How to Survive a Supermax Prison

4 min read

The guards shut the door behind you. This freezing cell, a maximum of 2.1 x 3.6 m (7 x 12 ft), could be your home for the rest of your life. The only natural light is slivers that come through a small, thin window. And the only people you’ll talk to will be in your dreams, or should I say nightmares.

United States Prison Florence ADMAX, sometimes called ADX, is one of the most impenetrable prisons in the world. Also known as “the Alcatraz of the Rockies,” this prison is near the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Its dreaded H-Unit, or Special Security Unit, is the most restrictive and the hardest to survive.

Since ADX opened in 1994, at least six prisoners have committed suicide. No one has successfully escaped this prison. In this unique administrative maximum security facility, you’d stay in your cell for almost 23 hours each day. The only hour that you’d be allowed outside would be in a recreation cage.

How can you prevent hallucinations? Why should you quit consuming sugar? What is the one thing you should never do in this prison?

Step 1. Don’t Let Your Brain Shrink

Supermax prisons are known for putting inmates in borderline torturous solitary confinement. Researchers state that the stress caused by confinement can shrink parts of the brain that are responsible for memory and controlling emotions. If you develop spiritual strength, it may help give you a sense of purpose. Finding religious faith, becoming more devout or taking strength from other belief systems could help you cope with your life in prison.

Step 2. Keep it to yourself

Remember, “snitches get stitches”. And in ADX, you’ll be within feet of some of the most notorious and dangerous criminals alive. That includes Barry Mills, the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood, and notorious Mexican cartel leader “El Chapo”.

Maybe solitary confinement doesn’t sound so bad with these despicable neighbors. But whenever you’re allowed any brief form of socialization, it’s best to mind your own business. The one thing you should never, ever do in prison is give information on other inmates to the guards and authorities.

Step 3. Develop a Routine

One of the best things you can do to stay sane in supermax is to avoid stress. I know it sounds impossible given the conditions, but you can develop strategies to relieve your stress. Building a routine and sticking to it might do the trick.

Shujaa Graham was wrongfully convicted and found solace in routine while on Death Row in San Quentin Prison. He woke up at 5 a.m. every day and exercised. Then Graham sponged himself clean. Later in the day, he meditated.
That kept him going until he was exonerated and released in 1981.

Step 4. Keep daydreaming

Life in a supermax prison will not be the life you dreamed about, but that doesn’t mean you should quit dreaming.
Michael Jewell served 40 years in prison, including seven years in solitary confinement. He used to kill time for hours by working out detailed visualizations of himself in a vivid alternate reality where he could enjoy being in open spaces and talking with people. Creating mental images can stimulate certain parts of the brain that help with mental activities, abstract thoughts and motor control. You might even imagine things that feel real.

Step 5. Don’t eat sugar

Mental illness is common among incarcerated people. Around 55% of male and 73% of female inmates in the U.S. suffer from some form of it. Adding solitary confinement to the mix only worsens these conditions. Three-quarters of all isolated prisoners report symptoms of psychosis, such as hallucinations.

Some inmates pass the time by eating junk food. But don’t do that. While comfort food might provide momentary relief from your reality, those sugar-driven endorphins will only worsen any symptoms of mental illness that you have.

Your vitamin and mineral levels could get too low, since they come from whole foods. Experienced inmates recommend that you do your best to stay healthy. You survived a Supermax prison. As you behaved so well, you were transferred to a less restrictive facility. But it is crowded. And it’s easy to run afoul of the wrong people. Some people say that surviving might depend on the things you do in your first 24 hours in prison.