Roy Exum
As the jury in the Boston Marathon bomber trial deliberated whether Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should get the death penalty or life in prison yesterday afternoon, it is interesting to note a recent poll showed that while 53 percent of Americans believe the 21-year-old student should die, the death penalty requires that all 12 jurors agreed. If just one opts for life imprisonment, I believe Tsarnaev will suffer a fate worse than death.
By all accounts, Tsarnaev will be taken to Florence, Colorado, and placed in ADX, the super-secure prison known better as “Supermax,” where his mind will slowly crumble away. “As soon as (a prisoner) comes through the door, you can see it in their faces. That’s when it really hits you,” former warden Robert Hood told CNN this week. “When you arrive, you see the beauty of the Rocky Mountains, but once inside, you’ll never see those mountains again.”
Then he took it a step further. “The Supermax is life after death. In my opinion, it is far worse than death.”
It is believed there are about 400 prisoners in Supermax but they never see one another. Each prisoner is kept in solitary confinement, in a 7-foot by 12-foot cell that has a concrete bed, a concrete chair, and a concrete toilet. A thin mattress is on the bed with blankets. There is a single window in most cells, about 42 inches high and 4 inches wide, that lets light in the room but is designed where a prison cannot see anything outside the building. No sky, no grass.
By design, inmates have little contact with guards and staff. For one hour each day they are allowed to exercise in a bare room slightly bigger than their cell. Meals are served through a slot in the door. “The architecture of the building is the control,” said Hood, “I do know that when you put a person in a box for 23 hours of the day and you tell them that’s the rest of your life, that each person has their own coping skills.”
All hope is abandoned.
Laura Rovner, a University of Denver law professor, told CNN, “For many people, being confined in ADX is what will amount to a life sentence and there really is kind of a form of living death. It just takes everything away from you. Your existence is limited to four blank walls in this small cell…and frankly not much else.”
She says it is worse for young people. “Somebody young is a person who is going to be vulnerable, who is going to feel the isolation in ways that are more acute…Tsarnaev is probably going to live a long time. He’s looking at spending the next 50 years in isolation,” she said, adding, “That is almost unfathomable.”
Thomas Silverstein, who has been in prison since 1977 and is the longest-held prisoner in the country, according to the Bureau of Prisons, has been in solitary confinement since 1983 when he killed a prison guard at Marion in Ohio. He spent nine years at ADX and said in an Amnesty International report, “Though I know I want to live and have always been a survivor, I have often wished for death. I know, though, I don’t want to die…what I want is a life in prison where I can fill it with some meaning.” (Silverstein has killed three others in the 38 years he has spent behind bars.)
Among “the worst of the worst” now at Supermax (and, remember, there is no parole in Federal prison), the notables include:
FOREIGN TERRORISTS
Zacarias Moussaoui – A senior member of Al-Qaeda, he planned the 9/11 attacks, and is serving six life sentences.
Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhhalima, Mohammed Salameh, and Eyad Ismoil – Al Qaeda operatives convisted of bombing the World Trade Center in 1994. Yousel is serving two life sentences, Abouhhalima 240 years, Salameh, life sentence, Ismoil, 240 years.
Mohamed Al-Owhali, Wadih el-Hage, Khalfan Mohamed Mohammed, Odel Ahmed Ghailani – Al-Qaeda operatives convicted after 1998 bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. All have life sentences.
Richard Reid – The “Shoe Bomber” who tried to detonate a bomb hidden in his shoe on a flight from Paris to Miami in 2009. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three life sentences plus 110 years.
Umar Abdulmutallah – The “Underwear Bomber” tried to detonate an explosive sewn in his underwear on a Northwest flight on Christmas Day, 2009. He is serving four life sentences plus 50 years.
DOMESTIC TERRORISTS
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali – Convicted in plot to kill George W. Bush on a confession obtained by Saudi Arabian intelligence officers. Abu Ali claimed he was tortured. Sentenced to life.
Theodore Kaczynski – Known as the “Unabomber,” he pleaded guilty to 19 mail bombing from 1978 to 1995, killing three people and wounding 23. Serving eight life sentences.
Terry Nichols – Conspired with Timothy McVeigh (deceased) to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Serving 161 life sentences.
Eric Rudolph – Carried out four bombings between 1996 and 1998, killing two people and injuring 111 others. Avoided capture for five years in the North Carolina mountains, earning the misnomer as “America’s All-Time Hide and Go Seek Champion.” Pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four life sentences.
Faisal Shahzah – Al Qaeda supporters who pleaded guilty to Times Square bombing in 2010. One life sentence.
Naser Jason Abdo – US Army private who refused to deploy to Afghanistan and tried to detonate a bomb at a restaurant near Fort Hood filled with soldiers. Serving two life sentences plus 60 years.
Joseph Konopka – Known as “Dr. Chaos,” caused blackouts in Wisconsin by damaging power substations and stored cyanide in the Chicago subway system. Serving a 13-year sentence with a 2019 release date.
DOUBLE AGENTS
Noshir Gowadia – Principal designer of B-2 Stealth bomber before being found guilty of giving China information on building missiles with stealth technology. Serving 32 year sentence with release date in 2043.
Robert Hanssen – Senior FBI agent passing classified information to Russia for over 20 years in what was called the “worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.” Several U.S. intelligence officers, betrayed, were executed by the Russians. Serving 15 consecutive life sentences.
Walter Myers – An intelligence officer with State Dept., he pleaded guilty in 2009 of conspiracy to commit espionage. Pleaded guilty and was given a life sentence.
Harold Nicholson – Highest-ranking CIA officer ever accused of espionage, he pleaded guilty of passing secrets to the Russians in 1997 and trying to get Russia to pay him in 2010. Serving a 223-year sentence with release date of 2024.
CARTEL LEADERS
Haji Bagcho -- Afghan national and believed to be the largest heroin trafficker in the world. Convicted in 2012, he is serving 20 years to life.
Juan Garcia Abrego – Operated Gulf Cartel, which smuggled thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. from Mexico, Sentenced in 1996, he is serving 11 life sentences.
Osiel Cardenas Guillen – Succeeded Abrego as leader of Gulf Cartel, pleaded guilty of threatening to kill U.S. law enforcement officials, drug trafficking and money laundering. Has served 15 years of a 25-year sentence.
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It appears Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will fit in just fine.
royexum@aol.com