CNN - Reporters Get First Look Inside Supermax

CNN justice producer Terry Frieden was part of the first-ever media tour of the U.S. Bureau of Prison's Administrative Maximum prison -- also known as "Supermax." What follows is Frieden's account of his experience.

A file photo of the SuperMax prison taken when the facility opened 13 years ago.

FLORENCE, Colorado (CNN) -- Visiting Supermax, the "Alcatraz of the Rockies," reveals nothing so much as an astonishing and eerie quiet.

It's not what one would expect of a place that houses 473 notorious terrorists, vicious murderers and violent, disruptive escape-prone inmates brought in from other federal penitentiaries.

I've visited noisy, boisterous state and federal prisons, where inmates scream for a visitor's attention or proclaim their innocence.

But at Supermax -- officially called "Administrative Maximum," or ADX -- everything is very tightly controlled, with nothing left to chance, so there is no particular sense of a threat, no feeling of vulnerability. View an explainer of Supermax's security »

Corrections officials were blunt in explaining their reason for finally inviting reporters, albeit without cameras, to peek behind the heavy metal gates for the first time since the penitentiary opened 13 years ago.

"This is about dispelling myths and rumors," said Warden Ron Wiley.

Myths that particularly rile prison officials are reports that Supermax, southwest of Colorado Springs, is a dungeon where inmates are cast aside to rot and die, and that the prison is underground, which it obviously is not. View a map of Supermax's location »

The first hint of the level of control throughout Supermax is the cumbersome, time-consuming security procedures we visitors (already cleared for admittance) were subjected to.

I expect metal detectors these days, but despite possessing my Justice Department-issued photo ID, I still had to be photographed by the Bureau of Prisons, which is part of the Justice Department. Even Bureau of Prisons executives had to display their credentials to guards time and time again.

Prison officials also have been bugged by rumors that the penitentiary was not entirely safe and secure, and that the lack of adequate staffing and a perimeter fence were potential problems to the community.

Bureau officials insist allegations of inadequate security were fueled by corrections labor unions wanting more staffing, but complaints caught the attention of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Colorado Sens. Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard, all of whom visited.

In the end, it was agreed that a $10 million perimeter fence wasn't needed.

The handful of journalists allowed in were not allowed to see the headline-grabbing terrorists isolated under specially designed procedures. We didn't get a glimpse of Zacharias Moussaoui, Ramzi Yousef, Richard Reid, Theodore Kaczynski or Terry Nichols. But we've seen them in court, and they're not the guys you'd most fear.

CNN