New York Times article
Benjamiin Weiser, New York Times
(Jailed Gang Leader Wins Right to Mingle With 3 Notorious Fellow Inmates, March 11, 1999)
When the nation's most infamous terrorists -- the Oklahoma City bomber, the
Unabomber and the World Trade Center bomber -- are ordered out of solitary
confinement so that they can have one hour of exercise in the nation's most
secure federal prison, what do they do?
They apparently just chat.
But now, a fourth notorious prisoner, the convicted leader of the Latin Kings
gang, has successfully petitioned to join in, even though he is considered so
dangerous that he cannot even write to anyone except his close relatives and
his lawyer. A federal judge decided that there was no harm in letting the
man, Luis Felipe, take part.
''This is the oddest coffee klatsch in the history of western civilization,''
said Steven M. Cohen, a former prosecutor on the case who now works in
private practice.
The four inmates share little in common ideologically. Timothy McVeigh is a
right-wing extremist convicted of carrying out the Oklahoma City bombing,
while Ramzi Yousef is a Muslim terrorist who masterminded the World Trade
Center attack. Theodore Kaczynski is a mathematics whiz and loner whose
string of bombings was carried out from the woods of Montana, while Luis
Felipe is a Bronx street tough known for his ruthless hold -- even from
prison -- on a Hispanic gang. Felipe was convicted in 1996 on 18 counts of
federal racketeering charges for ordering three murders.
The four are being held 23 hours a day in special 7-by-12-foot cells where
they are not able to glimpse into the eyes of other prisoners and must take
their meals through slots in their cell doors. The prison, the ADX Maximum
Security Facility in Florence, Colorado, is so secure that it is known as
Super Max.
The three charter members of the prison rec group, McVeigh, Kaczynski, and
Yousef, who are otherwise allowed no contact with each other, are permitted
to spend their one-hour exercise period in separate cages in the prison yard,
speaking to each other through the mesh fences. Because of their distance
from each other, they must speak loudly, so prison officials can hear what
they say.
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