Supermax

Supermax is the name used to describe the most secure prisons in the US prison system. The term does not appear to be in use in other countries. In Supermax prisons, inmates are kept in their cells for 23 hours a day and for the one extra hour, they are allowed to be closely escorted to an entertainment area to be able to exercise. In fact, security at Supermax is so tight that often times the number of guards at these prisons actually exceeds the number of inmates. Typically, a Supermax prison sentence cannot be less than 2 years; most serve more.

Basically, Supermax prison inmates are "cut off" from the outside world.

Examples of Supermax inmates include:

• Terry Nichols, conspirator in the Oklahoma City bombing
• Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber
• Lee Boyd Malvo, conspirator in the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks
• John Allen Muhammad, implementator of the Beltway sniper attacks