Marisa Carroll
Professor Condon
English 1101-64
30 September 2013
The Alcatraz of the Rockies In 1990, John Jay Powers was sentenced to time in prison for robbing a bank. While there, he witnessed the murder of another inmate and began suffering from post-traumatic stress. In 2001, after a brief escape attempt, he was transferred to Administrative Maximum (ADX) Florence, the federal government's only supermax facility, where inmates are housed in conditions of such extreme isolation. The prison is known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, and, not so fondly, as the "Alcatraz of the Rockies" (Marcus).
Before entering ADX, Powers had no history or symptoms of mental illness, but since being installed there, he has become deranged and has engaged in numerous acts of self-mutilation, including biting off his finger, and trying to kill himself on several occasions (“Reports on and from”). To give people an idea of why a previously sane person would lapse into madness at ADX, they would need look no further than the circumstances of their confinement. ADX was designed to ensure the total isolation of all its prisoners, who are held in cells about the size of an average bathroom. The cells have thick, concrete soundproof walls, a door with bars and a second door made of solid steel. The only possible means of communicating with other humans is to yell into the toilet bowl and hope that someone may hear. The inmates are kept in their cells twenty four hours of the day for two days each week (“Inside the World’s”). On the other five days, they may get to spend approximately one hour in a similarly-sized cage for what is referred to as "outdoor" recreation. By its own policy, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) excludes the mentally ill from ADX, but it seems that many prisoners with mental illness end up there because of a deficient screening process and some who were sane upon arrival tend not to remain for long (“Inside the World’s”).
Powers is one of eleven prisoners at ADX Florence named in a federal class action lawsuit filed against the BOP on July 18, 2013, alleging mistreatment and abuse of prisoners with mental illness who are frequently misdiagnosed and then denied proper care. It comes at a time of mounting pressure from the international community, including the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. Yet, the BOP, which would not comment on the pending lawsuit, has demonstrated by their prior and subsequent actions that they are oblivious at best and indifferent at worst to the allegations (“Reports on and from”).
A memo with the title "Suicide Prevention" was sent by Charles Samuels, the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, two days after the lawsuit was filed to all inmates in the federal system, including those housed in solitary confinement at ADX. In the memo, Samuels, urges prisoners who may be feeling suicidal to try to look on the bright side:
Incarceration is difficult for many people. Many individuals experience a wide range of emotions – sadness, anxiety, fear, loneliness, anger or shame. At times you may feel hopeless about your future and your thoughts may turn to suicide. If you are unable to think of solutions other than suicide, it is not because solutions do not exist; it is because you are currently unable to see them. Do not lose hope. Solutions can be found, feelings change, unanticipated positive events occur. Look for meaning and purpose in education and treatment programs, faith, work, family, and friends. (“Reports on and from”)
Charles Samuels urges suicidal inmates to avail themselves of the psychologists and counseling services that he seems to think are readily available to them. Now, one could take the memo as a genuine attempt to help the faith of prisoners who are feeling depressed. However, one should consider that the memo was addressed to the inmates and that the suicidal feelings prisoners are experiencing are far more likely to be a direct consequence of the fact that they are housed in such isolation units rather than existential reasons. Also, Samuels acknowledges the prisoners, “may be reading this message while in a special housing unit or special management unit cell” (“Reports on and from”). This is difficult to believe when one knows that Samuels himself seems to have an unclear notion as to what kind of counseling services prisoners have access to, if any.
A month before the memo was issued, Samuels testified before a senate subcommittee hearing on solitary confinement, during which he claimed "no negative effect" of isolation on prisoners. Powers’ response to a direct question by Senator Durbin regarding the access that prisoners at ADX have to psychologists was also unclear. He said, "I can give you later, for the record, I mean, an average, but I would say, I mean, because this is being conducted, sir, I mean throughout, you know, the country, various locations and to give a specific amount of time" (“Reports on and from”).
This lawsuit focuses on an embarrassing spotlight on the fact that the powers in the United States are quick to condemn abuses of prisoners in captivity in other countries. They are apparently unconcerned with the less obvious, yet equally damaging, human rights abuses happening in prisons on American soil. Since 2007, the European Court of Human Rights has put a stay on the extradition of six men wanted on terrorism charges because of concerns about the treatment that would be in store for them at ADX. Finally, under apparent pressure from the United States, it agreed to allow the extradition to proceed in April 2013, but that decision prompted such a backlash from advocacy groups that it is considering an appeal still today (“Inside the World’s”). One can only hope that the international community will remind the United States that it needs to hold itself to the same standards to which it holds others.

Works Cited
"Inside the World's Most Secure Supermax: ADX FLORENCE 'the Alcatraz of the Rockies'" Inside the World's Most Secure Supermax: ADX FLORENCE 'the Alcatraz of the Rockies' Reaganite Republican, 11 May 2013. Web. 01 Oct. 2013.
Marcus, Rachael. "‘The 10 Worst Prisons in America: ADX’ | Rachael (Marcus) Bale." Rachael Marcus Bale. N.p., 01 May 2013. Web. 01 Oct. 2013.
"Reports on and from Seghell." Reports on and from Seghell. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2013.