# Maximum security, supermax, etc. What are they? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 23, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549 "2006-03-23T04:22:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549/1 "2006-03-23T04:22:15Z")
I mean, I know they are prisons, but what is the difference between a minimum security, a maximum security and a supermax. And what does one have to do to get in one? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549/2 "2006-03-23T04:30:21Z")
Here is a good answer: [http://www.spunk.org/texts/prison/sp001611.txt](http://www.spunk.org/texts/prison/sp001611.txt) Super-maxes can be federal or state prisons that focus on the most violent offenders or those that committed the greatest offenses against society. Characteristics of a supermax include: 1. Permanent solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day. 2. Strict isolation even from other prisoners. 3. Maximum escape-proof measures such as recreation grounds with razor wire roofs to prevent climbing and helicopter landings. Inmates of federal super-maxes include people like the uni-bomber and Timothy McVeigh (the Oklahoma City bomber). Regular maximum security prisons are also operated by both the states and the federal government. They allow mingling in the prison population, some recreational facilities, and solitary confinement as a punishment, not as a general rule. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549/3 "2006-03-23T04:35:42Z")
Minimum security prisons are often used for white-collar criminals and others who are somewhat responsible citizens that have run afoul of the law. Minimum security prisons often have no external barrier at all. The fear of repercussions keeps prisoners generally in line and prevents prisoners from walking away. Housing is not usually jail cells. It is often communal buildings like dorms or small house-like buildings where chores are shared. It can be similar to a half-way house. Minimum security inmates are sometimes allowed outside jobs and time away from the prison to visit with family and take care of business. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549/4 "2006-03-23T04:36:19Z")
There are 6 levels of prison security, with 1 being the easiest (white collar criminals) and 6 being the harshest. Level 5 or 6 is supermax. > **[Incarceration in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_prison_population#Security_Levels)** > > Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceration rate. In 2018 in the US, there were 698 people incarcerated per 100,000; this includes the incarceration rate for adults or people tried as adults. In 2016, 2.2 million Americans have been incarcerated, which means for every 100,000 there ar Additionally, ... To get into a supermax you have to have committed a violent crime and then while in prison you have to have disciplinary problems, assault guards, try to escape or be a gang leader. That is my understanding. Committing a violent crime in and of itself probably won’t get you put in a supermax, more like a level 3-4 prison. Supermaxs are more for criminals who still commit crimes and cause problems in prison. ---
**Author:** ![galen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@galen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549/5 "2006-03-25T16:21:29Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > o get into a supermax you have to have committed a violent crime and then while in prison you have to have disciplinary problems, assault guards, try to escape or be a gang leader. That is my understanding. Committing a violent crime in and of itself probably won’t get you put in a supermax, more like a level 3-4 prison. Supermaxs are more for criminals who still commit crimes and cause problems in prison. Not according to [Shagnasty’s post](http://www.spunk.org/texts/prison/sp001611.txt) . ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549/6 "2006-03-25T18:18:01Z")
> [@galen](#): > > Not according to [Shagnasty’s post](http://www.spunk.org/texts/prison/sp001611.txt) . I don’t get it "It is a place designed to house violent prisoners or prisoners who might threaten the security of the guards or other prisoners. Some prisons that are not designed as supermax prisons have “control units” in which conditions are similar. The theory is that solitary confinement and sensory deprivation will bring about “behavior modification.”… In the Federal Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, officials state, less than 9 percent of the inmates came directly into the control unit because they were involved in organized crime, terrorist activities, drug cartels or similar crimes, and are believed to have “special security needs.” The remaining 91 percent were determined to have been highly assaultive or escape-prone: “25 percent were involved in prison murders or attempted murders, 48 percent in escape or attempted escape and more than 70 percent have a history of assaultive behavior while in prison. [Citation omitted.] Many inmates fall into several of these categories.” " They don’t put people who commit a single violent crime, who are model inmates and who aren’t security risks in supermaxs. It is more for security risks, overly violent offenders (gang members who cause trouble, gang leaders) and people like that. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549/7 "2006-03-25T18:19:08Z")
My fault, I missed this part. “There is evidence that the inmates most likely to be placed in such units are there for non-violent or otherwise petty verbal responses to guards. According to a survey of prisoners, prison guards and prisoners’ visitors and families in 41 states, the leading behaviors which resulted in severe disciplinary actions were prisoners being verbally hostile to guards and prisoners refusing to follow orders.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549/8 "2006-03-26T03:42:15Z")
The level of security is generally based on the prisoner’s disciplinary record in the prison system. For security purposes, we don’t care if you killed thirty people out on the street - our concern is how you act inside the prison. Other factors in determining security status include: 1 - crimes that were committed (as I said, it’s not the primary criterion but it is one) 2 - notorierty (well publicized crimes can get you moved to a higher level) 3 - potential victim status 4 - history of escapes 5 - sophistication of the prisoner’s crimes 6 - mental history 7 - physical condition 8 - outside connections 9 - outstanding charges from other jurisdictions 10 - knowledge of prison operations ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549/9 "2006-03-26T05:38:32Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Inmates of federal super-maxes include people like the uni-bomber and Timothy McVeigh (the Oklahoma City bomber). Though it’s true that McVeigh and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski were briefly on the same cell block in the Colorado supermax (along with 1993 Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef), McVeigh was executed in June, 2001 at a federal prison in Indiana. ---
**Author:** ![ZeroZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/f04885/32.png) [@ZeroZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZeroZero)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549/10 "2006-03-26T05:44:43Z")
One thing to remember too is solitary confinment is NOT the same as Isolation. Solitary is a punshiment. Usually it’s a cell with a toliet and a sleep mat thrown on the floor. That is it. No lights nothing. Isolation is a cell but the prisoner is kept in it for (usuaully) 23 hours a day. Sometimes even taking meals there. But they may have a standard jail bed and have access to books etc. Just no social ablity within the prison population Often homosexuals are put into isolation for thier own protection, as would child killers and other infamous people. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549/11 "2006-03-26T07:17:03Z")
> [@](#): > > One thing to remember too is solitary confinment is NOT the same as Isolation. > > Solitary is a punshiment. Usually it’s a cell with a toliet and a sleep mat thrown on the floor. > > That is it. No lights nothing. > > Isolation is a cell but the prisoner is kept in it for (usuaully) 23 hours a day. Sometimes even taking meals there. But they may have a standard jail bed and have access to books etc. Just no social ablity within the prison population > > Often homosexuals are put into isolation for thier own protection, as would child killers and other infamous people. Solitary, as you’ve described it, is never used as a punishment. The only time we would take everything away from a prisoner is if he’s put on a suicide watch. And then we leave the lights on and have an officer watching him twenty four hours a day. Homosexuals are not routinely put into special units. Nor are child killers or any other special group. The majority of the individuals in any group are out in general population. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maximum-security-supermax-etc-what-are-they/349549/12 "2006-03-26T07:48:57Z")
Another huge consideration is the risk of escpae and the means to stay escaped. High end drug dealers may have the means to support themselves once they get out from their ill gotten gains, and if they have also been awarded a lengthy jail with many years to go, they also have an incentive to escape. Others are considered a risk to the public if they escape, this could a a risk both individually or nationally. Behaviour in prison also makes a differance, a lower level prisoner who makes arrangements, such as gatehring escape material, or makes an actual escape attempt will also be moved to a higher level of security. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/crime/fighters/prisonservice.shtml](http://www.bbc.co.uk/crime/fighters/prisonservice.shtml) We also have one higher level of security, the AA or Special Security Unit (SSU). This is a prison within a prison, the staff operating there have differant keys, radio nets etc and are not used for the larger enclosing unit, which will be a category A prison. SSU’s are used for the absolute idiots, or for very major criminals, or for terrorists. We have had terrorism from Irish nationalism for decades and only recently has it calmed down, result is that we had to develop incarceration that could handle them. They may hold unconvicted prisoners, usually terrorists, or others who are likely to have escape assistance attempts made from outside the prison. The higher the security rating of a prison or unit, the greater the costs of operating per inmate place. There is a huge incentive to downgrade prisoners to a lower level if possible, and many prisoners would appear to fit somewhere between two categories. This is most noticeable between Category B and Category C prisoners, and the result is that slowly, over time, Category B prisoners find their way into Category C prisons, as this is where the majoirty of incarceration placements are avalaible. Result is that Cat C prisons do not have the manning levels to deal with this breed of prisoner, and rely much more on physical security such as fences walls and gates, rather than on dynamic security such as staffing, and other methods. It’ll go pear shaped one day, and the inquiry will still not be able to pin the responsibilty on anyone, because the costs of rectification(huge staff recruitment drive) will be huge.