How the newest federal prison became one of the deadliest

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/31/1100954134/federal-prison-deaths-usp-thomson-illinois-prison

Officials claimed that opening Thomson would make federal prisons safer by relieving dangerous overcrowding. But an investigation by The Marshall Project and NPR found that the newest U.S. penitentiary has quickly become one of the deadliest, with five suspected homicides and two alleged suicides since 2019.

"It's beyond egregious," said Jack Donson, a corrections consultant and former Federal Bureau of Prisons official. "When you look at the policy and goals of the Special Management Unit, it blows my mind that there was [even] one homicide."

The Marshall Project and NPR obtained federal prison data and agency documents, reviewed criminal and civil court cases, and interviewed dozens of people with knowledge of Thomson. In stories that echoed with the same visceral details, dozens of men said they lived under the pressing threat of violence from cellmates as well as brutality at the hands of staff. Specifically, many men reported being shackled in cuffs so tight they left scars, or being "four-pointed" and chained by each limb to a bed for hours, far beyond what happens at other prisons and in violation of bureau policy and federal regulations.

Most people in the Special Management Unit are housed in double-celled solitary confinement — almost constant lockdown with another person. The Bureau of Prisons has said double-celling "mitigates suicide risks." But psychologists and prisoners say living in such claustrophobic conditions with another person can be even worse than being alone and often leads to violent outbursts.

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R