Legal Commentary

Jose Padilla Sent to Supermax

By Jeralyn

Jose Padilla has been shipped to Supermax in Florence, Colorado, known as Alcatraz of the Rockies. He'll be joining Ted Kaczinski, Eric Rudolph, Zacarias Moussaoui, Richard "shoe bomber" Reid, OKC conspirator Terry Nichols and others. Padilla was convicted in August and sentenced to 17 years. He's got 13 years left.

Padilla attorney Michael Caruso said in an e-mail Friday that Supermax is "a living hell" where inmates spend most days in 7-foot-by-12-foot cells and have little contact with the outside world. Caruso noted that others convicted of supporting terrorism, such as the "Lackawanna Six" group in upstate New York, were not sent to the nation's toughest prison.

Caruso called the decision "yet another example of Jose being treated differently and in a more punitive fashion than others who have been accused of similar crimes. I genuinely fear that Jose's mental health will erode to an even greater degree."

More on the life awaiting Padilla at Supermax below:

From an earlier post on Moussaoui:

He will spend his days alone in a 8 by 10 or 7 × 12 foot cell, in 23 hour a day isolation. His meals will be delivered through a slot in his cell door. The shower will be brought to his cell. His one hour a day of exercise will be with a guard, not other inmates. He will have no contact with other inmates.

In time, if he's good, he may work his way up from a windowless cell to one in another unit with a small window where he can see the sky and clouds and may be able to see other prisoners (who can't see him due to a one-way mirror finish on the internal window.) He may be able to get his lights turned off at night.

All in all, this will be a dismal, dehumanizing, psychologically debilitating existence for him. The prospect of winning his appeal will keep him going. Should he lose all of his appeals, he will have nothing to look to forward to but decades of confinement under these conditions.

What a wretched way to spend one's life.

Here's a website devoted to Supermax.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on April 18, 2008 (boomark / email).