The Rise and Rise of Supermax

Abstract

In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in the use of so-called super-maximum security custody in the United States. At the end of 1998 some 20,000 prisoners or 1.8 percent of all those serving sentences of a year or more in state and federal prisons were accommodated in such facilities. Most supermax facilities, including the Federal ADX at Florence Colorado and those in 30 states, have been newly constructed although some states have retro-fitted existing buildings either instead of, or in addition to, new build. In such facilities prisoners who loosely defined as the `worst of the worst' are kept in near total lock-down situations, sometimes for very long periods and often without clear entry and exit criteria, ostensibly to protect staff, other prisoners and the public. This article examines the origins and proliferation of supermax custody in the United States, and identifies some of the problems that are associated with its use and abuse, which will be explored in greater depth in subsequent papers. On the basis of comparisons with European experience, where resort to such levels of restrictive custody has been typically on a much smaller and more time limited scale, and has involved little new building, this article questions whether the development of supermax custody in the United States is either a necessary or a proportionate response to the problems actually experienced.