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United States Penitentiary, Marion From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois.

The United States Penitentiary is a medium-security prison located in Marion, Illinois. It was built in 1963 to replace Alcatraz, which closed the same year. Contents

   * 1 History
   * 2 The prison
   * 3 Notable inmates
   * 4 References
   * 5 External links

History

Opened in 1963, Marion became the United States' highest security prison by 1978. The facility became the nation's first control unit when violence forced a permanent lockdown in 1983. Marion was one of two Supermax prisons in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the other being ADX Florence in Colorado. The penitentiary was subsequently downgraded to a medium-security facility in September 2006.

The prison was originally constructed to hold 500 inmates. In 1968, a behavior modification program was implemented, called Control and Rehabilitation Effort, or CARE. Inmates placed in CARE wound up either in solitary confinement, or were subjected to "group therapy", which involved psychological sessions.

On October 22, 1983, two correctional officers, Merle E. Clutts and Robert L. Hoffman, were killed by inmates at the unit. Clutts was stabbed by Thomas Silverstein. The lockdown of all inmates was imposed on October 27, 1983.

On November 11, 1998, a fire swept through K-Unit, killing a dozen inmates on Death Row. Investigation found that a contractor had installed some faulty wiring.

In March 2005, the federal government announced the inmate population at Marion would double by 2006, from 432 to upwards of 800 inmates.

The prison

Marion has an all-male inmate population. The prison is located approximately nine miles outside of Marion, which is roughly 300 miles from Chicago. The facility also controls a minimum-security camp nearby.

Permanent lockdown, where prisoners remain in their cells 20 hours a day with little to no human contact, occurred in 1983 following the aforementioned incident. Most prisoners spend three to five years at Marion. Before being transferred to any other prison, they must exhibit good behavior.

The prison consists of nine living units, B through I, and K. The H-Unit holds prisoners who are in long-term segration. The I-Unit holds prisoners who are in administrative or segregated custody. The K-Unit is also referred to as the Director's Unit. Inmates held here are by order of the Director of the Bureau of Prisons.

The cells at Marion are six feet by eight feet. Beds consist of concrete slabs with pads atop them.

Notable inmates

   * John Gotti - (1940-2002) - American mobster and head of the Gambino crime family.
   * Chevie Kehoe - (1973- ) - convicted white supremacist
   * Tom Manning - convicted bomber and murderer
   * Leonard Peltier - (1944- ) - Native American activist and convicted murderer (served at Marion June 1, 1977-1985)
   * Jonathan Pollard - Israeli spy
   * Pete Rose - (1941- ) - athlete charged with filing false income tax returns (served August 8, 1990 through January 7, 1991)
   * Christopher John Boyce (1953- ) - Soviet spy
   * Thomas Silverstein - convicted murderer
   * John Anthony Walker (1937- ) - Soviet spy