What is Day to Day Life Like in a Maximum Security Prison?

Factual Questions
21

I show my ID to the officer at the front desk, even tho he has seen me thousands of times before. No valid ID, no access. At least not without lots of form-filling out, then you have to wear a temporary badge which reads"visitor" on it, but it’s pronounced “dumbass, you forgot your ID”.

I put my lunch thru the x-ray machine, and once that’s cleared, I go thru two electronic security doors, neither controlled by me. Then I pull my keys (the keys give me access to doors, drawers, and cabinets in my office area), go thru another secure, controlled door, then walk outside for about an eighth of a mile, to the main complex. Two more secure doors are then opened for me in sequence (if the officers recognize me and my right to be there), then down to the hall to the “Health Unit”, thru that secure door (officer controlled, again) and I pick up my “man down button” (which will summon help in the form of a dozen uniformed officers if I push it) and clip it on. then one more secure door to be passed thru, then I’m in the working part of my health unit. Doors here I have keys to open.

Then I…

oops! you want to know what it’s like for the inmates! Sorry! :wink:

There are good descriptions of that in this thread already.

SuperMax is a good place to keep inmates who are not safe from other inmates. Jeffrey Dahmer would most likely be alive today if he’d been in Supermax.

Otherwise, I’m no SuperMax fan.

22

Qagdop, do you have the Spider System?

The man down alarms at the prison where Hubby works are triggered not only when someone hits the button, but they also have impact sensors and will also trigger an alarm if the person wearing it falls to the ground.

[funny story hijack] One of those alarms went off at my husband’s prison, and the locator screen told them that the officer was in the basement utility tunnels. Dozens of people raced down to try to assist the officer, but he/she was nowhere to be found. Panic ensued as people started imagining that the officer might have been killed and hidden somewhere in the tunnels.

They finally found the officer to whom the alarm belonged. He was in one of the bathrooms, desperately trying to plunge a toilet to bring up the alarm which he had accidentally flushed.[/fsh]

23

Nope, no spider system, Lissa.

But we have had a man down button go off in the staff washroom, when it was attached to the pants pocket and hit the floor. Fortunately it wasn’t mine.

Nothing like attracting a large, concerned audience when visiting the commode.

24

Actually, I find Qadgop’s description of his work day quite interesting, and I would like to hear more. I know he works as a doctor in a maximum security prison (supermax?), and I’ve already read a few posts about this by him, but I’m interested in knowing more. So, Qadgop, other than what you’ve said up to now, what is your work day like? How many patients do you usually see? Are there other doctors in your prison? What kinds of medical problems do you mostly see? Do your patients often try to assault you? If there are other things you can say about your job, I’d kind of like to hear them. (Or if you already posted a “Ask the prison physician” thread, you may post to it, but I didn’t find it with a quick search.)

25

Ask the Prison Physician should give you some idea of what my life is like. Feel free to ask other questions, tho if we pursue them far, we probably should do it in a separate thread.

Briefly, I take care of the more complex patients, and do administration. My provider staff consists of 5 other doctors, two physician assistants, and two nurse practitioners. Our prison is maximum, not supermax. A bucketload of nurses and other assistant types help out. We’re the intake center. Anyone sentenced to do time in our state prison system comes to us first, for assessment & evaluation, including medical. We do over 8000 intake physical exams a year, and identify problems, and figure out how to take care of them. HIV, Hepatitis C, diabetes, asthma, hypertension, heart disease, emphysema, and seizures are common significant medical problems. Low back pain and inability to sleep without drugs are common complaints.

We take care of their medical needs, and inform them that what they perceive as a need (Doc, I need oxys for my pain, nothing else works) will often not match what we perceive as their needs. This can lead to unhappiness and law suits, but oh well.

I feel safer working in prison than I felt working in a lot of hospitals and clinics that I’ve worked in over the years.

Enough of the hijack. :wink:

26

Thanks for the answer and the thread, Qadgop! I looked at your list of threads, but this one has been removed from the index. I’ll be checking it.

27

A Canadian Perspective
After 17 years experience I can give the following account of a Canadian Maximum Security Institution (formally a SHU / Special Handling Unit or what you guys refer to as a “Super-Max”)

Millhaven Institution is a maximum security institution located in Bath, Ontario.
We house approx 700 inmates in 3 units.

To be fair, Millhaven is actually 2 separate institutions under one roof.
2 of M.I.’s units are dedicated to the regional reception centre, while the 3rd unit is the MSU (Maximum Security Unit)

The entire facility is maximum security, be we have to be able to differentiate between the MSU and the MAU (Millhaven Assessment Unit)

Every person who resides in Ontario who is sentenced by a judge to a prison term of 2 years or more, is sent to Millhaven Institution and placed in the MAU for a period of 6-8 weeks.
The MAU assesses the inmate’s needs and decides which federal institution would best manage this offender. By this we look at which facility would best offer the level of security and programs the inmate requires.
Not every inmate requires maximum security.
The higher the security. The higher the cost of incarceration.

I am a senior Correctional Officer in the Maximum Security Unit across the hall from the MAU, we hold 138 inmates on 5 ranges.
One inmate to a cell in the MSU, and all movement is slow, controlled, and supervised by armed control posts.

The majority of MSU inmates are serving a life sentence, and the majority of MSU inmates require the high level of security placed on them.

07:00 : feeding begins. When everyone is behaving, we open half a range at a time (14 cells), they proceed down to a servery line up, get their meal tray and return to their cells.
Then we let the next half range out until all 5 ranges are fed.

During trouble, we feed ¼ range at a time, and there have been times we feed 2 at a time, but this takes the entire morning.

08:30 : Major movement, any inmates who work in other areas of the institution are allowed to go to work.
We move 12 at a time. The inmates walk thru a long hallway, passing guards in a armed control post and arrive at a central area (the hub of the wheel), here if they have any loose effects, they are searched, hand frisked, and sent through a metal detector.
There is also another large armed control post here in case trouble breaks out, as well as 6 Correctional Officers on the floor with them to control movement.

11:30 : Inmates return from work to their cells
12:00 Count is taken and verified correct
12:15 : Feeding Begins
13:00 : Inmates return to work (the ones who don’t work remain locked in their cells)
15:00 : Inmates return to their cells from work
16:00: Formal Count
17:00 Feeding begins
18:00 Count
18:15 : a “random selection of cells are searched by the i/c of the unit and his staff while the inmates are all locked up in their cells.
18:45 : inmates who want to go to yard and weight pit are allowed to do so, the rest remain locked on their ranges where they can shower 2 at a time, and one can be on the phone.
20:30: inmates return to their cells from yard for count
21:00 : inmates allowed to go to gym and weight pit
22:30 inmates return to their cells
23:00 count (all cells are locked for the evening)

The majority of the time is used conducting major movement.
Anytime 2 or more inmates move from one area of the institution to another, this is called “major movement because the rest of the Institution is essentially locked in its own unit while MSU moves.

Each armed post contains 2 or 3 CO’s, one pushes buttons which opens and closes barriers, while one is watching the movement while holding a AR-15 rifle.
The CO inside the control post must also coordinate with the IC of the unit, and the ic of the other areas to make sure the movement is welcome and everyone is ready.

MSU houses inmates which can’t be housed or managed at a lesser security institution, and also, if an inmate kills or seriously inures someone while they are with us, their last stop is the SHU (Special Handling Unit) Here they are locked in their cells for approx 23 hours per day, and only let out for shower and exercise in a small yard.
Even the movements are done all remotely; a guard isn’t even in the same vicinity as the inmate.

Perhaps after a year or so, with good behavior, he will then be sent to a MAX unit again to see if he can abide by the rules.

Regards
Gus