Washington — A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from transferring a group of former federal death row inmates to the nation’s most secure prison facility, escalating tensions between the executive branch and the judiciary over incarceration policy.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued the ruling this week, halting plans to move 20 inmates — whose death sentences had previously been commuted to life imprisonment — to the Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colorado, widely known as the federal “Supermax.”

The Bureau of Prisons had argued that the transfers were justified on security grounds. ADX Florence houses some of the most dangerous offenders in the federal system, including terrorism convicts and organized crime leaders, under conditions of near-total isolation.

However, Judge Kelly ruled that the government’s process for reassigning the inmates likely violated their Fifth Amendment due-process rights. Court filings indicated that officials may have predetermined the outcome of classification reviews, denying prisoners a meaningful opportunity to challenge their placement.

Attorneys representing the inmates argued that the move amounted to punitive retaliation following presidential clemency decisions that spared them from execution. They contended that transferring them to one of the harshest prison environments in the United States effectively undermined the intent of those commutations.

The injunction does not permanently block the transfers but prevents the administration from proceeding while litigation continues. The Justice Department is expected to appeal the decision, maintaining that prison placement falls within executive authority and correctional discretion.

Legal scholars say the case could test the limits of presidential power over the federal prison system, particularly when clemency decisions by prior administrations intersect with new correctional policies.

For now, the inmates will remain in their current facilities as the courts weigh constitutional claims against federal security prerogatives — setting the stage for a potentially consequential legal battle over incarceration conditions and executive reach.