The federal prison in Colorado “Supermax” or ADMAX (administrative maximum) might be the nation’s most secure federal facility, says the Denver Post. ADMAX houses the nation’s most violent, predatory, and escape-prone inmates. They include Richard Reid, the al Qaeda sympathizer who attempted to blow up a jetliner with a shoe bomb; Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, planner of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; and Yu Kikumura, Japanese Red Army member who plotted to bomb a Navy recruiting center in New York. New on murderer’s row is abortion clinic bomber, who will join fellow domestic terrorists Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber; and Terry Nichols, who along with Timothy McVeigh was convicted in the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building that killed 168 people.
ADMAX has underground, fortified tunnels, sound-proof and double-doored cells furnished in concrete and steel and equipped with round-the-clock audio and video surveillance. One lawyer said “it would be easier to attack the Pentagon than Supermax.” Inmates have virtually no contact with anyone, including guards. Movement between a cell and a tiny recreation yard occurs one prisoner at a time, sans guards and with prison officials operating doors from a secure control area. Spokeswoman Wendy Montgomery says the facility’s goal is to “house inmates and protect society.” There is no pretense of rehabilitation. While some prisoners are allowed visitors, none is allowed contact visits. New U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales visited ADMAX this month.