Supermax

Supermax is the name used to describe control-unit prisons, the most secure prisons in the US prison system. The term originated in the United States as a contraction of super-maximum, and the concept developed from the permanent lockdown of the Federal penitentiary in Marion, Illinois dating from 1983. Since then, some maximum security prisons have gone to full lockdown as well, while others have been purpose-built to the Supermax standard.

Related Topics:
Prison - United States - Marion, Illinois

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In supermax prisons, prisoners are kept in their cells for 22 to 23 hours a day, often in solitary confinement. The balance of the day, they are allowed access to an exercise area. Supermax facilities are controversial, since they are designed to deny human contact to the prisoners. Most such prisons are designed as a form of sensory isolation, with barely any glimpse of the outside world available to the prisoners. Such design is controversial among prison activists, who claim that it denies the prisoners basic humanity; however, proponents of the design feel that such tight confinement is necessary to keep control of prisoners with a history of discipline problems, as well as to isolate and protect prisoners who might be in physical danger in the general population.

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Prisoners are under constant surveillance, usually with video cameras. Cell doors are often automated, and conditions are extremely spartan, with poured concrete furniture being the norm. Cell walls are generally soundproofed to prevent communication between the inmates.

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Recently, Australia has opened a facility in the Goulburn Correctional Centre to the supermax standard.

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