Lexington High Security Unit

History of the Lexington Federal Correctional Institution

Congress originally established the Lexington facility in 1929 as the first U.S. narcotics rehabilitation “farm” for the treatment of male addicts. In 1936, it became the U.S. Public Health Service Clinical Research Center and continued to treat drug addicts including those who were federal prisoners. At this time, the facility held 280 patients. In 1941, the Women's Building was constructed within the larger institution and the first female residents were admitted. In 1974, the U.S. Public Health Service's Clinical Research Center was finally transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons becoming a low-security coed correctional prison for inmates with drug or alcohol abuse problems.

The Women of Lexington

During its short period of existence, the Lexington HSU housed several women with long-standing political histories. The first two inmates placed in it were Alejandrina Torres and Susan Rosenberg. Torres had been sentenced to 35 years for seditious conspiracy in response to plotting bombings at U.S. military bases. Rosenberg, who was eventually granted clemency by President Bill Clinton in January 2001, received a maximum term of 58 years for possession of weapons, explosives, and false identification papers. The other women housed in the unit were Silvia Baraldini, Carol Manning, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, Sylvia Jean Brown, and Debra Denise Brown. These women's convictions varied from racketeering, armed robbery, kidnapping, and murder.

Review and Closure of the Control Unit

In 1987, the National Prison Project, a wing of the American Civil Liberties Union, conducted a formal assessment of the Lexington HSU. Two National Prison Project staff attorneys, a correctional psychologist, and criminologists toured the facility and conducted interviews with five female prisoners confined to the unit, along with the warden, associate warden, and program staff. In their report, on the institution's medical and ethical correctional conditions, the panel determined that the women's rights had been violated in a number of ways. First, they had not been given proper administrative hearings prior to being transferred to the unit. Once incarcerated at Lexington, their visits were either curtailed completely or severely reduced. Their behavior was monitored at all times, even when they were showering, and they were strip searched after each outdoor exercise period. The panel also found that the prison did not provide adequate medical treatment or supervision.

The report concluded that the inmates in the Lexington HSU were dehumanized by their incarceration. Not only were they not allowed to personalize their living space, or allowed more than five books in their cell at one time, some were sexually abused and humiliated during their confinement. In response, the women were exhibiting numerous psychological disorders, including claustrophobia, chronic rage reactions, depression, hallucinatory symptoms, and defensive psychological withdrawal. Their physical and mental conditions were deteriorating as a result of loss of weight, loss of appetite, dehydration, insomnia, and acute anxiety syndrome.

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