Judge blocks DOJ plans to move ex-death row prisoners to supermax

by · UPI

Feb. 12 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's plans to relocate former death row inmates to the country's most restrictive supermax prison.

Judge Timothy J. Kelly ruled Wednesday that Attorney General Pam Bondi deprived the 20 prisoners of their 5th Amendment right to due process when the Justice Department initiated transfers of the 20 prisoners to the Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colo.

"The Constitution requires that whenever the government seeks to deprive a person of a liberty or property interest that the Due Process Clause protects -- whether that person is a notorious prisoner or a law-abiding citizen -- the process it provides cannot be a sham," Kelly wrote.

The 20 prisoners named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit were among 37 people on federal death row whose death sentences were commuted to life in prison by former President Joe Biden in the final days of his presidency.

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As part of that commutation process, each of the prisoners went through an individualized assessment to determine their various incarceration needs, including security level and health requirements. Each prisoner is then afforded the chance to challenge their proposed relocation in a hearing.

Kelly's order said that as that process played out, nearly all the plaintiffs were expected to be placed somewhere other than the Colorado supermax prison commonly known as ADX Florence.

Upon taking office in January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order for the Justice Department to reassess the relocation plans for the 27 prisoners.

"Almost immediately, counsel for all Plaintiffs were informed that they would be referred to ADX Florence," regardless of their individual assessments, Kelly's order reads.

"And after a hearing and appeal, each was redesigned there."

Kelly's order blocks the prisoners' transfers to ADX Florence while their lawsuit against the move plays out.

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President Donald Trump speaks alongside Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Thursday. The Trump administration has announced the finalization of rules that revoke the EPA's ability to regulate climate pollution by ending the endangerment finding that determined six greenhouse gases could be categorized as dangerous to human health. Photo by Will Oliver/UPI | License Photo