Life in a maximum security prison:
- Life for an inmate in a maximum security prison is one of severe separation from other inmates and the outside world.
- The prisoners are locked in small, antiseptic cubicles 24/7 without the chance to get out to walk around and exercise.
- A prisoners cell is usually about 70 square feet, about the size of an average bathroom.
- If exercise is an option, prisoners are given a room about the same size as their cell. The only difference between the two being that the exercise room contains a metal chin-up bar.
- An estimated 25,000 Americans are locked away in maximum security penitentiaries across the United States.
Administration:
- Maximum security prison guards and administrative staff have the authority to punish and manage inmates, without outside interference from prisoner grievance systems.
- Rumors are often spread about guards beating and abusing prisoners excessively but usually nothing is reported about the incident to state or government officials.
- Guards who often associate with prisoners use tactics of persuasion that are both physically and mentally harmful to the prisoners.
- Most guards in a maximum security prison are male because they are stronger and are able to deal with inmates easier than women guards.
Visiting Privileges:
- Visitors are not allowed at all high security prisons and to all inmates.
- Prisoners in maximum security prisons with visiting rights have limited hours for relatives and friends to visit them.
- Prisoners must talk to their loved ones through telephones and a glass wall. There is never any kind of physical connection between visitor and prisoner.
- If a prisoner is caught doing something that they should not be doing, they can loose their visiting privileges.