[JURIST] US prison officials said Friday that convicted terrorism conspirator Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] will serve his approximately 17-year term at a "supermax" federal prison in Colorado. The maximum-security facility located in Florence [official website] also holds "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, and September 11 attacks conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive]. Padilla's co-defendants remain in Miami's downtown detention center. In an email to AP Friday Padilla's attorney Michael Caruso said the decision was "yet another example of Jose being treated differently and in a more punitive fashion than others who have been accused of similar crimes." AP has more.

Padilla was convicted in August, along with Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifadh Wael Jayyousi [profiles], of conspiracy to commit illegal violent acts outside the US, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing material support to terrorists. Padilla, a US citizen, was arrested in 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and subsequently detained as an "enemy combatant" [JURIST news archive] at a Navy military brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Initially alleged to have planned the explosion of a "dirty bomb" in the United States, Padilla went from enemy combatant to criminal defendant when he was finally charged with other offenses in November 2005.