The United States Penitentiary, Florence High (USP Florence High) is a high-security United States federal prison located near Florence, Colorado and designed to house male inmates. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. USP Florence High is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence (FCC Florence), which is situated on of land and houses different facilities with varying degrees of security. It is named Florence High in order to differentiate it from the United States Penitentiary, Florence ADMAX, the federal supermax prison located in the same complex.
FCC Florence is located in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, south of Denver.
History USP Florence High was built in 1993 in response to the growing need for a place to house high-security federal inmates. It was designed by DLR Group, an architectural firm specializing in correctional facilities. Before the complex was built, the city of Florence was experiencing an economic crisis with an unemployment rate of 17%. When the citizens were polled by mail about building the complex in Florence, 97% of respondents were in favor of the project. It was estimated that the Florence Federal Correctional Complex was going to provide about 1,000 temporary jobs and 900 permanent jobs. In anticipation of these jobs the community raised $160,000 to purchase the needed to build the prisons.
Facility USP Florence High housed 816 male inmates as of December 2019, and is about . A perimeter fence, seven guard towers, and a patrol road ensure the security of the prison.Bosworth, Mary (ed.) (2005). Encyclopedia of Prisons and Correctional Facilities, Vol. 2. pp. 1115–1116. The prison includes health services, educational program areas, visitation, laundry, a barbershop, commissary, chapel, Special Housing Unit (SHU), and an exercise area. The prison also contains a step-down unit for inmates of ADX Florence. Inmates will still spend roughly 22 hours of their day in their cells; however, they are kept in a less restrictive environment in which interaction among inmates is acceptable and encouraged. From there, they will either be transferred to the general population unit in Florence High or to a different federal prison.
Notable incidents In 2000, seven federal correctional officers whom the union called "The Cowboys" were charged with committing misconduct which occurred between January 1995 and July 1997, which included beating and choking handcuffed inmates, mixing waste into the inmates' food, and threatening other officers who objected to their actions. The case went to trial in 2003, and three of the officers, Mike Lavallee, Rod Schultz, and Robert Verbickas, were convicted of violating the civil rights of inmate Pedro Castillo by beating him while he was in restraints. Lavallee and Schultz were also convicted of engaging in a conspiracy to commit civil rights violations. All three were sentenced to prison terms.
1999 inmate murder On October 10, 1999, inmates William Concepcion Sablan and Rudy Cabrera Sablan were accused of the murder of fellow inmate Joey Jesus Estrella. The three inmates were seen drinking hooch together, and they were heard fighting throughout the night. Both William and Rudy Sablan were found with the disembowled corpse of Estrella in their cell the next morning. Prosecutors intended to seek the death penalty against both William and Rudy Sablan, who are cousins; however, due to William Sablan's extensive record of mental illness and brain damage, they were both given life sentences for the murder and moved into ADX Florence. As of December 2025, William Sablan was being incarcerated at USP Allenwood and Rudy Sablan at ADX Florence.
2008 inmate murder In 2008, inmate Gary Douglas Watland, who was serving a combined 55-year state sentence for the murder of a friend and attempting to escape the Maine State Prison, was accused of killing fellow inmate Mark Baker, a member of the Nazi Lowriders gang. Watland sneaked up on Baker while he was playing poker and stabbed him in the neck with a homemade knife. Watland stated the attack was a kill or be killed situation, as he had recently come out of the closet in prison. Baker's gang was known to attack homosexuals in prison. Watland subsequently accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to life imprisonment. , he was serving his sentence at ADX Florence.
2008 inmate riot On April 20, 2008, a 30-minute riot occurred between a large number of inmates in the recreation yard, during which several inmates were stabbed with homemade knives known as shanks" Correction officers who were posted on watch towers shot and killed two of the armed inmates. The incident began after white supremacist prisoners celebrating Adolf Hitler's birthday began yelling racial epithets at black prisoners. The white supremacists were drinking hooch, a form of homemade wine, and were armed with rocks and improvised weapons. Approximately 200 prisoners were involved in the melee.
2021 inmate murder On December 6, 2021, inmate Jamarr Thompson, 33, was killed after he was involved in an altercation with another inmate. Thompson was serving a 63-month sentence for an attempted bank robbery. This was the third murder in a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) institution in the past one month, the other two occurring at USP Canaan and USP Tucson, respectively. This incident heightened concerns about the rising level of violence within BOP prisons. It also intensified chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Dick Durbin's request to the Attorney General to fire BOP chairman Michael Carvajal, citing failure to respond adequately to rising levels of violence within federal prisons and corruption among BOP staff.
Notable inmates (current and former)
Foreign terrorists Inmate name Register number Photo Status Details Sayfullo Saipov 79715-054 Transferred to ADX Florence. Serving ten life sentences plus 260 years. Perpetrator of the 2017 New York City truck attack, in which he drove a pickup truck rented from Home Depot through the protected bike lane of Hudson River Park in Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring eleven others. The incident was considered the deadliest terrorist attack in New York City since the September 11 attacks of 2001. Khalfan Mohamed 44623-054 Transferred to USP Canaan. Serving a life sentence. An Al-Qaeda operative from Tanzania; convicted in connection with the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, Africa, which were conceived by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden; the bombings killed 224 people and injured more than 4,000. Khalid al-Fawwaz 67497-054 Transferred to USP Victorville. Serving a life sentence. An Al-Qaeda operative from Saudi Arabia; convicted in connection with the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, Africa, which were conceived by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden; the bombings killed 224 people and injured more than 4,000. Moved into USP Florence - High from adjacent ADX in January 2022. Shain Duka 61284-066 Transferred to USP Atwater. Serving a life sentence plus 30 years. Convicted in 2008 for conspiring to kill members of the Army at the Fort Dix, New Jersey, army base. His two brothers were also convicted: Eljvir Duka, who is being held at USP Hazelton and Dritan Duka, who is being held at FCI Terre Haute. El Shafee Elsheikh 11698-509 Transferred to ADX Florence. Serving eight concurrent life sentences. Elsheikh was given 8 life sentences without the possibility of parole in August 2022 for charges of conspiracy to commit murder, lethal hostage taking, and material support. These charges stemmed from participating in the beheadings of four Americans while an active member of the Islamic State. Elsheikh was one of the four British members of what was known as the "ISIS Beatles". Another member of this group, Alexanda Kotey was also given eight concurrent life sentences in federal court. Initially having been incarcerated at USP Canaan, he too was moved to ADX Florence.29638-086Transferred to ADX Florence. Serving a 37-year sentence; scheduled for release on July 1, 2032.Algerian national convicted in 2001 of terrorism conspiracy for planning to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on December 31, 1999, in what is known as one of the 2000 millennium attack plots. Mohamed al-Owhali 42371–054 Transferred to USP Big Sandy. Serving a life sentence. British-born Saudi terrorist who is one of four individuals convicted in connection with the 1998 United States embassy bombings.
Domestic terrorists This list contains U.S. citizens, regardless of origin, who committed or attempted to commit terrorist attacks against United States citizens and interests. Inmate name Register number Photo Status DetailsNaser Jason Abdo80882-280 Transferred to ADX Florence. Serving two consecutive life sentences plus 60 years.U.S. Army private who refused to deploy to Afghanistan and went AWOL; convicted in 2012 of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction for plotting to detonate a bomb in 2011 at a restaurant near Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, when it was filled with soldiers. Transferred into Florence High from ADX Florence in May 2021 but was sent back to ADX in June 2021 . Dzhokhar Tsarnaev 95079-038 Transferred to ADX Florence. Originally sentenced to death on June 24, 2015. Sentence overturned by a federal appeals court on July 31, 2020, but re-imposed by Supreme Court on March 4, 2022. Dzhokhar planted a pressure cooker bomb at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring over 250. He was sentenced to death. On June 25, 2015, Tsarnaev was transferred to the USP Florence High; as of July 17, 2015 he had been transferred to ADX Florence.Dzhokhar Tsarnaev transferred to Supermax prison, Milton J. Valencia, The Boston Globe, July 17, 2015. Accessed on line July 20, 2015. He was to be transferred to USP Terre Haute in Indiana when his execution date was set, but the death sentence was vacated in July 2020 due to inadequate screening for potential biases among jury pool. The death sentence was re-imposed by the Supreme Court of the United States on March 4, 2022.Michael Finton17031-026Transferred to FCI Bennettsville. Serving a 28-year sentence, scheduled for release on January 11, 2034. Convicted for attempt to murder, with malice aforethought, at least one US federal officer and employee and an attempt to use a weapon of mass destruction against property owned by the US. Harlem Suarez 06262-104 Serving a life sentence. ISIS sympathizer; charged on July 28, 2015, with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction for planning to detonate a backpack bomb on a public beach in Key West, Florida. Adam Dean Fox 11843-509Transferred to ADX Florence. Serving a 16-year sentence; scheduled for release on May 26, 2034. Designer and ring-leader of the Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot, a plot to overthrow the state government of Michigan beginning with the kidnapping of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Fox and his co-defendants are all associated with the far-right or militia groups.
Organized crime figures Inmate name Register number Photo Status Details