Inside the shoe-bomber's jail

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INSIDE THE SHOE BOMBER'S JAIL
ISOLATION, SCREAMS AND NO WAY OUT OF TOUGHEST PRISON IN AMERICA
Exclusive by Ryan Parry, US Correspondent
THE metal clank of a heavy steel door echoes down an overlit corridor. A brief silence follows then a flood of shouted Arabic fills the air. Sat on a concrete bed in his tiny cell, British shoe bomber Richard Reid listens to the muffled chatter and yells his reply. The 33-year-old is rotting on "bombers' row" in America's most secure jail. The fanatic counts fellow al-Qaeda fiends and 1993 World Trade Center bombing conspirators Ramzi Yousef and blind sheik Omar Abdel- Rahman as his neighbours. The 9/11 plotter Zacarius Moussaoui joined them earlier this year. Reid was jailed for life in 2003 after trying to blow up nearly 200 people on a flight to Miami, Florida, with explosives hidden in his shoes following the September 11 atrocities.

Little has been known of the conditions facing inmates once they are locked away. But now a picture has emerged of the life Reid and co lead as they spend 23 hours a day alone in their cells. Detailed letters from one of Reid's fellow inmates - white supremacist Atlanta bomber Eric Rudolph, serving four life sentences - to US author Maryanne Vollers reveal the world this murderous mob inhabit.

Born in Bromley, South London, Reid's home is now a white-walled 8ft by 10ft blue-floored box in the notorious Supermax prison high in the desert of southern Colorado. Dubbed the Alcatraz of the Rockies, it is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most secure facility. Built into a mountain, the only way in - and the only path out - is through one tunnel. Motion detectors and pressure pads alert the sharpshooters in gun towers to anyone who manages to enter the shaft from any of the 1,400 remotecontrolled steel doors.

Reid is incarcerated in a special wing of the prison known as the Tube. Only the most wretched lags are put in this wing, their every move watched by guards. There are two levels of eight cells in the Tube, Reid is on the lower. His cell has two remote-controlled doors, one solid steel, the second is barred. "The door slides, Star-Trek style, closing with a loud clank," writes Rudolph. "Through there is a small vestibule and another barrier, a traditional set of sliding bars with a slot for food."

The furnishings are all of reinforced concrete. In one corner there is a stainless steel shower and in the other is a combination toilet and sink. Reid is one of up to 484 prisoners. He has little access to books or the news and a black and white TV plays only religious or anger-management shows. He is fed three times a day through the slot. The cells are bathed in artificial light day and night. A little light comes in from the 4ins by 4ft slit of a window over the bed. "Through there you can see the sky, but other than this and the few birds that roost on the prison roof, there are no signs of the natural world," Rudolph writes.

The Tube is mainly reserved for political offenders or terrorists like Reid who are mostly from places such as Egypt, Sudan, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Reid and the others communicate in Arabic by shouting so loudly that their voices penetrate through the steel and concrete walls. And when they aren't screaming to each other they are praying. "The call to prayer echoes through the halls five times a day giving this place a decidedly otherworldly feel," says Rudolph.

Prisoners are allowed out of their cells four or five times a week for one hour of "rec". But unlike the rest of the prison population, the Tube's residents take their exercise in a 15ft by 25ft room with no natural lighting across the hall from the row of cells. Occasionally Reid and his ilk get to exercise in the open prison yard. These rare events are treated like a military operation. Convicts are taken out one at a time. The outer door of the cell opens and two guards enter the space between the bars and steel door. Reid is made to strip and place his clothes on the bars. He then runs his hand through his hair and over his body to show there is nothing hidden on his person. Next he has to bend over in front of his jailers so they can check for any concealed items there. Reid then puts his clothes back on and turns his back to the bars. He sticks his thumbs though the slot and is cuffed to a chain.

Rudolph writes: "The barred door slides open and one guard grabs hold of the chain on the cuffs pulling you like a dog while the other paces behind, steel-tipped club in hand. They are taken to the yard, "a large concrete enclosure like a giant kidney-shaped pool with 25ft walls", according to the Atlanta bomber.

It is the only chance for inmates to breathe fresh air and if they look up they can see a patch of sky through a chain mesh. INSIDE the enclosure there are about 15 chain-link cages, like human-sized kennels. Reid and the others are paired up and put in their separate runs. They walk the length of it in unison, back and forth, yelling as they go, hardly adjusting the loud volume from the shouting in the cells. "If you've ever seen big cats at a zoo, this is what they do as well," says Rudolph. "They pace back and forth for hours, rhythmically, like a pendulum. Across the yard, this is what one sees, seven pairs of inmates pacing together, all the while yelling in Arabic."

Once in a while Reid and the others are mixed in with the common criminals from the rest of the prison. Supermax is home to the most violent and high-risk inmates. This select band of miserable men include serial-killers, drug lords, gang leaders, hit men, white supremacists and Mafiosi. Many of them were kicked out of other prisons for being too bad. And about one in five have killed fellow inmates.

"Some of the cons are tattooed head to foot," says Rudolph. "One even has a large tattoo on his cleanly shaven head. While the Arabs yell at each other, the common criminals strut around posing their toughness."

Reid converted to Islam in the 1990s while in jail in Britain for a string of muggings. On his release, he began worshipping at the Brixton Mosque in South London and was quickly influenced by extremist factions. Soon afterwards he became a disciple of Osama bin Laden, a mistake that means the boy from Bromley can look forward to spending the rest of his days buried in a mountain in the Rockies.

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