ADX (Administrative Maximum): Florence

David A. Ward

Administrative Maximum (ADX), the highest security federal penitentiary, is located on a government reservation in Florence, Colorado. When Florence was built, it was the Bureau of Prisons' (BOP) first correctional complex . On the grounds adjacent to ADX are minimum-, medium-, and maximum-security prisons. ADX is the third in a line of federal high-security penitentiaries that began with Alcatraz (1934–1963). From 1963 to 1978, BOP officials dispersed problem prisoners among several standard penitentiaries rather than concentrating “the worst of the worst” in one small special purpose prison. The return to the concentration model began with the transfer of the system's most serious disciplinary problems to the federal penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, which opened in 1963. Ten years later, in 1973, a Control Unit within Marion was established in which inmates moved only in restraints and escorted by several officers. No congregate activities were allowed for these prisoners who were regarded ...

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