Medium Security or Maximum Security?

-- By JenniferLi - 26 Feb 2010

American convicts are not asked this question at the time of sentencing, but if they were, most would have trouble figuring out which is preferable. To remain in a state or federal medium-security penitentiary often means that they are subject to harassment and violence from other inmates or guards. Transfer into a super-maximum security prison, or a supermax facility as it is called, usually entails the vast majority of their day spent in a single-person cell, much like a sensory deprivation chamber. Either way, prisoners are frequently faced with punishment that violates the 8th amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

Medium Security Facilities

Overcrowding, Understaffing

The occurrence of violent incidents tends to increase in a medium security prison it becomes overcrowded and understaffed. Depending on the location, size, and type of the prison, prisoners share a cell with one or more inmates. In California, where in recent years there have been almost twice as many prisoners as there are beds, prisons have turned gymnasiums and other common areas into large barracks. (See photos.) This arrangement breeds tension as prisoners already under environmental stress are exposed to numerous other inmates, all with different habits and idiosyncrasies. In addition, many of the facilities for healthy socialization, like gyms and recreation rooms, now house inmates and are no longer available.

Overcrowding also lowers the guard to prisoner ratio. Prisons avoid hiring additional guards unless it is absolutely necessary because correctional officers are heavily unionized and expensive. This means, however, that there is less oversight as to abuses that take place among inmates. It also means that the guards themselves are sometimes unable to control the violence, preferring instead to feign ignorance. This freedom from guard intervention allows violence to perpetuate openly and for an alternate form of inmate-centric authority to develop.

Power Groups

Race and gang associations contribute heavily to violence in prisons. With a lack of authoritative structure imposed by guards and the prison system, pre-existing gangs and racial groups step in to fill the void. On one hand, it provides a new prisoner with a support system when the alternative is victimization. On the other hand, this support comes with the price of obedience, even when it requires committing acts of violence towards others. White prisoners, with the exception of those in white supremacist gangs, are the least likely to organize according to race.

Maximum Security Penitentiaries (Supermax, Admax)

Supermax facilities are used to incarcerate prisoners deemed most dangerous and likely to escape. In the federal Administrative Maximum facility in Florence, Colorado (Admax), convicted terrorists are also held. Many state supermax facilities are an adjunct of an existing prison. A couple, however, including Admax, are freestanding institutions solely devoted to containing high risk prisoners.

Facilities

Admax stands as a stark contrast to the conditions of a medium security penitentiary. Instead of several inmates sharing a cell and constant exposure to social interaction, the inmates at Admax all have their own cell. This 8ft by 12ft cell contains a bed, desk, shower, toilet, and sink. They are usually confined to their cells for at least twenty-three hours a day. During their exercise hour, guards accompany the prisoners, one by one, into a cement pit, where they exercise alone until their time is up. Inmates must undergo a cavity search before and after they go outside. This prevents many of the Muslim inmates from leaving their cells due to religious believes about nudity. Prisoners are able to borrow books from the prison library. With good behavior, they can also earn the right to have a 12inch black and white TV in their cell and a radio.

The Dangers of Solitude

In Supermax facilities and Admax, the opportunities for violent interactions between inmates are substantially lower than in medium-security prisons. Inmates are isolated as far as staffing and capacity allow, so there is very little interaction between inmates. In a special unit used as a disciplinary measure, the cells are soundproofed and there is virtually no human contact at all, not even with guards.

Although prisoners are safe physical violence, long term incarceration in what essentially amounts to sensory deprivation chambers tends to induce psychosis and other psychological problems. This is exacerbated by the lack of medical attention, since many prisons contract out their health care needs to private companies that provide cursory service. Even in Admax, where mental health is overseen by a director at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, interviews are conducted through videoconference and brief examinations take place through cell doors, where inmates must whisper to keep from being heard by neighbors.

Legal Action

Inmates lucky enough to have a dedicated lawyer while incarcerated generally have little luck in bringing 8th Amendment actions against prison administrators. Even petitions that allege gruesome assault and rapes are not accorded much weight, when it comes from an inmate. Many judges are reluctant to entertain such claims because granting one prisoner’s claim that he has been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment would set a precedent encouraging a flood of similar cases to be brought.

Trouble of Remedies

The problem of appropriate remedy is a bar to receiving appropriate legal attention. Many of these abuses stem from systemic understaffing and an established modus operandi, in which the guards rely on power groups among the inmates to keep order. To award damages to the petitioner instead of requiring a prison overhaul would aggregate to a crippling amount, which would probably be passed along to inmates as intensified overcrowding and understaffing. Many petitioners seek a court order of protection and relocation to another facility. Often, judges will not hear applications for protective orders unless it is incontrovertible that the inmate has been the victim of a brutal assault. Some guards will prevent victimized inmates from seeking medical or legal help to avoid hassle. However, even if an application for an order of protection is heard and granted, how it is carried out still depends on the warden and guards of the prison. They may be transferred to another facility, but there is no guarantee that it will be any less violent than the previous.

The Outlook

An encouraging trend is that higher courts are increasingly interest in prisoner rights issues. The Supreme Court of California recently upheld a overruling by the Court of Appeals of a trial court’s dismissal of a prisoner rape case. In particular, the legally accepted doctrine that guards have no responsibility for the welfare of their prisoners will be tested as the action moves on to trial. Non-governmental organizations may be responsible for the minor shift in judicial opinion, like Human Rights Watch, which takes issue with both the physical and psychological conditions in American prisons. However, popular attitude about the abuse of prisoners is one of the biggest obstacles to substantive reform. Until that change takes place, it is up to lawyers to petition on behalf of their clients, even without high expectations for relief.

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