Judge blocks Trump administration from moving former death row inmates to ‘Supermax’ prison
WASHINGTON– A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from transferring 20 commuted death row inmates to the nation’s most secure federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled Wednesday evening that the government cannot send former death row inmates to the federal “Supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado, because it would likely violate their due process rights under the Fifth Amendment.
Kelly cited evidence that Republican administration officials had “made it clear” to the Federal Bureau of Prisons that inmates were to be sent to ADX Florence — “maximum administration” — to punish them because Democratic President Joe Biden had commuted their death sentences.
“At least for now, they will continue to serve life sentences for their heinous crimes where they are currently imprisoned,” 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 commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their sentences to life imprisonment.
On his first day back in office, Trump issued an executive order ordering Attorney General Pam Bondi to house the 37 detainees “in conditions consistent with the monstrosity of their crimes and the threats they pose.”
Twenty of the 37 inmates are plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed before Kelly, who issued a preliminary injunction blocking their transfer to Florence while the trial continues. All were incarcerated in Terre Haute, Indiana, when Biden commuted their death sentences.
Government lawyers argued that the office has broad authority to decide which facilities inmates should be redesignated to after their commutation.
The judge concluded that the inmates were not given a meaningful opportunity to challenge their re-designation 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 right protected by the Due Process Clause — whether that person is a notorious prisoner or a law-abiding citizen — the process it provides cannot be a sham,” Kelly wrote.
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 Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers say inmates there live alone, eat meals and shower in cells the size of a parking space.
Government lawyers said other courts have found the conditions were not objectively cruel and unusual.
