If convicted in a US court, the five terror suspects are likely to end up in the harsh 'supermax' prison at Florence, Colorado
Abu Hamza and the other four terror suspects who failed in their bid to prevent extradition to the US are likely, if convicted in an American court, to spend time in solitary confinement at the Alcatraz of the Rockies – the federal "supermax" prison at Florence, Colorado.
Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber", is already among the al-Qaida members serving life sentences at a top security prison, which one former warden has described as "a clean version of hell."
The European court of human rights landmark ruling in April that finally cleared the way for the five to be sent to the US to stand trial turned on whether or not serving sentences of up to 50 years in solitary confinement in this supermax prison would amount to torture or inhumane and degrading treatment. Abu Hamza, because he has no hands and has vision in only one eye, could expect to spend only a short time at Florence before being transferred elsewhere, but it is a highly likely long-term destination for the other four.
Lawyers for the five men did not dispute that its physical conditions – the size of the cells, the kind of lighting, the sanitary facilities – did not breach human rights. Instead they focused on its highly restrictive regime and the almost total lack of human contact.
The regime is designed to prevent all physical contact between an inmate and others and to minimise social interaction with staff. For those in solitary confinement, contact with staff could be as little as one minute a day.
On the basic regime inmates have only 10 hours a week of recreation time outside their cells. Indoor recreations were little more than cages with a single pull-up bar for exercise. All they can do in the outdoor cages is pace up and down. Even these "privileges" can be terminated. One inmate was denied outdoor exercise for 60 days for trying to feed crumbs to birds.
But in evidence to the Strasbourg court, Patricia Rangel, a unit manager at the supermax, told the judges that they could have five social visits a month with no limit on their correspondence with their families. Inmates have in-cell access to 50 television channels and seven radio stations, a copy of USA Today and can speak to inmates in the next cells using the ventilation system as a voice conduit.
The Strasbourg judges said although the inmates were confined to their cells for the vast majority of their time, the range of activities and services provided went far beyond what is provided in many European prisons. They concluded that as they can talk during recreation the isolation they experience is "partial and relative". Another major factor for the judges is the fact that solitary confinement in a supermax cannot be imposed indefinitely and that there is a real possibility even for convicted terrorists to gain entry to "the step down or special security unit programmes" where conditions are less harsh.