Pam Bondi Moves Biden-Commutation Inmates to Colorado Supermax
Eight of the 37 people whose death sentences were commuted by Biden last year are being transferred to ADX Florence, with more transfers anticipated as lawsuits and political debate continue.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has begun transferring inmates whose death sentences were commuted by President Joe Biden to the U.S. Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado, commonly referred to as ADX Florence. The moves come as part of a broader federal strategy to place high‑risk offenders in the most secure settings available. This week’s transfer includes eight of the 37 people whose death sentences Biden commuted last year, according to a HuffPost report.
Those eight are being relocated to ADX Florence, and other inmates whose Biden commutations were later changed to life without parole are expected to be transferred in the coming months. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bondi announced the moves in a Thursday post on X, saying, "We have begun transferring the monsters Biden commuted to Supermax prisons, where they will spend the rest of their lives in conditions that match their egregious crimes." ADX Florence is widely described in lawsuits as a facility designed for maximum confinement, with "maximum sensory deprivation and human isolation," notes the ACLU in court filings.
The transfers have drawn renewed attention to the policy behind clemency actions and the aftermath for inmates whose sentences were commuted. Some opponents argued the moves could be viewed as vindictive or unconstitutional; in the past, groups like the ACLU have challenged similar transfers on legal grounds.
HuffPost’s Jessica Schulberg reported that supporters of a stricter approach to the death penalty had sought to prompt states to reimpose death sentences on clemency recipients, but encountered resistance and logistical obstacles. In that political context, Bondi’s pledge to move Biden‑clemency recipients to supermax facilities reflects a broader effort to cast the clemency actions as incompatible with public safety.
Legal scholars and advocates cited by HuffPost have framed the move as part of a broader national debate over capital punishment. Hadar Aviram, a professor at UC Hastings College of the Law, told HuffPost that the shift signals an attempt to popularize the death penalty at a time of low public support since the 1960s. The Justice Department has not issued further comment, and no timetable has been provided for additional transfers.
