European Court: U.S. Supermax Prison Not ‘Inhumane’

Lawyers for al-Qaida terrorist Abu Hamza and five other men indicted on terror charges argued before a European court that they would face “inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment” if extradited to the United States and jailed at the Supermax prison in Colorado.

But the Strasbourg, France-based European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the facility provides prisoners with more generous services and activities than do most prisons in Europe.

The attorneys had argued that incarcerating the men at the Supermax (super-maximum security) facility in Florence, Colo. — officially called the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum and also known as ADX Florence — would violate article three of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The seven-judge panel ruled unanimously on April 10 that article three would not be violated “as a result of conditions of detention at ADX Florence.”

The panel stated that while inmates at ADX Florence are confined to their cells most of the time, they are also “provided with services and activities (television, radio, newspapers, books, hobby and craft items, telephone calls, social visits, correspondence with families, group prayer) which went beyond what was provided in most prisons in Europe.”

It also noted that some of the prison’s inmates are in a “step-down program.” The program runs on a three-year cycle, with prisoners kept in their cells 23 hours a day for the first year, then gradually allowed more contact with other inmates. In their third year they may be out of their cells for up to 16 hours a day, CNS News reported.

According to a Federal Bureau of Prisons document, inmates can receive five visits a month, with up to three visitors each time. Visits can last a maximum of seven hours.

Inmates may also play basketball, handball, and table games, and purchase snacks, toiletries, stationery, games, batteries, digital radios, and prayer rugs, according to CNS News.

Inmates serving life sentences at ADX Florence include “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski, so-called shoe bomber Richard Reid, 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Ramzi Yousef, and Oklahoma City co-conspirator Terry Nichols.

Abu Hamza is charged with funding al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan and helping a group that kidnapped 16 Western tourists in Yemen in 1998. Four hostages died.

He and the other five terror suspects are currently behind bars in Britain. They have three months to appeal the court’s decision before a final ruling is handed down.