What would Dzhokhar Tsarnaev face in Supermax prison?

[mfcorey1]

(CNN)It's home to Ramzi Yousef, who plotted the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center; 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui; "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski; and Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber."

When inmates arrive at the United States Penitentiary Administrative-Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado, it immediately becomes clear -- ADX, the the nation's most secure Supermax prison, is built to cut them off from the world.

If Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, is sentenced to life in prison, he's likely to spend it in the ADX complex. If sentenced to death, he could be sent to the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, with other death row inmates. A federal jury in Boston will soon decide which sentence he gets.

The worst of the worst in America's vast prison network are delivered to ADX, the "Alcatraz of the Rockies," in buses, special vehicles, even Black Hawk helicopters.

Heavily armed patrols cruise the sprawling complex. A dozen imposing gun towers rise above squat brick buildings. Walls topped with razor wire partially block the snow-capped mountains.

"As soon as they come through the door ... you see it in their faces," former ADX warden Robert Hood said. "That's when it really hits you. You're looking at the beauty of the Rocky Mountains in the backdrop. When you get inside, that is the last time you will ever see it."

"The Supermax is life after death," said Hood, who served as ADX warden from 2002 to 2005. "It's long term. ... In my opinion, it's far much worse than death."

'The architecture is the control'

Many of the more than 400 inmates spend as much as 23 hours a day alone in 7-by-12-foot concrete cells. Meals are slid through small holes in the doors. Bed is a concrete slab dressed with a thin mattress and blankets.

A single window about 42 inches high and 4 inches wide allows some natural light but is made so prisoners cannot see beyond the building. Cells have unmovable stools and desks made of concrete. Solid walls prevent prisoners from seeing other cells or having direct contact with other inmates.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/13/us/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-supermax-prison/index.html

[bigwillq]

1. Good.

I hope it's hell.

[Daemonaquila]

26. It takes a real piece of work to wish a lifetime of torture on anyone.

Were his crimes horrible? Of course. However, that does not justify perhaps 50+ years of actual torture. That's not justice.

[bigwillq]

30. He deserves any and every thing he gets.

There is really no justice that can come out of this situation. Let him rot.

[boston bean]

2. Isolation on this scale is torture, imho.

We shouldn't be doing that to anyone. My thoughts on this aren't about Tsaernev, but about myself and what I consider torture.

[phil89]

9. Thankfully

your emotional responses aren't considered when punishing people like this terrorist.

[boston bean]

10. If I were on a jury, they most certainly would be considered. Like it or not. nt

[MohRokTah]

16. I doubt you'd ever serve on a jury making such a decision.

Questions about your views are valid and, so long as you are honest with your answers, you would never serve on such a jury.

Anti-death penalty views are automatic disqualification for death penalty cases. I guarantee considering super max imprisonment to be torture would disqualify you from any federal murder case.

[boston bean]

19. Is this peoples way of telling me to shut up. I gave a valid opinion.

The world will not fall apart.. The animosity in pointing out that I think isolation on that scale is torture, is not something for everyone to take such offense at.

Really... now we've moved on to whether I would ever be on a jury or not.

[MohRokTah]

20. You brought up being on a jury, I didn't. eom

[boston bean]

21. In response to someone stating my opinion wouldn't be valid.

And then you go on to tell me how I would never be chosen.

You said that, not me.

That is to what I am referring.

Isolation on that scale is torture.

[MohRokTah]

22. Yes, proving your opinon would not be valid. eom

[boston bean]

23. well, we've finally sorted that out.. Thanks.

[MohRokTah]

25. I was trying to be delicate.

Your opinion only matters at the ballot box on this issue, but I doubt many politicians would take your opinion on the matter very seriously at all.

[boston bean]

27. And I take yours as the same.

Have a good day.

[MohRokTah]

33. I don't consider Supermax confinement to be torture.

I would say the vast majority of the nation most likely agrees.

People are not going to be upset that dangerous terrorists are confined without human contact for 23 1/2 hours out of ever 24.

They simply are not.

[boston bean]

34. I am. Therefore my very simple and straight to point opinion, posted on an internet message board.

I don't give a crap what others think about it. I'm not challenging you or anyone else. If you take it that way, then I can't help you out there.

[Euphoria]

45. Whether you consider it torture or not

is irrelevant.
It is torture.

[Nye Bevan]

3. Yeah, well if you don't build bombs and murder innocent people,

you won't have to go to Supermax. Unlike some of his victims the asshole will at least still have his legs while pacing his little cell.

[Sunlei]

4. To bad *before he is sentenced* he will not be allowed to speak, even for a minute.

[cherokeeprogressive]

5. Walls.

[cwydro]

14. ...

[NaturalHigh]

6. It's unfortunate that he made such terrible choices.

He will likely end up in a terrible place because of those choices.

[KittyWampus]

7. He deserves life in prison but super max is torture and needs reforming.

[stevenleser]

8. While I ultimately want us to be better than this, I won't shed a tear for Tsarnaev being sent there

If this is going to work at all as a deterrent, it should be common knowledge that this will be the standard punishment for terrorists if we catch them and the conditions there one would face should be widely advertised.

I wonder if the Tsarnaevs knew of this place and what it is like if it would have had an impact.

[HERVEPA]

29. Good grief. Neither this nor death penalty are deterrents.

Tons of studies have shown this. And we should not be advocating torture, which this is, ever.

[stevenleser]

32. I don't agree that it is torture. I think calling it that strains the term.

Waterboarding is torture. Forcing someone to not go to sleep for several days is torture. Pushing them against a wall at high speed so that there is an impact is torture. Withholding food or drink is torture.

If we are going to say this is torture then I can make an argument that any kind of confinement situation is torture.

[boston bean]

35. Severe isolation is torture, imho and I'm sure others as well.

[stevenleser]

36. Define severe isolation versus regular isolation please. nt

[HERVEPA]

37. Read the description that is linked to and you'll know. It clearly is torture, and is meant to be.

No other reason for the severity.

[stevenleser]

40. I know what the conditions are at that SuperMax. I don't need to reread it. You still haven't

defined "severe" isolation versus regular isolation.

[boston bean]

38. 23 hours a day in a cell, with not being able to speak or see others.

Not even able to look outside with a slot for a bit of sunshine ray to enter your ceall.

One hour in a cage outside by yourself with no human interaction.

Extremely limited contact with visitors.

Being kept in a cell with your food given to you through a slot.

A TV that has minimal channels. Limited books, magazines.

No phone calls.

That is pretty damned severe and is torture, imho.

[stevenleser]

42. Once again, that is not torture, and it diminishes the impact of that word to call it torture.

Inmates are fed adequately, given adequate drink, are not hit, get as much sleep as they want, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_against_Torture

[HERVEPA]

43. You are either being disingenuous or obtuse. It clearly is torture.

[stevenleser]

44. Neither. I can tell the difference between waterboarding and detention in a SuperMax. nt

[boston bean]

46. psychological torture is torture, and severe isolation is psychological torture.

I don't need to go any further than that.

[Dwayne Hicks]

11. Good

Its exactly what he deserves. I will not shed one tear for him.

[cwydro]

12. Life

in prison.

That's what he faces.

[malaise]

13. Cruel and unusual punishment n/t

[yeoman6987]

24. Some cases yes, but this case??????

[HERVEPA]

31. Geez, I find myself agreeing with people here I never agree with otherwise.

Yes, cruel, unusual, and unnecessary. You don't need to do this to keep people from escaping or planning future stuff.

[underpants]

15. Great read. One part of me says yes it is torture but another says - I don't care

Very good report by CNN.

[NightWatcher]

17. What are the alternatives? I've an idea.

I think that there should be a button on the wall in all cells with life without parole offenders, esp is supermax. They push the button and their lawyer is summoned along with a warden and a nurse who hand the prisoner a pill that will relax them, put them in a comfortable sleep, then stop all body functions. They would not have to kill themselves, but the option would be there in the event that the isolation and thought of dying of old age there, drove them to end it.

Give them the options they never gave their victims.

[cherokeeprogressive]

18. Excellent idea.

I'd just put the pill in a box though, so no one else need be bothered.

[Ms. Yertle]

28. I don't know that anyone deserves this

It goes way beyond cruel and unusual, IMHO.

Tsarnaev made horrible choices, and clearly should have known better. but I can't imagine how he is going to cope with knowing he could spend 70 years in there.

[sendero]

39. Jails are full of people..

.... who are outright innocent or guilty of a "crime" barely worthy of community service.

I cannot muster an ounce of sympathy for this person, he made his bed and there is ZERO question of his culpability.

[AuntPatsy]

41. Vengeance is never satisfied, torture lives on in the hearts and minds of far too many.

Not something to be proud of