WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� A federal judge has the Trump administration from transferring 20 inmates with commuted death sentences to the nation鈥檚 highest security federal prison, warning that officials cannot employ a 鈥渟ham鈥� process for deciding where to incarcerate the prisoners for the rest of their lives.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled late Wednesday that the government cannot send the former death row inmates to the 鈥淪upermax鈥� federal prison in Florence, Colorado, because it likely would violate their Fifth Amendment rights to due process.
Kelly cited evidence that officials from the Republican administration 鈥渕ade it clear鈥� to the federal Bureau of Prisons that the inmates had to be sent to ADX Florence 鈥� 鈥渁dministrative maximum” 鈥� to punish them because Democratic President Joe Biden had commuted their death sentences.
鈥淎t least for now, they will remain serving life sentences for their heinous crimes where they are currently imprisoned,鈥� wrote Kelly, who was nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump.
In December 2024, less than a month before Trump returned to the White House, Biden on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment.
On his first day back in office, Trump issued an executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to house the 37 inmates 鈥渋n conditions consistent with the monstrosity of their crimes and the threats they pose.鈥�
Twenty of the 37 inmates are plaintiffs in the lawsuit before Kelly, who issued a preliminary injunction blocking their transfers to Florence while the lawsuit proceeds. All were incarcerated in Terre Haute, Indiana, when Biden commuted their death sentences.
Government lawyers argued that the bureau has broad authority to decide what facilities the inmates should be redesignated for after their commutations.
鈥淏OP鈥檚 designation decisions are within its exclusive purview and are intended to preserve the safety of inmates, employees, and surrounding communities,鈥� .
The judge concluded that the inmates have not had a meaningful opportunity to challenge their redesignations because it appears the outcome of the review process was predetermined.
“But the Constitution requires that whenever the government seeks to deprive a person of a liberty or property interest that the Due Process Clause protects 鈥� whether that person is a notorious prisoner or a law-abiding citizen 鈥� the process it provides cannot be a sham,” Kelly wrote.
The Florence prison has housed some of the most notorious criminals in federal custody, including Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Mexican drug lord Joaqu铆n 鈥淓l Chapo鈥� Guzm谩n. The prison is 鈥渦nmatched in its draconian conditions,鈥� the inmates’ attorneys argued.
鈥淭he categorical redesignations challenged here deprived Plaintiffs of an opportunity to show why they should not be condemned to a life bereft of human contact, in a cell the size of a parking spot, where they will see nothing out the window but a strip of sky,鈥� .
Government attorneys said other courts have held that the conditions are not objectively cruel and unusual.
鈥淧laintiffs fail to show that conditions at ADX are atypical for them,鈥� they wrote.
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