Supermax and Post-Trial Objections to Inmates Sent to Supermax
Supermax prisons are the highest-level security prisons in the United States. There is only one supermax prison in the U.S. federal prison system, ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado. At Supermax facilities, inmates are locked down for 23 hours a day, receive one hour of recreation, and have limited contact with staff and visitors. Supermax facilities should close because isolation has a negative impact on all humans. Even though the inmates housed at Supermax are terrorists, drug lords, murderers, they should not be subjected to mental torture. During the Vietnam war, POWS were kept in solitary confinement, isolated from communicating with each other as a method of psychological abuse. POWs relied on each other to keep hope alive by using the "tap code", tapping on the wall to communicate and keep each other aware of what was happening. Mental torture is a cruel and unusual punishment and torture is against our values as a country.
ADX Florence
At Supermax, inmates live in extreme isolation, resulting in damaging psychological effects. Supermax should be viewed as a prison of both the body and the mind. Isolation can cause anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and negatively impacts an inmate's mental state. Research has shown that social isolation causes cardiovascular problems, mental health disorders and increased mortality rates. Humans need interaction and the longer a human has little or no interaction, the harder it to socialize. Supermax Facilities do not facilitate an environment for inmates to rehabilitate. In fact, research has shown that many inmates in Supermax prisons have experienced an increase in violent thoughts, rage, depression, and psychosis. Solitary confinement causes lasting negative effects on the mind. Social psychologists noted that inmates housed in Supermax facilities experienced hallucinations and became more withdrawn from reality. A sentence to Supermax is a death sentence, slow but sure.
A defendant at sentencing should advance the above with a proper expert witness such as a social psychologist, psychiatric medical professionals, or prison officials themselves. The failure to present an objection as described will result in the continued use of Supermax. You need the right lawyer with the right witnesses. We are the correct firm. Properly handling this motion will result in the right ruling.
By: Erika Costello: paralegal student at the College of DuPage and for Burton A. Brown Burton A. Brown attorney at the Law Office of Burton A. Brown