Town Residents Aren't Worried, But Guards Are
By R. Scott Rappold
McClatchey Newspapers
Thursday, December 21, 2006
FLORENCE, Colo. -- You can't see Supermax from the highway, but everyone knows it's there.
The prison, hidden by the rolling slopes of the high desert 50 miles south of Colorado Springs, houses 400 of the most dangerous inmates in the federal system -- psychopaths, gang leaders, Mafia bosses, multiple murderers and terrorists, including Eric Rudolph, Ramzi Yousef and Zacarias Moussaoui.
Daniel Garcia, who runs the Super 8 Motel a few minutes' dash from the prison, doesn't worry about one of Supermax's notorious inmates escaping and becoming his problem. "The ones that are really dangerous, I don't think they've got much of a chance of walking away," he said.
After all, it's the most secure prison in the nation. Or is it?
Although it was once taken as an article of faith that Supermax -- one of four federal prisons at the complex and officially known as ADX Florence -- is as secure as anyplace on Earth, some aren't so sure now.
The union representing prison guards is raising alarms about staff cuts. A federal report revealed inadequate scanning of terrorists' mail, and an arbitrator agreed that staff cuts had made the prison dangerous for employees.
The presence of a couple of dozen terrorists, while the war against Islamic extremists goes on around the globe, has made prison security a cause celebre for Colorado's U.S. senators, who have toured the facility and pushed for more staff and a perimeter fence.
But on the streets of Florence, there is little concern about a terrorist breaking out -- or his fellow terrorists breaking in.
"If they break out, they're running like crazy," Gail Clairemont said while shopping recently in a Florence coffee shop.
Across the street, gallery owner Rudl Mergelman doesn't lose sleep about Florence's notorious celebrities.
"The people from out of town are really more concerned about it than we are," he said.
Among those who think the danger has been overblown is the man who once was responsible for making sure Supermax lived up to its name.
"No one's getting out of the Supermax, period. End of story," said Robert Hood, warden of Supermax from 2002 to 2005.
Even union officials concede that an escape is unlikely. But they say staff cuts have made the prison dangerous for employees and vulnerable to attack from the outside.
This year, a federal arbitrator agreed.
The evidence, the arbitrator wrote, is clear: 3,147 critical shifts left unfilled; some housing units unsupervised for entire shifts; cells no longer being regularly searched; a rise in assaults on staff and threats of assaults by inmates angry they can't get their one hour per day of recreation; two murders at the prison in two months last year, after a decade without any.
Suddenly, the issue was viewed as more than union blustering over staff cuts.
"One of the problems we run into as a union is we're always dismissed as trying to pad federal jobs," said Mike Schnobrich, a correctional officer and secretary/treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prison Locals 1302. "We've been saying from the beginning this is not just a management-labor issue. This is a good-government issue."
Federal officials have acknowledged the problem and recently hired or will hire 18 staff members, bringing the total to at least 208 -- still fewer than the 240 the prison had when it opened in the mid-1990s.
The union says it is not enough and has filed a charge of unfair labor practice, saying the prison has not followed the arbitrator's order to create a safe workplace.
"We're talking about a continuing problem," Schnobrich said. "We can't wait two years for budgets to kick in and talk about how to make this facility more safe."
The lack of a fence around the complex has become the central issue for the lawmakers who have taken an interest in the Supermax. Sens. Ken Salazar (D) and Wayne Allard (R) have sought $12 million for a new fence.
State Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen (D) believes a fence would slow down not only an escapee, but anyone trying to break in, such as Islamic extremists bent on rescuing an imprisoned comrade.
The union, although it supports a perimeter fence, agrees it would not be a complete solution. "A fence isn't going to solve every problem we have out here for security," Schnobrich said.
Despite the clamor, many in Florence are against the idea of a fence as an unnecessary blight that would only draw attention to the massive federal prison.
"I don't have any particular concern about somebody getting out of Supermax. I've toured that facility twice," said Fremont County Commissioner Ed Norden (R). "A lot has been said about having a perimeter fence around the entire complex. I hope they give that some careful study."
He is more concerned that local police and emergency officials can't communicate with the prisons by radio. During one escape from the complex -- though not from the Supermax -- police didn't find out until after the inmate had been recaptured.
The Supermax warden, R. Wiley, declined an interview request. Prison spokeswoman Krista Rear, responding to questions in writing, said, "While a perimeter fence around the several buildings that comprise the Florence complex would enhance security, other measures can be taken in lieu of or in addition to the fence that would also assist in limiting access to the property." She did not elaborate.
The presence of terrorists has focused attention on the prison, but former warden Hood said they might not even be the most dangerous inmates at the complex.
Although Supermax is meant to be a transition facility, where inmates can earn through good behavior a transfer to other prisons, the terrorists are probably there to stay -- as much for their own protection as for society's.
"How could you take, anytime in the future, [1993 World Trade Center bomber] Ramzi Yousef and put him on the grounds of Leavenworth and let him walk around every day?" Hood said.
"They can stand on their heads every day for the next 50 years, and they're not going anywhere."
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