But questions about the need for grim places like this have been raised ever since Supermax opened its doors in late 1999, and those questions are as legitimate now as they were then. Attorneys with the National Prison Project, operated by the American Civil Liberties Union, have targeted the Supermax and a similar prison in Virginia for violating the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment. Conditions at the Supermax, these attorneys argue, are so harsh that they would not be allowed under the Geneva Convention for a prisoner of war camp, which may or may not be hyperbole. Regardless, lawyers for the project have joined local attorneys in a class-action lawsuit by Supermax inmates that is now in federal court. Most of Supermax's 350 inmates spend about 23 hours a day by themselves in small, extremely Spartan, windowless cells, although many cells do have TVs with limited programming.
Inmates are able through responsible behavior to progressively gain more privileges and freedom.
But as admittedly hard as conditions at Supermax are, Warden Gerald Berge and Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher deny it's the hellish place some critics say. Thirty-seven inmates have graduated to levels 4 and 5, the levels with the least restrictions. Guards awaken inmates during the night only if they refuse to follow the rules by sleeping with their backs to cell doors so guards can't see their faces. The cells aren't air-conditioned, but neither are lots of homes, offices and factories. They are heated and well-ventilated, however.