Mr. Carlson devised the supermax system after the infamous murders of two corrections officers by two different inmates in the same prison on the same day in 1983. To punish these killers, Mr. Carlson revived the concept of solitary confinement, which by then had fallen out of favor in the United States. “The supermax became the most expedient method of controlling an increasingly overcrowded and psychologically volatile prison population.”Mr. Carlson was credited with professionalizing the Bureau of Prisons. Carlson viewed a dirty prison as a sign of poor management; consequently floors were highly polished and walls kept painted,” Mr. Earley wrote. His father, Albert Noah Carlson, was an insurance broker, and his mother, Esther (Hollander) Carlson, was a homemaker.

Source: New York Times August 20, 2020 17:03 UTC