marion and the building of ADX Florence, Colorado). Since the inception of prisons, segregation and solitary confinement have been staples of the incarceration experience. These methods originated in the punitive penal practices of the nineteenth century, which included various kinds of torture (e.g., flogging, shackling prisoners to the cell wall, sweat boxes, etc.). The history of corrections in the United States can be traced back to colonial times. During this period, deviance and law breaking were typically dealt with through the process of shaming. The Puritans in New England used correctional punishment as a means to enforce their strict Puritan codes. They viewed the deviant as...