One of the deadliest federal prison units is closing
The Bureau of Prisons is shutting down a unit at its newest penitentiary in Illinois, following an investigation by NPR and The Marshall Project that exposed it was rife with violence and abuse.
The federal Bureau of Prisons is closing the notorious Special Management Unit at Thomson penitentiary in Illinois, after frequent reports of violence and abuse.
An investigation found that Thomson had quickly become one of the deadliest federal prisons, with five suspected homicides and two suspected suicides since the unit opened in 2019. The report also uncovered conditions that stoked violence, where volatile prisoners were for nearly 24 hours a day, often despite repeated warning signs.
