In five pages this report examines U.S. 'Super Max' facilities or prisons that provide super maximum security with supporting and opposing views offered. Six sources are cited in the bibliography.
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voiced their opinions. In 1997, the popular television news program "60 Minutes" produced a piece about Pelican Bay in California which drew an outraged response from one sector of the
American public who asked how such an institution could exist in America, while another sector applauded the implementation of such facilities. Other supermax facilities have also received a great deal
of attention and groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch have openly condemned the ways in which those incarcerated at such facilities are treated. What
may be one of the most useful considerations for the student researching this topic is making the determination of how he or she feels about such prisons. A personal opinion
is certain to influence the researchers findings since it is such a controversial topic. Explaining a Supermax According to Human Rights Watch (2003): "There are currently more than twenty thousand
prisoners in the United States, nearly two percent of the prison population, housed in special super-maximum security facilities or units" (Internet source). Abramsky (2002) offers more specific numbers: "... more
than 8,000 prisoners in California and at least 42,000 around the country, by the conservative estimate of the Corrections Yearbook, are currently held in similar conditions of extreme confinement" (pp.
26). Abramsky details those numbers further by adding that, as of 2000, Texas had 16 supermax prisons and supermax units, which contain approximately 10,000 inmates and Florida supermax facilities housed
approximately 7,000 (pp. 26). These supermax prisons and supermax units in more traditional facilities control every component of their inmates lives, even more so than "normal" prisons. In the typical
supermax setting, an inmate spends at least 23 hours of every day alone in a small, often windowless cell. They do not have access to educational resources, recreational facilities, or