United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute

Last updated

United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute
TerreHauteUSP.jpg
USA Indiana location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in Indiana
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute (the United States)
Location Vigo County, Indiana, U.S.
Coordinates 39°24′45″N87°27′15″W / 39.4126°N 87.4542°W / 39.4126; -87.4542
StatusOperational
Security classHigh-security (with minimum-security prison camp)
Population1,171 (September 2023)
Opened Original Facility: 1940
Current Facility: 2005 [1]
Managed by Federal Bureau of Prisons

The United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute (USP Terre Haute) is a high-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Terre Haute, Indiana. It is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute (FCC Terre Haute) and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. USP Terre Haute houses a Special Confinement Unit for male federal inmates who have been sentenced to death as well as the federal execution chamber. Most inmates sentenced to death by the U.S. federal government are housed in USP Terre Haute prior to execution. FCC Terre Haute is located in the city of Terre Haute, 70 miles (110 km) west of Indianapolis. [2]

Contents

History

A new United States penitentiary was authorized by President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 and established in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1940 on 1,126 acres (4.56 km2) of land. The opening of the prison in this city was partly due to heavy promotion by Terre Haute's Chamber of Commerce, which eventually went on to raise $50,000 to pay for the property on which the prison was built. [3] The residents of Terre Haute initially embraced the prison due to the impression that it would provide jobs to local residents in addition to helping Terre Haute's economy while only housing non-violent offenders. E.B. Swope was the prison's first warden.

The U.S. Public Works Administration issued a $3 million grant to pay for construction of USP Terre Haute in 1938. [3] Construction cost of the institution at the time that it was built was $2,150,000. [3] The architectural design of the prison is a modified telephone pole design with all housing and other facilities opening onto a long central corridor. It was the first penitentiary for adult felons ever to be constructed without a wall. In 2004, the new USP was built on adjoining property, with the old penitentiary becoming the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute.

USP Terre Haute was one of the first federal prisons to emphasize rehabilitation by providing psychological and psychiatric treatment, referring to prisoners by names as opposed to numbers, and allowing prisoners to talk during meals instead of eating in silence. The institution initiated the use of the word "inmate" as opposed to other less-appealing labels such as "convict" or "criminal". It also became one of the first federal prisons to implement educational programs in prisons with sessions devoted to improving the inmates' skills in reading, writing, maths, as well as trades.

Camp 5, part of the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, on the island of Cuba, is reported to have been based on the design of USP Terre Haute. [4]

Facility

USP Terre Haute is a Care Level 3 facility, which means that any inmate sent to Terre Haute who has serious health problems that are not major enough to warrant hospitalization is sent to the USP. This facility is also a tobacco-free institution. This part of the FCC contains six housing units. One of the six housing units is a faith-based unit that can house 125 inmates. When the inmates are not working, they are partaking in faith-based activities. All of the inmates in the USP are allotted seven visit-days a month and 300 minutes of telephone time, which they have to use in increments of 15 minutes or less. The inmates housed here can work at UNICOR, which is a prison industry that makes towels and other accessories for the military. Inmates employed here earn an average of $6.50 to $7.50 a day and some can make up to $12 a day if they are paid by piece as opposed to by the hour.

Death row

On July 19, 1993, the federal government designated USP Terre Haute as the site where federal death sentences would be carried out, including the establishment of the "Special Confinement Unit", the federal death row for men. The Bureau of Prisons modified USP Terre Haute in 1995 and 1996 so it could house death row functions. On July 13, 1999, the Special Confinement Unit at USP Terre Haute opened, and the BOP transferred male federal death row inmates from other federal prisons and from state prisons to USP Terre Haute. [5]

There are currently 40 men on federal death row. [6] [7] The vast majority of these are housed at USP Terre Haute. The federal government chose Terre Haute as the location of the men's death row due to its central location within the United States. [8]

Since 1963, sixteen people have been executed by the United States federal government. All sixteen were executed at USP Terre Haute. Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted for his responsibility for the Oklahoma City bombing, was the first prisoner executed by the U.S. federal government since the national moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in 1976 and the U.S. federal death penalty was reinstated in November 1988. The method of execution used by the federal government is lethal injection.

Notable inmates

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment by the United States federal government</span> Legal penalty in the United States

Capital punishment is a legal punishment under the criminal justice system of the United States federal government. It is the most serious punishment that could be imposed under federal law. The serious crimes that warrant this punishment include treason, espionage, murder, large-scale drug trafficking, or attempted murder of a witness, juror, or court officer in certain cases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Correctional Institution, Leavenworth</span> Civilian federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, near Fort Leavenworth

The Federal Correctional Institution, Leavenworth is a medium-security federal prison for male inmates in northeast Kansas. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. It also includes a satellite federal prison camp (FPC) for minimum-security male offenders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Bureau of Prisons</span> U.S. federal law enforcement agency

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is responsible for all federal prisons and provides for the care, custody, and control of federal prisoners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ADX Florence</span> Federal supermax prison located in Fremont County, Colorado, US

The United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility, commonly known as ADX Florence or the Florence Supermax, is an American federal prison in Fremont County to the south of Florence, Colorado, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. ADX Florence, constructed in 1994 and opened one year later, is classed as a supermax or "control unit" prison, that provides a higher, more controlled level of custody than a regular maximum security prison. ADX Florence forms part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence, which is situated on 49 acres of land and houses different facilities with varying degrees of security, including the adjacent United States Penitentiary, Florence High.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supermax prison</span> Most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries

A super-maximum security (supermax) or administrative maximum (ADX) prison is a "control-unit" prison, or a unit within prisons, which represents the most secure level of custody in the prison systems of certain countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Medical Center, Carswell</span> Womens federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.

The Federal Medical Center, Carswell is a United States federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, for female inmates of all security levels, primarily with special medical and mental health needs. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has a prison camp for minimum-security female inmates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Penitentiary, Coleman</span> High-security United States federal prison in Florida

The United States Penitentiary, Coleman I and II are high-security United States federal prisons for male inmates in Florida. It is part of the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. USP Coleman I was opened in 2001, and in 2004 Clark Construction completed a 555,000-square-foot (51,600 m2) additional component for USP Coleman II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Silverstein</span> American murderer (1952–2019)

Thomas Edward Silverstein was an American criminal who spent the last 42 years of his life in prison after being convicted of four separate murders while imprisoned for armed robbery, one of which was overturned. Silverstein spent the last 36 years of his life in solitary confinement for killing corrections officer Merle Clutts at the Marion Penitentiary in Illinois. Prison authorities described him as a brutal killer and a former leader of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. Silverstein maintained that the dehumanizing conditions inside the prison system contributed to the three murders he committed. He was the longest-held prisoner in solitary confinement within the Bureau of Prisons at the time of his death. Correctional officers refused to talk to Silverstein out of respect for Clutts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Correctional Institution, Lewisburg</span> Medium-security US federal prison for male inmates

The Federal Correctional Institution, Lewisburg is a medium-security United States federal prison in Kelly Township, Pennsylvania, for male inmates. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. An adjacent satellite prison camp houses minimum-security male offenders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Penitentiary, Florence High</span> United States federal prison in Colorado

The United States Penitentiary, Florence High is a high-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. USP Florence High is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence, which is situated on 49 acres (20 ha) of land and houses different facilities with varying degrees of security. It is named "Florence High" in order to differentiate it from the United States Penitentiary, Florence ADMAX, the federal supermax prison located in the same complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute</span> United States federal prison complex

The Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute is a United States federal prison complex for male inmates in Indiana; much of the complex grounds is in Terre Haute, though portions are in unincorporated Vigo County. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice, and consists of two facilities:

David Paul Hammer was an American federal prisoner serving life without possibility of parole. He was sentenced to death on November 4, 1998 for the murder of his cell mate, Andrew Marti. Hammer's federal conviction was vacated in 2005 for the government's Brady violation. After 16 years in isolation on federal death row isolation at Terre Haute prison in Indiana, in 2014 the court resentenced him to life without parole. He was serving his sentence at the ADX Florence, Colorado until his death at Terre Haute in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute</span> Medium-security United States prison in Indiana

The Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute is a medium-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Indiana. It is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has an adjacent satellite prison camp for minimum-security male offenders.

Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution, even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists. In the United States, after an individual is found guilty of a capital offense in states where execution is a legal penalty, the judge will give the jury the option of imposing a death sentence or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. It is then up to the jury to decide whether to give the death sentence; this usually has to be a unanimous decision. If the jury agrees on death, the defendant will remain on death row during appeal and habeas corpus procedures, which may continue for several decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Penitentiary, Beaumont</span> High security prison in Texas, United States

The United States Penitentiary, Beaumont is a high security United States federal prison for male inmates in unincorporated Jefferson County, Texas. It is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Beaumont and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.

A communications management unit (CMU) is a type of self-contained group within a facility in the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons that severely restricts, manages and monitors all outside communication of inmates in the unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Correctional Complex, Coleman</span> United States federal prison in Florida

The Federal Correctional Complex, Coleman is a United States federal prison complex for male inmates in unincorporated Sumter County, Florida, near Wildwood. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a division of the United States Department of Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Penitentiary, Victorville</span> Federal prison in Victorville, California, USA

The United States Penitentiary, Victorville is a high-security United States federal prison for male inmates in California. It is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Victorville and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.

References

  1. ↑ "U.S. Bureau of Prisons dedicates new Terre Haute penitentiary". Terre Haute Tribune-Star. March 8, 2005.
  2. ↑ "BOP: FCI Terre Haute". Bop.gov. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 Taylor, Zach (May 6, 2001), "Penitentiary opened to great fanfare", Tribune-Star
  4. ↑ Catherine Herridge (January 31, 2009). "Inside Guantanamo Bay, a Study in Contrasts". Fox News . Retrieved January 31, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Special Confinement Unit Opens at USP Terre Haute Archived December 3, 2010, at the Wayback Machine ." Federal Bureau of Prisons. July 13, 1999. Retrieved on October 3, 2010.
  6. ↑ "Federal Death Row Prisoners | Death Penalty Information Center". Deathpenaltyinfo.org. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  7. ↑ "The Bureau Celebrates 80th Anniversary Archived May 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine ." Federal Bureau of Prisons. May 14, 2010. Retrieved on October 3, 2010.
  8. ↑ Huppke, Rex W. "EXECUTION: Terre Haute, Ind. dreads execution of Timothy McVeigh." Associated Press at the Southeast Missourian . Friday April 6, 2001. 2A (continued from 1A). Retrieved from Google News (2/16) on October 14, 2010. "The planning for this day began when McVeigh was moved to Terre Haute along with the 19 other federal death row inmates in 1999[...]"

Further reading


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.