United States Penitentiary, Marion

It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has an adjacent satellite prison camp that houses minimum security male offenders.

United States Penitentiary, Marion

Location	Southern Precinct, Williamson County, near Marion, Illinois
Coordinates	37°39′47″N 88°59′3″W / 37.66306°N 88.98417°W / 37.66306; -88.98417
Status	Operational
Security class	Medium-security (with minimum-security prison camp)
Population	1,298 [1,117 at the USP, 181 in prison camp] (September 2023)
Opened	1963
Managed by	Federal Bureau of Prisons
Warden	Daniel Sproul

USP Marion in Southern Illinois is approximately 9 miles (14 km) south of the city of Marion, Illinois, 300 miles (480 km) south of Chicago, and 120 miles (190 km) southeast of St. Louis, Missouri.

USP Marion was built and opened in 1963 to replace the maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, which closed the same year.

High-profile escape attempts

The first escape from USP Marion was on July 21, 1971, when Warren George Briggs leapt over two 15 foot fences and escaped to Kansas City, Missouri via Interstate 57. Four days later, Warren turned himself in to the FBI. He reportedly did this so he could draw attention to his invention, a water desalination process that would enable mankind to purify water at a reasonable cost.

On October 10, 1975, five inmates used an illegal homemade electronic device to open the front gates of the prison. One of them had been an electrician and was assigned to work on the lock mechanisms of all of the doors in the main corridors. He also converted a radio into a remote control, with which he opened all of the doors. The five escapees were all eventually captured and returned to prison, the last one being apprehended in Canada on October 31, 1975.

Two escape attempts occurred in 1978 involving the same inmate, Garrett Brock Trapnell. On May 24, 1978, Trapnell's friend, 43-year-old Barbara Ann Oswald, hijacked a St. Louis based charter helicopter and ordered the pilot, Allen Barklage, to fly to USP Marion. Barklage complied, but he wrestled the gun away from Oswald and fatally shot her while he was landing in the prison yard, thwarting the escape. On December 21, 1978, Oswald's 17-year-old daughter, Robin Oswald, illegally hijacked TWA Flight 541, which was en route from Louisville International Airport to Kansas City International Airport and threatened to detonate dynamite strapped to her body if the pilot did not fly to Williamson County Regional Airport, located only miles from USP Marion. When the pilot landed at the airport in Marion, hundreds of cops showed up, Robin Oswald surrendered to F.B.I. negotiators at the Williamson airport without incident about ten hours later. The dynamite was later found to be fake.

The last escape from the maximum-security prison area was on February 14, 1979, when Lawrence Caldwell, Albert Garza and Howard Zumberge climbed both exterior fences in a dense fog; Caldwell was caught before he could clear the first of the two fences. Both Garza and Zumberge were apprehended three days later near Cypress, hiding in a church basement. During the capture of the escapees, Garza shot Johnson County Sheriff Elry Faulkner in the chest at almost point-blank range; Faulkner, however, was wearing a ballistic vest and only suffered minor bruises. Garza was shot and wounded, but survived and returned to Marion two months later.

Murders of Correction Officers Clutts and Hoffmann

 

 

On October 22, 1983, correctional officers Clutts and Hoffmann were killed in separate incidents only hours apart, both at the hands of members of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white-supremacist prison gang. Officer Clutts was stabbed to death by Thomas Silverstein. While walking down a hall accompanied by Clutts, Silverstein was able to turn to the side and approach a particular cell. The prisoner in that cell subsequently unlocked Silverstein's handcuffs with a stolen key and provided him with a knife. Later that same morning, Officer Hoffmann was stabbed to death by Clayton Fountain, after Hoffmann had pulled Fountain off another officer who was being attacked.

As a result of the murders of Clutts and Hoffmann, USP Marion went into "permanent lockdown" with all inmates locked in their cells for the majority of the day. USP Marion was effectively transformed into a "control unit" prison, also called supermax, or "super-maximum" security. This method of prison operation involves the keeping of inmates in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, and does not allow communal dining, exercising, or religious services.

Years later, Norman Carlson, director of the Bureau of Prisons at the time of the Marion incident, said that as draconian as the permanent lockdown was, he believed it the only way to deal with "a very small subset of the inmate population who show absolutely no concern for human life." He pointed out that the two inmates who killed the guards were already serving multiple life sentences, so adding another would have had no effect. The "control unit" model at Marion was later the basis for ADX Florence, which opened in 1994 as a specifically designed supermax prison.

In 2006, USP Marion's designation was changed to a medium security prison and major renovations were made. The renovations increased Marion's inmate population from 383 to 901.

Although the facility no longer operates as a "supermax" facility, USP Marion is now home to one of two "Communication Management Units" in the federal prison system. The other is at the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, Indiana. The Federal Bureau of Prisons created the Communication Management Unit (CMU) in response to criticism that it had not been adequately monitoring the communications of prisoners. "By concentrating resources in this fashion, it will greatly enhance the agency's capabilities for language translation, content analysis and intelligence sharing," according to the Bureau's summary of the CMU. In a Democracy Now! interview on June 25, 2009, animal rights activist Andrew Stepanian talked about being jailed at the CMU. Stepanian is believed to be the first prisoner released from a CMU.

† Inmates who were released from custody prior to 1982 are not listed on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
†† The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 eliminated parole for most federal inmates. Inmates sentenced for offenses committed prior to 1987 are eligible for parole consideration.

 

 

Foreign citizens who committed or attempted terrorist attacks against United States citizens and interests.

American citizens who committed or attempted terrorist attacks against United States citizens and interests.

Inmate Name	Register Number	Photo	Status	Details
Francis Schaeffer Cox	16179-006		Transferred to RRM Seattle. Serving a 25-year and ten-month sentence; scheduled for release on September 6, 2024.	Leader of the Alaska Peacekeepers Militia; convicted in 2012 of murder conspiracy for plotting the murders of judges and law enforcement agents; two co-defendants were also sentenced to prison.
Michael Finton	17031-026		Transferred to FCI Bennettsville. Serving a 28-year sentence; scheduled for release on January 11, 2034.	Follower of the late militant cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki; pleaded guilty in 2011 to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction for plotting to destroy a federal building in Illinois with a truck bomb in 2009.
Carlos Almonte	61800-050		Transferred to FCI Fairton. Serving a 20-year sentence; scheduled for release on June 20, 2027.	Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder persons outside the US, and for attempting to join Al Shabaab, a terrorist group based in Somalia; co-conspirator Mohamed Alessa was sentenced to 22 years.
Alexis Candelario Santana	34421-069		Transferred to MDC Guaynabo. Serving a life sentence.	Convicted in 2013 for the 2009 Sabana Seca massacre
Richard Scutari	34840-080		Transferred to FCI Mendota. Serving a 60-year sentence; scheduled for release on June 26, 2025.	Former member of the white supremacist group The Order. Convicted in 1987 of conspiracy, racketeering, and robbery.
Cesar Altieri Sayoc	17781-104		Transferred to FCI Butner Medium II. Serving a 20-year sentence, scheduled for release on November 10, 2035.	Pleaded guilty to mailing explosive devices to critics of US President Donald Trump. These included leading Democratic Party politicians such as former U.S. President Barack Obama, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. One package was addressed only to CNN and sent to its world headquarters.
Kaleb James Cole	13964-579		Serving a seven-year sentence; scheduled for release on June 17, 2025.	The FBI had sought an Extreme Risk Protection Order against Cole and seized his cache of weapons which included five assault rifles, a shotgun and pistols in October 2019. According to the FBI Cole had also acquired separate parts needed to manufacture untraceable AR-15s. Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes told the media they "firmly believe, prevented a massacre". Cole was sentenced for conspiring to threaten Jews, black people and journalists in Washington and two other states.
Zachary Adam Chesser	76715-083		Transferred to ADX Florence and then to USP Hazelton. Serving a 25-year sentence; scheduled for release on January 1, 2032.	Convicted in 2010 for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization by aiding Al-Shabaab, a militant group with ties to Al-Qaeda. He was also convicted for desensitizing law enforcement by ordering people to plant fake explosive devices. Chesser was also convicted for sending threats (via Revolution Muslim website) to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park, after they aired an episode of the show with depictions of Muhammad.

Organized crime figures

Inmate Name	Register Number	Photo	Status	Details
John Gotti†	18261-053		Deceased. Died in 2002 while serving a life sentence.	Boss of the Gambino Crime Family in New York City from 1985 to 1992; convicted of murder, murder conspiracy, loansharking, illegal gambling, obstruction of justice, bribery, and tax evasion in 1992.
William Daddano, Sr.†	Unlisted		Deceased. Died in 1975 while serving a 15-year sentence.	Top loan shark and enforcer for the Chicago Mafia; convicted in 1964 of conspiracy to commit bank robbery.
Thomas Silverstein	14634-116 Archived September 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine		Deceased. Served most of his life sentence at ADX Florence and died on May 11, 2019 due to complications from heart surgery.	Aryan Brotherhood prison gang leader (considered one of the most dangerous inmates in the federal prison system); transferred to ADX after murdering Correction Officer Merle Clutts at USP Marion in 1983 while serving a sentence for bank robbery. The murder of two correctional officers in 1983 was the impetus for creating the "super-max" prison classification.
Nicodemo Scarfo	09813-050		Transferred to the FCI Butner Medium, a medium-security facility; was serving a 55-year sentence; was scheduled for release in 2033 but died at Butner on 17 January 2017 at age 87.	Former boss of the Bruno Crime Family in Philadelphia; he was convicted on multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, distribution of methamphetamine, and extortion.
Viktor Bout	91641-054		Served a 25-year sentence; released on December 12, 2022 in a prisoner exchange with Russia for Brittney Griner.	Russian arms dealer; convicted in 2011 of conspiring to kill Americans and supplying anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons to FARC, a Marxist group on the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
Gerard Ouimette	02519-070		Served sentence in the mid-20th-century. Died on April 19, 2015.	Associate of the Patriarca crime family from Providence, Rhode Island
Monzer al-Kassar	61111-054		Transferred to USP Florence High. Serving a 30-year sentence; scheduled for release on December 28, 2032.	In 2009, sentenced to 30 years in prison for conspiring to sell weapons to Colombian rebels.

Others

Inmate Name	Register Number	Photo	Status	Details
Pete Rose	01832-061		Released from custody in 1991 after serving five months at the minimum-security camp.	Major League Baseball player and record holder for career hits; convicted of filing false tax returns in 1990.
Michael Rudkin	17133-014		Beaten to death while incarcerated at USP Terre Haute	Former correction officer at FCI Danbury in Connecticut; sentenced to prison in 2008 for having sex with an inmate; convicted in 2010 of trying to hire a hitman to kill the inmate, his ex-wife, his ex-wife's boyfriend and a federal agent while incarcerated at USP Coleman in Florida.
Christopher Cantwell	00991-509		Served a three-year sentence; released on December 19, 2022	White Supremacist known as the Crying Nazi, convicted in 2021 for threatening a man if he didn't give him information about a rival group.
Andrew Stepanian	26399-050		Released from custody in 2009 after serving a two-year sentence.	Member of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, which aims to shut down an animal testing laboratory run by Huntingdon Life Sciences; convicted of using the Internet to incite violence against company executives.
Garrett Brock Trapnell	72021-158		Deceased; died of natural causes in 1993 while serving a life sentence.	Convicted in 1973 of air piracy for hijacking TWA Flight 2 and threatening to ram the plane into the terminal of JFK Airport unless he received a ransom.
Matthew F. Hale	15177-424		Serving a 40-year sentence; scheduled for release on April 2, 2037.	Neo-Nazi leader of the World Church of the Creator. Convicted in 2005 for soliciting an undercover FBI informant to kill federal judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow after she ruled against him in a copyright case and ordered the name of his church to be changed. He was transferred into USP Marion from ADX Florence in July 2020.
Robert Lee Willie	02724-010		Executed in Louisiana on December 28, 1984.	Serial killer; pleaded guilty along with Joseph Jesse Vaccaro in 1980 to kidnapping a young couple in Louisiana, repeatedly raping the female victim. The two were also convicted of an unrelated state murder charge. Willie was executed in 1984 and Vaccaro was sentenced to life in prison.
Walter Bond	37096-013		Not currently in BOP custody. Scheduled for release on March 26, 2024.	Sentenced to serve 60 months (five years) in federal prison for use of fire to destroy Sheepskin Factory in 2011. After the fire, Bond posted a message on the Internet taking responsibility for the Sheepskin Factory fire. At the end of that message he used the nickname “ALF Lone Wolf.” In 2011 he was sentenced to another 87 months for additional attacks to be served consecutively.
Daron D Wint	64292-007		Serving a life sentence.	Perpetrator of the 2015 Washington, D.C., quadruple murder incident.

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