Cells In Hell: The 15 Worst Prisons on Earth
The prison system is broken. Most are overcrowded and often work to the convicts favor. But the 15 prisons here will have you thankful that overcrowding is the only issue.
North Korea's Camp 22 works it's prisoners (including women and children) to death...literally; some estimates say up to 2000 die every year. At Venezuela's Maraciabo prison, 130 inmates were either burned or hacked to death with machetes in 1994. Tadmor Prison in Sryia killed over 1000 of it's inmates in 1980.
These are just three of the prisons you’ll find in the pages that follow. If this book doesn't scare you straight, nothing will.
North Korea's Camp 22 works it's prisoners (including women and children) to death...literally; some estimates say up to 2000 die every year. At Venezuela's Maraciabo prison, 130 inmates were either burned or hacked to death with machetes in 1994. Tadmor Prison in Sryia killed over 1000 of it's inmates in 1980.
These are just three of the prisons you’ll find in the pages that follow. If this book doesn't scare you straight, nothing will.
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Excerpt
Introduction
Some prisons are so famous that they become household names. Alcatraz, Sing Sing, Supermax, Pelican Bay, Angola, Bang Kwang, and Petak Island are known all over the world. These prisons are well known because they have a reputation for being tough and, in some cases, escape-proof.
Many prisons are also well known for brutality and violence. Venezuela’s Maracaibo Prison has a reputation for being the world’s most violent prison. Carandiru Penitentiary in Brazil became so infamous that the government tore it down in order to avoid controversy.
A few prisons are so tough that even hardened criminals are afraid to be sentenced to them. Such facilities include the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, Pelican, the federal Supermax maintained by the U.S. Justice Department, and Russia’s Petak Island.
There are also some prisons that are simply huge. Angola and Riker’s Island in New York City are large enough to be considered communities in their own right. The sheer size of those operations makes them notable.
Some prisons are known for controversy, including Guantanamo Bay, Pelican Bay, and Gldani Prison in the nation of Georgia. Guantanamo Bay and Gldani have become the centers of political controversies that have not been resolved.
Worst of all are those prisons that exist solely for the purpose of oppression and depriving innocent people of their freedom. Such facilities include North Korea’s Camp 22, Drapchi Prison in Tibet, and the notorious Tadmoor Prison in Syria. Those prisons house mostly innocent people whose only crime was to oppose a dictatorship.
Yet all of these prisons have one thing in common: They instill fear. At the end of the day the purpose of any prison is the creation of fear. It is that fear that makes prisons so fascinating even to law-abiding citizens. Yes, prisons are typically places of fear, but the prisons listed in this book are among the scariest on Earth.
ADX Supermax
America’s most famous modern prison might be the most secure prison ever built. Even its name strikes fear into the hearts of some of the world’s toughest terrorists and gangsters: Supermax. Supermax has become just as famous as its predecessor, Alcatraz, and just as infamous.
Supermax was built to house prisoners that are too dangerous or violent to be housed in traditional maximum security facilities. The official name of the facility is the Administration Maximum Facility, or ADX. Supermax is actually a nickname for the facility used by the press. It is an abbreviation of the phrase “super maximum security.”
It is located in rural Freemont County, Colo., just outside the town of Florence. Despite what some people think, Supermax is not located in the mountains; instead, it’s in the Arkansas River Valley that is south of Colorado Springs and east of Pueblo. Many people think Supermax is in the mountains because it has the nickname “the Alcatraz of the Rockies,” but in reality, Supermax is about 40 miles from the Rocky Mountains.
Housing the Worst of the Worst
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons built Supermax in 1994 when it realized it was losing control of cellblocks to a violent new generation of criminals. Events that triggered its construction included riots, the murders of two prison guards, and an incident in which three of the men who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 wrote to other terrorists abroad.
The Bureau realized that they needed a new kind of prison for these criminals. The idea was to create a prison in which inmates would be under permanent lockdown. All the prisoners in one section of the facility, called the “control unit,” would be kept in solitary confinement. They would have no contact with other prisoners to protect themselves and others.
Part of the reason for this is to keep those prisoners from being killed in the general population. Another is to prevent gang wars and other violent outbursts. Authorities are afraid that terrorists, gang bosses, spies, and other celebrity criminals will be targeted for death by gang members and other troublemakers if they are in the general population.
Life in Supermax
The big difference between Supermax and a traditional prison is that most of the inmates spend all their time in solitary confinement. Most of the prisoners are there because of the problems they would create in traditional prisons. That includes those with a high risk of escape and prisoners that are violent and uncontrollable.
Life in Supermax is extraordinarily harsh. Prisoners spend almost all their time in 7-foot by 12-foot cells. Each cell contains nothing but a bed, a toilet, and a shower. Food is inserted through a slot in the solid metal door, which means the prisoners never go to a cafeteria to eat. The idea is to keep the prisoners from communicating with each other and organizing themselves into gangs.
The prisoners can only leave their cells for specific purposes, such as to see a lawyer, get medical care, or exercise. They can exercise in a small yard, but that’s the only time they get to see the sun. Most of the prisoners spend all their time in those cells.
Celebrity Inmates
Like Alcatraz, Supermax is famous because many of its inmates are famous, or rather infamous, criminals. Some of the crooks who have taken up residence there are household names.
Famous Supermax inmates and former inmates include:
Unabomber Theodore Kazynski, Oklahoma City bomber Terry L. Nichols, traitorous former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, Zacharias Mossaoui (widely believed to be part of the plot behind the Sept. 11 attacks), Timothy McVeigh (who was executed for the Oklahoma City bombing), Ramzi Yousef (the mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing), Larry Hoover (the boss of the notorious Gangster Disciples gang), and Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham (who are believed to be leaders of the feared Aryan Nation, a racist prison gang). Shoe bomber Richard Reid and Atlanta Olympic bomber Eric Rudolf are also housed there.
A number of prisoners are there because they are also well-known escape artists that have broken out of other prisons. Some of the other criminals housed there are particularly fearsome. Racist cult leader Dwight York is serving a sentence for racketeering, for using his followers as slaves, and for child molestation. Another racist cult leader, Matthew Hale, is serving a 40-year term for hiring a hitman to kill a federal judge. Former federal corrections officer (prison guard) Michael Rudkin is serving a 90-year sentence for having sex with an inmate and trying to hire a hitman to kill a federal agent and his ex-wife.
Other inmates include the leaders of some of the nation’s worst prison gangs, including the Mexican Mafia, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Latin Kings, and the Nuestra Family. Several drug cartel leaders and former Bonanno crime family boss Vincent Basciano are also locked up there.
A Prison That’s Too Tough
Many civil liberties advocates believe that Supermax is too harsh. Their argument is that Supermax violates the United States Constitution, specifically with regard to cruel and unusual punishment. The critics have labeled the solitary confinement program at Supermax as cruel and unusual. These criticisms haven’t convinced U.S. courts to shut the prison down.
Even though it isn’t popular, Supermax will probably stay in operation for the foreseeable future. It exists because the U.S. prison population is so vast that a special prison is needed for criminals that even the prison system cannot control.
Some prisons are so famous that they become household names. Alcatraz, Sing Sing, Supermax, Pelican Bay, Angola, Bang Kwang, and Petak Island are known all over the world. These prisons are well known because they have a reputation for being tough and, in some cases, escape-proof.
Many prisons are also well known for brutality and violence. Venezuela’s Maracaibo Prison has a reputation for being the world’s most violent prison. Carandiru Penitentiary in Brazil became so infamous that the government tore it down in order to avoid controversy.
A few prisons are so tough that even hardened criminals are afraid to be sentenced to them. Such facilities include the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, Pelican, the federal Supermax maintained by the U.S. Justice Department, and Russia’s Petak Island.
There are also some prisons that are simply huge. Angola and Riker’s Island in New York City are large enough to be considered communities in their own right. The sheer size of those operations makes them notable.
Some prisons are known for controversy, including Guantanamo Bay, Pelican Bay, and Gldani Prison in the nation of Georgia. Guantanamo Bay and Gldani have become the centers of political controversies that have not been resolved.
Worst of all are those prisons that exist solely for the purpose of oppression and depriving innocent people of their freedom. Such facilities include North Korea’s Camp 22, Drapchi Prison in Tibet, and the notorious Tadmoor Prison in Syria. Those prisons house mostly innocent people whose only crime was to oppose a dictatorship.
Yet all of these prisons have one thing in common: They instill fear. At the end of the day the purpose of any prison is the creation of fear. It is that fear that makes prisons so fascinating even to law-abiding citizens. Yes, prisons are typically places of fear, but the prisons listed in this book are among the scariest on Earth.
ADX Supermax
America’s most famous modern prison might be the most secure prison ever built. Even its name strikes fear into the hearts of some of the world’s toughest terrorists and gangsters: Supermax. Supermax has become just as famous as its predecessor, Alcatraz, and just as infamous.
Supermax was built to house prisoners that are too dangerous or violent to be housed in traditional maximum security facilities. The official name of the facility is the Administration Maximum Facility, or ADX. Supermax is actually a nickname for the facility used by the press. It is an abbreviation of the phrase “super maximum security.”
It is located in rural Freemont County, Colo., just outside the town of Florence. Despite what some people think, Supermax is not located in the mountains; instead, it’s in the Arkansas River Valley that is south of Colorado Springs and east of Pueblo. Many people think Supermax is in the mountains because it has the nickname “the Alcatraz of the Rockies,” but in reality, Supermax is about 40 miles from the Rocky Mountains.
Housing the Worst of the Worst
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons built Supermax in 1994 when it realized it was losing control of cellblocks to a violent new generation of criminals. Events that triggered its construction included riots, the murders of two prison guards, and an incident in which three of the men who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 wrote to other terrorists abroad.
The Bureau realized that they needed a new kind of prison for these criminals. The idea was to create a prison in which inmates would be under permanent lockdown. All the prisoners in one section of the facility, called the “control unit,” would be kept in solitary confinement. They would have no contact with other prisoners to protect themselves and others.
Part of the reason for this is to keep those prisoners from being killed in the general population. Another is to prevent gang wars and other violent outbursts. Authorities are afraid that terrorists, gang bosses, spies, and other celebrity criminals will be targeted for death by gang members and other troublemakers if they are in the general population.
Life in Supermax
The big difference between Supermax and a traditional prison is that most of the inmates spend all their time in solitary confinement. Most of the prisoners are there because of the problems they would create in traditional prisons. That includes those with a high risk of escape and prisoners that are violent and uncontrollable.
Life in Supermax is extraordinarily harsh. Prisoners spend almost all their time in 7-foot by 12-foot cells. Each cell contains nothing but a bed, a toilet, and a shower. Food is inserted through a slot in the solid metal door, which means the prisoners never go to a cafeteria to eat. The idea is to keep the prisoners from communicating with each other and organizing themselves into gangs.
The prisoners can only leave their cells for specific purposes, such as to see a lawyer, get medical care, or exercise. They can exercise in a small yard, but that’s the only time they get to see the sun. Most of the prisoners spend all their time in those cells.
Celebrity Inmates
Like Alcatraz, Supermax is famous because many of its inmates are famous, or rather infamous, criminals. Some of the crooks who have taken up residence there are household names.
Famous Supermax inmates and former inmates include:
Unabomber Theodore Kazynski, Oklahoma City bomber Terry L. Nichols, traitorous former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, Zacharias Mossaoui (widely believed to be part of the plot behind the Sept. 11 attacks), Timothy McVeigh (who was executed for the Oklahoma City bombing), Ramzi Yousef (the mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing), Larry Hoover (the boss of the notorious Gangster Disciples gang), and Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham (who are believed to be leaders of the feared Aryan Nation, a racist prison gang). Shoe bomber Richard Reid and Atlanta Olympic bomber Eric Rudolf are also housed there.
A number of prisoners are there because they are also well-known escape artists that have broken out of other prisons. Some of the other criminals housed there are particularly fearsome. Racist cult leader Dwight York is serving a sentence for racketeering, for using his followers as slaves, and for child molestation. Another racist cult leader, Matthew Hale, is serving a 40-year term for hiring a hitman to kill a federal judge. Former federal corrections officer (prison guard) Michael Rudkin is serving a 90-year sentence for having sex with an inmate and trying to hire a hitman to kill a federal agent and his ex-wife.
Other inmates include the leaders of some of the nation’s worst prison gangs, including the Mexican Mafia, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Latin Kings, and the Nuestra Family. Several drug cartel leaders and former Bonanno crime family boss Vincent Basciano are also locked up there.
A Prison That’s Too Tough
Many civil liberties advocates believe that Supermax is too harsh. Their argument is that Supermax violates the United States Constitution, specifically with regard to cruel and unusual punishment. The critics have labeled the solitary confinement program at Supermax as cruel and unusual. These criticisms haven’t convinced U.S. courts to shut the prison down.
Even though it isn’t popular, Supermax will probably stay in operation for the foreseeable future. It exists because the U.S. prison population is so vast that a special prison is needed for criminals that even the prison system cannot control.
