To the Supermax!

The Zacharias Moussaoui trial is finally over, and we no longer have to hear the ravings of this crazy bastard. Personally, I think his participation in 9/11 is overblown, if not completely within Moussaoui's own stunted brain. This trial did virtually nothing to satisfy me in terms of retribution for the attacks.

However, one interesting nugget it did reveal is that the highest security prisons in the US are called "Supermax Prisons". Moussaoui will spend his last days at Florence, Colorado's United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX), the "Alcatraz of the Rockies", pictured at right.

ADX Florence was built after an unfortunate incident in 1983 at the previous supermax facility in Marion, IL, in which two prison guards were murdered by inmates. Marion was no longer able to handle the kind of total lockdown that prison officials deemed necessary to safely house the most dangerous motherfuckers in America (complete isolation for 23 hours a day, with no mixing of prisoners for dining, exercise, or religious services). Here's what resulted:

Most cells' furniture is made almost entirely out of poured concrete, including a desk, stool, and bed covered by a thin mattress. Each chamber contains a toilet that shuts off if plugged, a shower that runs on a timer to prevent flooding, and a sink missing a potentially dangerous tap. Rooms may also be fitted with polished steel mirrors bolted to the wall, an electric light, a 13-inch black and white television, and a cigarette lighter. Windows in rooms are small, set high up in the wall, and point towards the sky, confusing the prisoner as to his specific location within the complex.

The prison as a whole contains countless motion detectors and cameras, 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors, and 12 foot high razor wire fences. Laser beams, pressure pads, and attack dogs guard the area between the prison walls and razor wire. The facility is built into the side of a mountain, and visitors and prisoners enter through the same heavily-guarded tunnel.

Check out the Bureau of Prison's ADX homepage here.

Inmates of ADX include Eric Rudolph, Terry Nichols, Ted Kaczynski, Robert Hanssen, Ramzi Yousef, and Omar Abdel-Rahman.

Kids, stay in school and keep off the streets!