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.

Notorious Supermax inmates

• Terry Nichols, conspirator in the Oklahoma City bombing
• Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber
• Dandeny Munoz-Mosquera, former chief assassin for the Medellín Cartel of Colombia
• Lee Boyd Malvo, conspirator in the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks
• John Allen Muhammad, implementator of the Beltway sniper attacks
• Eric Robert Rudolph, abortion clinic and 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bomber