Others have prison disciplinary violations or allegations related to communication and the misuse of telephones etc. According to a BoP spokesperson, the unit “will not be limited to inmates convicted of terrorism-related cases though all of the prisoners fit that description” (5).
Most, but not all of the prisoners (4), have so-called terrorism cases. The unit is overwhelmingly Muslim with 18 men identifying as such. In April 2009, we received seven new people, all of whom were from the CMU at FCI Terre Haute. Currently, the unit has 25, with a capacity of 52 cells. The CMU I reside in, at USP Marion, received its first prisoner in May 2008 and when I arrived, held about 17 men, the majority of whom were Muslim. Let me back up and offer a brief history of the Communication Management Units. In fact, on the way to FCI Sandstone in August 2007, I not only saw the CMU but met one of its residents while in transit. The lawyers, in challenging the application of the terrorist enhancement in my case made the prescient argument that if I receive the enhancement, the Bureau of Prisons (BoP) would use that to place me in the CMU at FCI Terre Haute, Indiana (at the time just 5 months old) (3). Hearing the term “CMU” made my knees buckle as it drummed up some memory I had of the infamous ‘control units’ at Marion (closed in 1995 and replaced by Florence ADX: the lone Federal “Supermax” prison). There was no hearing and no information given to me or my attorneys- only after a day was I told I was on my way to Marion, Illinois’ CMU. After complying I was placed in the SHU (secure housing unit or “hole”) and put on a bus the next day. I was given two boxes and half an hour to pack up my meager possessions. On May 12, 2008, on my way back from a decent lunch, I was told to report to “R&D” (receiving and discharge). My transfer here is no different from that of many of the men here who were living at Federal Correctional Institutions (normal prisons) prior to the genesis of the CMUs. It is best to start from the beginning- or at least where my story and the CMU meet.
It is my hope that this article will partially fill the void of information that exists concerning the CMU, will help dispel rumors, and will inspire you to support those of us on the inside fighting the existence of these isolation units- in the courts and in the realm of public opinion. I want to offer a snapshot of my day-to-day life here as well as some analysis of what the existence of CMUs in the federal prison system implies (1). As of May 2009, I have been at USP Marion’s “Communication Management Unit” or CMU, for roughly nine months and now is a good time to address the misconceptions (and the silence) regarding this unit.
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