Ever wondered what hell looks like?

Well, the US DOJ has the answer. (From this article in the NYT on why we shouldn't be afraid to close Guantanamo - there are plenty of draconian US prisons waiting for "most dangerous" criminals.)

Note the emphasis on CONTROL.

Beyond the gates is a 20-foot “no man’s land” between the administrative offices and the inmate housing units. A collapsible barbed wire fence runs along the outside of the strip. Razor wire swirls along the fence, which is rigged with sensors to detect attempted breaches. At night, the security strip is bathed in light and kept under constant surveillance by guards with rifles.

Beyond another set of airlock security doors is a long hallway separating the inmates’ living quarters and the dining hall from the dusty recreational fields and basketball courts at the center of the prison. The hall is interrupted by gates every several feet to control the prisoners’ movement.

“Our thing is control,” said Charles Ringwood, a prison spokesman. “The schedule is controlled. All movements are controlled. Everything has to be controlled.”

Standing above the prison yard, Guard Tower 7 forms the hub of the penitentiary. Wire fences slice the recreation yard into sections. Inmates in standard-issue khaki uniforms played a full-court basketball game in one section; in another, inmates walked in a circle. There were no free weights, which have been banned in most federal prisons.

Inmates live in six triangular housing pods arrayed around the prison yard, each holding about 250 prisoners. Inmates from different housing units rarely associate with one another. Each housing pod has two levels of cells around a common area. Inmates can use earphones to listen to televisions, which are affixed to a post. The area has payphones and a microwave for food bought at the commissary.

Inmates sleep in two-bunk cells. Random searches are conducted daily. Prisoners are counted five times each day — at 4 p.m., 10 p.m., midnight, 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. Inmates deemed to be “high security risks,” including some international terrorists, must check in with prison staff members every two hours. Those who do not may be sent to the Special Handling Unit, a set of isolation cells where inmates have little or no contact with others.

The isolation cells were full, Mr. Norwood said, with 235 inmates there for reasons including violence and disobeying commands. Some are there to be protected from other prisoners. Prisoners generally stay in isolation cells for one to six months, Mr. Norwood said.