On October 22, 1983, two prison guards, Merle E.
Clutts and Robert L. Hoffman, were killed in
separate incidents, both to the hands of Aryan
Brotherhood members. Clutts was stabbed by
Thomas Silverstein. The prison was, at the time,
the holding place for the Federal Bureau of
Prisons' most dangerous prisoners. Despite this,
two inmates were able independently to kill
their accompanying guards. Relatively lax
security procedures allowed a prisoner, while
walking down a hall, to turn to the side and
approach a particular cell. An accomplice would
subsequently unlock his handcuffs with a stolen
key and provide him with a knife. As a result of
the incident, the prison in Marion went into
"permanent lockdown," and was completely
transformed into a "control unit" prison. This
penal construction and operation theory, since
named supermax (a portmanteau of super
and maximum) calls for the keeping of
inmates in solitary confinement between
twenty-two and twenty-three hours each day, and
does not allow congregate dining, exercising, or
religious services. These practices were used as
administrative measures to keep prisoners under
control.
