The nation's toughest penitentiary will be losing that distinction along with some of its most hardened criminals now that federal officials have decided to build a new prison in Colorado.
The changeover is still more than 2 1/2 years away. But it will mark the end of almost three decades in which U.S. Penitentiary-Marion has served as the nation's Alcatraz, housing inmates no other prison is equipped to handle - guard killers, escape artists and spies."You don't get into Marion by being a nice person," said Terry Finnegan, administrator at Marion, the nation's only federal penitentiary rated as level six, the highest level of security.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons decided four months ago to build a complex at Florence, Colo., said Jack Crosley, assistant warden at Marion. It will include a level-six section with space for 500 inmates, and when it is finished, Marion will be remodeled and downgraded to a level five.
Construction of the new prison hasn't begun but is expected to be finished in December 1992. It should be cheaper than modernizing Marion, which was built in 1963, Crosley said. The prison will be designed so that one guard can control the movements of prisoners in several cellblocks using electronic doors, cameras and audio equipment.
Even with its tight security, Marion has had to resort to locking most of its approximately 360 prisoners in their cells 23 hours a day since October 1983, when two guards and one inmate were killed in a series of confrontations.
Once the new prison is built, Marion prisoners won't be transferred en masse, said John L. Clark, who took over as Marion's warden in January.
"It will happen in slow transition. We will take one or two cell houses at a time so that the staff can get their feet on the ground," said Clark.
Marion's 230 guards have mixed feelings about losing their level six status, Clark said in a recent interview.
"Right now, the staff are very proud of the unique role they play at the Marion prison," he said. "It will be a change; it will take some adjustment."
Colorado residents are undaunted by the prospect of living near the most violent federal criminals. Fremont County, about 120 miles south of Denver, welcomed the complex with $130,000 in incentives, said County Commission member Bud Chess.
The county already is home to seven state prisons, Chess said.
"To the people here, it's just part of life. When you move something like that into an area where the people haven't been around prisoners, they are all shook up," Chess said from his office in the county seat of Canon City.
The $160 million Florence prison complex will house 1,960 prisoners in security levels ranging from minimum to maximum, said Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Scott Burton in Washington, D.C.
Clark estimated that the new prison will have about 500 beds for level six inmates. Burton said it would require a total of 650 to 750 staff members, including an undetermined number of guards.
A decision is pending on whether some of the most infamous Marion inmates - including spies Jonathan Pollard and John Walker Jr., Colombian drug lord Carlos Lehder Rivas and escape artist Garrett Brock Trapnell - will be among those transferred, officials said.
Those inmates are among seven who live in Marion's K-Unit, reserved for the most notorious prisoners, which one prison official said takes "nearly an act of Congress" for visitors to gain access to.
When Marion is changed to level five, it will have enlarged recreation areas, a central education area, more classrooms and psychologists' rooms and an expanded library, Clark said. "There are large parts of the institution that aren't used much or aren't used at all," he said.