NCJ Number
170482
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 59 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1998) Pages: 54,56-57,61
Date Published
1998
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Over the past decade, correctional systems in the United States have activated several high-security prisons, popularly known as "supermax" institutions, that are designed to hold the most violent, disruptive, or escape-prone offenders.
Abstract
By isolating the worst offenders, supermax facilities increase the safety of correctional staff, other inmates, and the general public. They also allow inmates in other institutions to live in a more normalized prison environment, with greater freedom of movement and access to educational, vocational, and other programs. In addition, supermax facilities give prison administrators more security options. The use of supermax facilities is examined in terms of models correctional officials can employ to handle dangerous inmates. The dispersion model scatters offenders with unusually dangerous histories or disruptive behavior patterns throughout the correctional system, thus avoiding a concentration of such offenders in any one location. A primary benefit of the dispersion model is that no single institution is required to deal with a large number of problem inmates. In contrast, the consolidation model involves placing all highly dangerous inmates at one location and controlling them through heightened security procedures. Many correctional officials believe focusing extra security resources on a single location is more efficient and effective than the dispersion model. While confinement conditions for inmates in maximum-security settings are highly restrictive relative to the general population in most penitentiaries, maximum-security facilities represent an improvement over typical detention and segregation units at regular penitentiaries because they provide increased movement, more contact with staff, and more opportunities for inmates to participate in programs that may facilitate their transfer to more typical penitentiary settings. The essential challenge of operating maximum-security facilities is to properly balance staff and inmate safety needs against important constitutional and correctional management principles governing prison life. The operation of the Administrative Maximum Security Penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, is described. 1 photograph