Prisoners can be isolated for months on end for the slightest of infractions - such as posting something on social media, or talking back to a guard. Yet in prisons throughout the country, 80,000 inmates are now held in ADX-style isolation on any given day. Solitary was once reserved as a way of punishing and controlling the most disruptive or dangerous prisoners in maximum-security lockups. "There are instances of people who literally go insane in solitary confinement," said psychology professor Craig Haney. One inmate, Jack Powers, said he was driven so mad by the lack of human interaction that he bit off his own finger and amputated his own testicle. Eleven ADX prisoners have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) arguing that prolonged solitary confinement violates the Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. Even former ADX warden Robert Hood has gone on record describing the prison as a "clean version of hell." This place "is not designed for humanity," said Hood. If the inmates become frustrated and act out, their limbs are strapped to their bed for days at a time, in a process known as four-pointing. There, inmates spend 23 hours a day in a concrete cell averaging 12 feet by 7 feet, with a 4-inch window at the top to let in some natural light. Nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the Rockies," ADX houses some of America's most notorious criminals, including the "Unabomber," Ted Kaczynski, and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid. Had Tsarnaev avoided the death penalty, he could have served a life sentence at the only federal "supermax" in the country: ADX Florence, in Colorado. That unit, and other isolation units, were designed to keep terrorists from radicalizing other inmates or slipping dangerous messages to fellow terrorists outside. The inmates there are remotely watched and monitored every minute of every day by a team of intelligence officials in West Virginia. ![]() Tsarnaev also might end up in the Communications Management Unit (CMU), a special 50-cell facility for terrorists and other dangerous prisoners. ![]() One inmate found those conditions so hellish, said the ACLU, that he volunteered for execution. ![]() Sister Rita reported that inmates went outside for just five hours a week - and even then, usually only to wander into designated cages to exercise and take a peak at the sky. Details on the prison are scarce, but inmates are believed to spend almost every waking minute in their cells, furnished with a bed, shower, desk, toilet, sink, and 13-inch television. Tsarnaev is likely to be placed in the Special Confinement Unit (SCU), built in 1993 to house federal death row inmates.
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