I made my routine phone call to ADX today. I was put on hold for at least 5 minutes. I hung up and redialed. Lo and behold, I actually got through to a human being. Knowing it would be useless to ask about Tom’s health, I asked if he was still getting his mail and if he could write back to his correspondents. I didn’t get an answer specifically about Tom, but I was given the usual (I assume) spiel about BOP policy, namely, inmates are free to receive mail and to respond to such mail. I was told that the only way I could find out about Tom’s condition is by writing to him via snail mail. I have done that, but I fear the letter won’t reach Colorado much before Friday (I live in Canada), and I still have no way of knowing if Tom is receiving his mail, or if he is in any shape to answer it.

To say that BOP is doing everything in its power to frustrate any and all of Tom’s friends and family would be a gross understatement. I will continue my quest, and I will continue to share my experiences with readers of this website. Meanwhile, if anyone has any information about Tom, I urge you to post it here to share with concerned readers.

Having broken my silence with my earlier post, I might as well share all that I know with readers. Here, to the best of my recollection, is what has happened so far:

1) About 3 weeks ago Tom developed pneumonia (he told me in a letter).
2) He was put in hospital and underwent heart surgery (I believe it was quadruple bypass); he developed sepsis; and he went into partial kidney failure.
3) He was placed in intensive care.
4) His brother and sister flew to Colorado to visit him.
5) His family is no longer allowed to visit him.
6) The Bureau of Prisons will not give out any news about Tom’s condition to his webmaster.

And that is where things stand today. As I earlier posted, I have spent a frustrating 2 weeks trying to pry loose some kind of statement about Tom’s health, but I have been rebuffed in every effort. Officials have either failed to return calls (after half a dozen messages) or FLAT-OUT REFUSED TO SPEAK TO ME AFTER I IDENTIFIED MYSELF. I find such behaviour inexcusable, but I will continue my effort to find out how Tom is doing.

If you read this and feel like acting on Tom’s behalf, I urge you to call ADX Florence (719 784-9464) and ask to speak to the Public Information Officer or the Executive Assistant about Thomas Silverstein (Reg No 14634-116). Or you can send an email to: FLM/ExecAssistant@bop.gov

Perhaps if enough people contact ADX someone will finally listen.

I will share any information I gather immediately.
The webmaster

I have made numerous phone calls to ADX in Florence. I have sent several emails to various administrators. I have left numerous requests for call-backs. All to no avail. I have been put on hold and left for several minutes; I have been told someone would get in touch with me; and I even have an email from the Office of the Administrative Assistant telling me that someone would be glad to speak to me about Tom’s whereabouts and condition. After two weeks of such effort I have exactly nothing to share with you. I don’t even know if Tom is still alive. I always marveled at Tom’s ability to tolerate the utterly demeaning treatment he has had at the hands of BOP; I now marvel even more. I shall keep trying to find out where and how Tom is, and I will share any news immediately. Meanwhile, if anyone knows anything about Tom, please post it here.

Please be understanding (and forgiving) if I delete any post pertaining to Tom’s health. His legal counsel has advised against such posts on public media. For now that is all I can offer in the way of explanation. Thank you for your co-operation.

I have just heard from Tom and posted some new links on solitary confinement and appeals he made in the recent and distant past.

And Tom told me that he is suffering from pneumonia. So, if you could, you might send him a note wishing him better health.

Thank you.

Dear Friends & Supporters,
As I’ve noted 4 decades, w/ each new warden (administration) that they rotate every 3 yrs or so, usually takes away from what we’ve got instead of gives us more. Although this new warden had added a few insensitives & letting guys actually work our way out of this hell hole unlike his predecessors who were 2 scared 2 make a fruitful decision 4 us, but didn’t mind/hesitate tightening the noose, using “security” 2 justify it, even though it was allowed 4 20 yrs w/o a problem, but w/a new sheriff n town, they gotta flex their muscles as cowards do w/ the hopeless & helpless. So every 3 yrs, we all brace 4 a new shit-storm 2 blow thru & now we’ve been issued new mail restrictions that I must share w/ those of U who may drop me a note from time 2 time, so it’s not rejected.
CHANGES 2 MAIL PROCEDURES EFFECTIVE JANUARY 7, 2019, FOR USP, ADX, FLORENCE, COLORADO
1) Some general correspondence will B photocopied & U will only B provided the photocopy.
2) All incoming general correspondence envelopes & paper must B white—no color.
3) Incoming general correspondence containing materials such as glitter, stickers, lipstick, crayon or marker will B rejected. Correspondence that is stained or contains an oily substance will B rejected.
4) Postage stamps & envelope flaps will B removed prior 2 all incoming correspondence.
5) All incoming general correspondence utilizing a label 4 either the recipient or/& sender information will B rejected. The recipient & sender information must B completed n ink or through address stamp.
6) All incoming correspondence w/ fragrance, such as but not limited 2 perfume or cologne, will B rejected.
7) All “homemade” greeting cards will B rejected. Commercial greeting cards will B photocopied prior 2 delivery. U will not be provided the commercial card.
I imagine the mailroom CO’s R pulling their hair out. Just think of the added work load this will take & cost 2 A: write up a rejection notice & B: post it. R mail is already SLOW, and now it’s about 2 get even SLOWER, at a time they’re cryin’ about staff shortage. Ha Ha. This is BOP management 4 U.
I can dig the drug concern, but I’ve never heard of anyone getting a dirty test since I’ve been here & they test us monthly. This should apply only 2 those they bust.
Almost everyone I correspond w/ does what’s now forbidden & it’s never been a problem.
Lo and behold. They just brought my mail w/ a reject notice. They put the person’s name but NOT their address. Thankfully I know this person. But if I’m just hearing from someone I’m unable 2 write back & ask if they got a rejection notice.
My friend Alan sent me parts of his manuscript that I didn’t get & my webmaster, who sends me my emails, didn’t get a notice, so I can’t appeal, which I would b/c whatever he wrote about time N YA as a kid hasn’t anything 2 do w/ “security” 50 yrs later. But that doesn’t matter.
Sadly, all those things they now deny us really added fun 2 my correspondence. All those sweet feminine touches was part of the fun hearing from those who take time 2 write. My gal makes cards & I’m her biggest fan. I think her cards R awesome. She’s N a class all her own. I invite U 2 check her work out (please see Renee’s link). No one that I know of who makes cards R as personal as hers. Designed at the time 4 a special person & situation that I’ve encouraged her 2 share w/ folks who R n R situation & gals who may be able 2 relate w/ the messages she was compelled 2 express w/almost childlike honesty. Now all those wonderful things we shared aren’t allowed due 2 no fault of R own. Like the monotone bars & walls that entomb me, they’ve stamped out the colors of happiness that I enjoy sharing w/ the outside world, enforcing a black & white existence N this colorless hole of madness.
Please take care & thank U all 4 your much needed love & support, especially when my box continues 2 shrink!
Your pal, Tommy

I have just posted several files under Recent Activity & Appeals (starting with 7.31.17 and going in reverse chronological order). There may be some repetition from earlier postings on our site, for which I apologise; I simply did not have sufficient time to compare all the pages already on the site with those in the mail packet. The new postings are headed with brief banners in Tom’s own handwriting explaining the significance of the documents; a few postings are single pages and self-explanatory.

I have also added two more certificates for courses Tom has completed (under his message from 7.14.18) and some new links to items about Tom or solitary confinement.

If you discover repetition or any errors, please leave a note on the site and I will attempt to rectify the problems as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, as you read these words, you might consider writing to Tom directly or to someone in authority on his behalf…

“It was Tom and myself that started this Web-site, way back, unfortunately as Tom has stated i took ill in 2015 & was Hospitalized and could no longer handle managing the Web-site, so at short notice a good friend stepped in as a temporary measure until a new Web-master could be found, I am pleased to say that slot has now been filled by Richard, and he is doing a Sterling job, i’m afraid i wasn’t doing Tommy or the Site any Justice not being computer savvy….I can relax now knowing the Site is in very capable hands, wishing you all the best for the future Barri J”

Some of you may recognize this posting as a revised version of one that appeared much earlier on Tom’s old website. We have edited and updated it; we have also permanently posted it as a page under Tom in his own words on this website; it will be posted here for several weeks so that readers may leave comments, and after that time this post will be removed (but the page left intact).

From: Tom Silverstein
To: The extraordinary guests on this website

My name is Tom Silverstein, A.K.A, Tommy. I’ve been incarcerated since 1975 and am currently the longest held prisoner in total solitary confinement within the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) and perhaps in America and the world.
Not even the notorious “Birdman of Alcatraz” was held in (total solitary confinement) absolute isolation, as I have been subjected to the past 34 years! He was able to see and speak with his neighbours in adjacent cells beside and across from his cell at U.S.P. Leavenworth in building 63 (where I spent over a year in 1979-80), whereas I am deprived of any and all contact with fellow prisoners.
There are several reasons we’ve started this site. We hope to reveal, from a prisoner’s personal perspective, what truly goes on behind prison gates, which is seldom, if ever, presented by the corporate, mainstream media, much less seriously challenged. On the contrary, and sadly, when media do bother to report on U.S. penitentiaries, it’s miserably inadequate and skewed in favour of the prisoncrats. The media’s premise is usually “them against us,” “us” being called the “worst of the worst,” while guards use that ploy to justify their maliciousness
This site also hopes to give the voiceless an opportunity to finally be heard loud and clear. We care more about what’s said, than how people say it!
We welcome one and all to our new site. Regardless of sex, race, religion, class, height, weight, looks, education, citizenship, etc. We respect your input and interest in what we share together, so please don’t hesitate to express yourself whenever the urge strikes. But I must warn you–we believe in free speech. A lot of folks say that, until they hear what they don’t like and suddenly want to ban it. If anyone objects to adult language, being expressed about adult issues, I suggest you stick with the mainstream sources who spoon-feed the public their sterilized, sugar-coated version of events and commentary.
If all goes well, we hope to enlist some investigative reporter(s) to delve into the U.S. penal/injustice system so you all can see what is happening within U.S. penitentiaries.
I’ll include my recent appeals so you can read for yourself my argument for getting out of this damnation and their denials.
We have four levels of appeals: two at the prison, one to the regional director and the last (fourth) to the BOP director in Washington, D.C. We (prisoners) seldom win an appeal. It’s really just a sham they use to assure the public that any grievances we have are reviewed by higher level administrators, which is comparable to cops policing themselves. I however have gone through the process several times in order to obtain irrefutable evidence, so no one would have to just take my word regarding my allegations that prisoners seldom win appeals.
The BOP enjoys giving the illusion that our problems will be solved if we (the prisoners) would only file appeals. Although this process is stress-producing, it is a legal requirement that I exhaust all my administrative remedies (appeals) before I can petition the courts to make the BOP officials do what they’re determined not to do on their own. As you can see if you follow the paper trail on this website, I have made several appeals and even carried my case to federal court. I have never succeeded in getting my solitary confinement status changed to allow me to enter a stepdown program for eventual return to the general population in prison.
After 35 long hard years in some of America’s most cruel and harsh prisons–Soledad, San Quentin, U.S.P. Leavenworth, Atlanta, Marion and Florence–I now know exactly why the Irish dramatist, novelist, poet and wit, Oscar Wilde, said after his imprisonment (1895-97) that if you ever want to see the scum of the earth, go to your local prison and observe the changing of the guards.
I am in the U.S. of A.’s BOP’s most Draconian and repressive SuperMax penitentiary in this country and perhaps the world. It’s replaced the horrific U.S.P. Marion in Illinois. The BOP opened the Administrative Maximum (ADX) in Florence, Colorado, in1994. The BOP has had three decades to sharpen their instruments of human torture and degradation, in order to make hell a living reality at their new and improved monster of a United States Penitentiary (U.S.P.) in Florence, Colorado!
In the early 1800 and 1900s prisons warehoused prisoners in dirty, stark, solitary confinement cells and a large number of them never left, or left with serious mental disorders.
A delegation from Europe came to America and with the well-known author, Charles Dickens, toured the U.S. prison system. Upon completion of the tour, there was a very negative report. But something Charles Dickens wrote played an integral part in waking up society to the inhumanity of solitary confinement:

“I believe that few men are capable of estimating the immense amount of torture and agony which this dreadful punishment, prolonged for years, inflicts. There is a depth of terrible endurance in it which none but the sufferers can fathom. I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body; and because its ghastly signs and tokens are not so palpable to the eye and sense of touch as scars upon the flesh; because its wounds are not upon the surface, therefore the more I denounce it as a secret punishment which a slumbering humanity is not roused up to stay.”

This commentary by Dickens influenced the U.S. Supreme Court to review the use of solitary confinement and it concluded that it indeed caused mental disorders and was therefore a violation of the 8th Amendment (the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment). New guidelines were established nationwide, banning the use of solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days. This saved thousands of prisoners and millions of tax dollars. It also protected society from the release of damaged, often psychotic men and women.
In 1952, an administrator at the New Jersey state prison figured a way around the ban. At the time, he truly believed in what he was doing. He changed the name from “solitary confinement” and renamed it “administrative segregation” and classified it as “treatment.”
Four years later that administrator, Richard R. Korn, realized he was mistaken and that solitary, in whatever disguise, could not be treatment, that it did indeed cause serious psychological damage. He stood up and protested, but the system had once again embraced it as a tool of control, the consequences to the prisoners and society be damned.
An old adage proclaims that a sure sign of insanity is repeating the same mistakes over again, expecting a different result. History and studies clearly show that solitary confinement does more harm than good, that it reveals the idiocy and sadistic mentality of prison administrators who embrace this barbaric, medieval practice, and that it is a crime against humanity. Solitary confinement should be abolished, and I should be returned to the general prison population.

To My Friends, Family and Supporters,

As some of u know, I had a forced hiatus when my dear pal and webmaster fell ill! Thankfully he’s alive and kickin’, but sadly he hasn’t recovered. L On the contrary, one ailment brings on another! So I lost interest in our site without him since we started it together and just wanted us to focus on his health.

Thankfully our good friend filled in for us and helped with needed adjustments, but it just existed without our active participation.

However, with my pal’s blessing, I decided to pick up where we left off, with the much-needed help and support of a good friend willing and able to take the helm. He has great ideas and is ready to keep it going and make it as user-friendly as possible.

Many of u may be happy to know, after years of u-all asking me to write a book, that I finally started telling my own story, in my own words. Aside from u-all encouraging me to do it, I’m sick of others telling it feloniously and profiting at my expense.

Which is why we refer to our site as the “Official Website.” I’m sick of others using my name and misery on all the bogus sites out there.

The only two I honor is Renee’s and Pete Earley’s websites.

Unfortunately, people who search my name come across a couple of unauthorized sites first and what info they provide was pilfered from Pete’s renowned book The Hot House. None of it is original and some of the so-called “facts” are inaccurate. I’d like folks seeking info to get it from me, not from parasites who don’t know me and only post what they got third- and fourth-hand.

If there’s any computer whiz out there who knows how to put my site first, I’d truly appreciate letting us know at your earliest convenience.

If it can’t be done, please help us let folks know about the only authentic sites that we acknowledge.

Meanwhile, please take special care and thank u for your love and support.

Your pal, Tommy