Sept. 11 conspirator begins serving life sentence

Called Alcatraz of the Rockies, Supermax in Colorado is hailed as the most secure prison in the country. Zacarias Moussaoui began serving his sentence there yesterday.

Marshals brought Moussaoui, prisoner 51427-054, before dawn to the Supermax federal prison, where he will spend 23 hours a day in his cell and have little to no contact with the other notorious criminals.

?He has now begun serving his sentence of life without the possibility of release,? the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement.

Moussaoui was the only prisoner aboard the small jet operated by the agency as he flew with a special team of deputy marshals to Florence, Colo., about 90 miles southwest of Denver.

?All the inmates transferred there are handled with the highest level of security,? said Ken Deal, chief deputy U.S. marshal in Denver.

Deal said he did not know whether the 37-year-old Frenchman made any statements during the transfer.

Moussaoui arrived at 4:17 a.m., the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement. Prison spokesman Todd Javernick refused to say whether Moussaoui made any comments.

At the prison, Moussaoui exchanged his green jump suit for a tan prison outfit.

The $60 million Supermax, formally called Administrative Maximum, was built in 1995 in a town of 3,600 people. The triangular, two-story prison was designed for inmates once held at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Ill., which had replaced Alcatraz when it closed in 1963.

Among the inmates at the prison are Ramzi Yousef, Eric Rudolph, Ted Kaczynski and Terry Nichols. Also there is Richard Reid, the would-be shoe bomber Moussaoui said was to help him fly a fifth plane into the White House. The Bureau of Prisons said the Supermax currently houses 398 ?of the nation’s most violent, disruptive and escape-prone inmates.?

At Supermax, the soundproofed cells were designed so inmates cannot make eye contact with each other. Each 7-by-12-feet cell has a long, narrow window looking out at other prison walls or the small concrete recreation yard.

Concrete platforms topped with mattresses function as beds. Each cell also contains a concrete stool, shower and toilet.

Inmates get one hour out of their cells each day to eat or play basketball or handball, though some earn longer recreation periods through good behavior. They can take academic courses via closed-circuit TV in each cell. Religious services are conducted in a small chapel.