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Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Probably Won’t End Up in Massachusetts

3 minute read

The federal jury that found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty on all 30 counts in the Boston Marathon bombing Wednesday is now set to decide whether he should get the death penalty — but he’s unlikely to end up in the state of Massachusetts.

A death sentence would see Tsarnaev sent to the Midwest, while a sentence of life imprisonment would most likely send him to a supermax prison in Colorado.

If Tsarnaev is sentenced to death, he’ll sit on death row in Indiana. The federal government has executed only three inmates in the last 50 years: Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; Juan Raul Garza, a reputed drug trafficker convicted of killing three people; and Louis Jones, a Gulf War veteran who kidnapped, raped and murdered a woman on a military base. All of them were executed in the last 15 years, and each execution took place at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., the only location where the federal government carries out capital punishment in the U.S.

If Tsarnaev is given a life sentence, however, he could end up at one of a number of supermax facilities around the U.S., says Harvard University law professor Carol Steiker. The most likely is ADX Florence in Colorado, the federal government’s only supermax facility, nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.”

See Evidence From the Boston Bombing Trial

Boston Bombing Trial Evidence Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Prosecutors presented this image of a blood-stained, bullet-ridden message, allegedly written by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the inside of a boat, to jurors as evidence in Boston on March 10, 2015.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters
Boston Bombing Trial Evidence Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Prosecutors presented this image of a blood-stained, bullet-ridden message, allegedly written by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the inside of a boat, to jurors as evidence in Boston on March 10, 2015.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters
Boston Bombing Trial Evidence Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Prosecutors presented this image of a blood-stained, bullet-ridden message, allegedly written by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the inside of a boat, to jurors as evidence in Boston on March 10, 2015.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters
The boat where Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hid after a gunfight with police
This still image, presented as evidence at trial, shows the boat where Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hid after a gunfight with police.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in shoot out with police
This still image captured from video shows brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev crouched behind a car during their April 2013 shootout with police. U.S. Department of Justice/Corbis
Evidence markers are seen on a street where Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev engaged in a gunfight with police in this undated handout evidence photo
Evidence markers are seen on a street where Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev engaged in a gunfight with police.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters
A 9mm Luger clip and bullet package sit next to a backpack and bag on a street where Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev engaged in a gunfight with police in this undated handout evidence photo
A 9mm Luger clip and bullet package sit next to a backpack and bag on a street where Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev engaged in a gunfight with police.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters
A wallet containing the drivers license for Tamerlan Tsarnaev is entered as evidence in trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Boston
A wallet containing Tamerlan Tsarnaev's drivers license is seen in a still handout image entered as evidence in the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters
A large fragment of a homemade pressure-cooker bomb is seen in a still handout image entered as evidence during Tsarnaev trial in Boston
A large fragment of a homemade pressure-cooker bomb that accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is charged with throwing at police officers during a gunfight in Watertown, Mass. on April 19, 2015, is seen embedded in the side of a Honda Civic that was parked near the site of the disturbance.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters
An unexploded metal bomb entered as evidence in trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Boston
An unexploded metal bomb filled with explosive powder and lined with metal pellets was entered as evidence in the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters
An unexploded metal bomb entered as evidence in trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Boston
An unexploded metal bomb was entered as evidence in the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters
Boston Bombing Trial Evidence Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
This still image capture from video, which was released as evidence in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, shows the chaos as a bomb explodes during the 2013 Boston Marathon.U.S. Department of Justice/EPA
Boston Bombing Trial Evidence Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
A still image captured from surveillance video at the Boston Marathon shows the scene moments before a second bomb exploded as a man, marked with a circle by prosecutors (top R) and identified by them as defendant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, moves rapidly away from the spot near the finish line of the race on April 15, 2013 in Boston.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters
Boston Bombing Trial Evidence Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
A still image captured from surveillance video at the Boston Marathon shows the moment when a second bomb exploded as a man, marked with a circle by prosecutors (top R) and identified by them as defendant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, moves rapidly away from the spot near the finish line of the race on April 15, 2013 in Boston.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters
Boston Bombing Trial Evidence Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
A still image captured from surveillance video at the Boston Marathon shows the moment when a second bomb exploded as a man, marked with a circle by prosecutors (top R) and identified by them as defendant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, moves rapidly away from the spot near the finish line of the race on April 15, 2013 in Boston.U.S. Department of Justice/Reuters

The Colorado prison was designed to hold inmates like Terry Nichols, a co-conspirator in the Oklahoma City bombing, Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph—all individuals the government feared could pose a potential threat while in custody.

Steiker says it will be up to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to choose where to hold Tsarnaev if he’s given life. North Carolina’s Butner Federal Correctional Institution, which holds Omar Abdel-Rahman—convicted on charges of conspiracy stemming from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York—is also a possibility. The federal jail in Massachusetts where he is currently being held, FMC Devens, is designed mainly for male inmates requiring mental or medical care.

It’s far from clear whether a jury made up of residents of Massachusetts, which abolished the death penalty in 1984, will decide on a death sentence for Tsarnaev. Although jurors were chosen on their willingness to vote for the death penalty, most polls show Massachusetts residents to be majority anti-capital punishment.

While a Boston Globe poll in July found that 62% of respondents supported the federal government in seeking the death penalty for Tsarnaev, another poll by the newspaper in September found that 57% of respondents actually supported a life sentence for Tsarnaev. Only a third at the time said they favored the death penalty.

MORE: Boston Bombing Survivor: Either Sentence is Too Good for Tsarnaev

Massachusetts is also considered the most Catholic state in the country, with almost one in two residents identifying with the faith. The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty, and in the last few days, Catholic leaders around the state have publicly favored a life sentence. At least one Boston Marathon bombing victim has come out in favor of sparing Tsarnaev the death penalty, according to The New York Times.

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