World Trade Center Bomber Suing Over Solitary Confinement

World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef intends to sue over his placement in solitary confinement.

Yousef has been in solitary confinement for 15 years after he was charged in the 1993 bombing. But it appears the bomber doesn’t want to live out his life plus 240-year sentence in solitary confinement.

CBS News reports that Yousef, now 44, will spend the rest of his days in prison for his role in the bombing that killed six people and injured over 1,000 at the World Trade Center.

The attack took place in February 1993. Yousef is being held at a “supermax” prison in the Colorado Rockies. Government records show that the bomber wrote the prison’s warden, saying:

“I request an immediate end to my solitary confinement and ask to be in a unit in an open prison environment where inmates are allowed outside their cells for no less than 14 hours a day.”

The convicted terrorist is currently in solitary confinement for 24 hours per day. The Los Angeles Times notes that Yousef’s letter to the warden also read:

“I have been in solitary confinement in the U.S. since Feb. 8, 1995, with no end in sight … I further ask not to be in handcuffs or leg irons when moved outside my cell.”

The prison’s warden has not granted the request by the terrorist, because he still maintains that Yousef is a serious security threat. Some outside experts have agreed with the convicted terrorist, however.

The judge is expected to rule soon on whether the lawsuit will go to trial, possibly ending the World Trade Center bomber’s solitary confinement.

[Image by DSS Agent (acknowledged [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons]