While Alcatraz has long been thought of as one of the worst prisons in United States history, home to only the most horrible offenders, another prison has been making a name for itself. The US Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility, also known as ADX, is now the highest-security prison in the country. Its nickname? Fittingly, it is known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” a “supermax” prison for the most violent of offenders located in Florence, Colorado. The prison was designed solely for solitary confinement and is home to over 400 prisoners. Each of those prisoners spends 23 hours each day alone in their cell, which measures 7 feet by 12 feet. They are given limited contact with the outside world, are given meals through a slit in the door, and must wear handcuffs and leg irons any time they leave their cells.
A former warden of ADX says that, out of all the prisons they’ve seen, it is by far the most stark and quiet, with everyone separated from one another. Cells have a concrete cell with a foam mattress as a bed, a concrete desk, and a concrete stool. Prisoners are allowed one phone call each month and only three showers a week. They are also limited to how many letters they can write, who they can write to, and how long the letters can be. While ADX was initially built with the intention of being a prison for those who had misbehaved at other prisons, it has more recently become home to many prisoners convicted of crimes related to terrorism.
ADX is home to criminals like Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers, and Zacarias Moussauoi, one of the men who played a role in plotting the attacks on 9/11. It also houses Thomas Silverstein, a murderer who was moved to the prison after killing a guard at another prison, and Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber. No criminals have ever escaped ADX, which opened in 1994, and seven prisoners have committed suicide while confined to the prison. Some have argued that the prison falls under the category of “cruel and unusual,” but several lawsuits have proven to be unsuccessful.