The Boston Marathon bombing suspect is being held in a small cell with a steel door at a federal medical detention center about 40 miles outside the city, a federal official said Saturday.
Federal Medical Center Devens spokesman John Collauti described the conditions under which 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was being held in the Ayer facility after being moved there from a hospital Friday.
Tsarnaev was injured during a police chase in which his brother, also a suspect in the bombing, was fatally wounded.
Collauti said in a telephone interview that Tsarnaev is in secure housing where authorities can monitor him.
His cell has a solid steel door with an observation window and a slot for passing food and medication.
Collauti wouldn't discuss specific details related to Tsarnaev, but said that typically medical workers making rounds each shift monitor the inmates.
He said guards also keep an eye on some cells with video cameras.
Also, inmates in the more restrictive section do not have access to TVs or radios, but can read books and other materials, he said.
'Really this type of facility is fully capable of handling him and it's not that much of an inconvenience because it's more or less business as usual,' Collauti said.
Guarded: Tsarnaev was being held in the Federal Medical Center Devens, pictured, after being moved there from a hospital on Friday
New digs: Tsarnaev's cell has a solid steel door with an observation window and a slot for passing food and medication
Tsarnaev left Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where he was controversially treated just yards from the wards containing many of his victims.
His new home is part of the minimum security facility on the decommissioned Fort Devens U.S. Army base.
It treats federal prisoners and detainees who require specialized long-term medical or mental health care.
It has been referred to in the past as 'agreeable' and 'fairly pleasant'.
It is designated as an administrative facility, which means it has inmates from different security classifications, from white-collar criminals to mobsters and sex offenders.
The medical center currently houses 1,000 inmates with 124 in a minimum-security satellite prison camp. It costs around $157 for each inmate per day.
According to its website, these minimum security prison camps, have dormitory housing, a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio, and limited or no perimeter fencing.
They are usually work-and-program oriented and inmates help serve the labor needs of the larger institution or base.
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New home: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and was taken to the Federal Medical Center Devens about 40 miles west of Boston
Tsarnaev said he was behind the devastating terrorist attack. He spoke to police from his hospital bed. Whether suspected terrorists should be read their Miranda rights has become a controversial issue in the U.S
Former NYPD officer William Masso, former New Jersey assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt and one time Underworld mafia boss John Franzese, 96, are currently inmates there.
The medical center inmates are often allowed to leave the facility to see outside specialists and for tests and medical procedures not available in the medical center.
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The Federal Bureau of Prisons is focused on preventing rehabilitation by encouraging inmates to participate in a range of programs that have been proven to reduce repeat offending.
The level of security which Tsarnaev will be held under depends on his changing circumstances - because he is a pretrial inmate - and he has no set protocol at this time.
Tsarnaev will have access to medical and dental care, and the prison's handbook states that inmates have the right to a healthy, nutritious diet, as well as information about staying healthy while behind bars.
Tsarnaev admitted to his role in the attacks to the FBI this week - but apparently clammed up when finally read his Miranda rights.
THE MINIMUM SECURITY PRISON WITH MOB BOSSES AND FORMER ASSEMBLYMEN AS INMATES
The minimum security facility, on the decommissioned Fort Devens U.S. Army base, treats federal prisoners and detainees who require specialized long-term medical or mental health care.
It is designated as an administrative facility, which means it has inmates from different security classifications, from white-collar criminals to mobsters and sex offenders.
The medical center currently houses 1,000 inmates with 130 in a minimum-security satellite prison camp.
According to its website, these minimum security prison camps have dormitory housing, a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio and limited or no perimeter fencing.
The prison has regular onsite specialists in cardiology, nephrology, endocrinology, surgery, neurology and pulmonology.
Current and former inmates are: John Franzese, 96, former Underboss of the Colombo crime family in New York City. He is currently serving an eight-year sentence for racketeering conspiracy in 2011. He is also suspected in numerous Mafia-related murders.
Daniel Van Pelt, 48, a member of the New Jersey State Assembly from 2008-2009. He is currently serving a 41-month sentence for bribery. He was arrested in 2010 for accepting $10,000 to provide environmental permits for a development project.
Sabri Benkahla, 38, member of the Virginia jihad network. He is currently serving a ten-year sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice after he was convicted of lying to FBI agents and a grand jury about a training camp run by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda.
William Masso, former NYPD officer. He is currently serving a 57-month sentence after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in 2012 for leading a gun trafficking ring comprised of active and retired police officers.
He had been communicating with law enforcement officials by writing on a pad after suffering an injury to his throat during the frenzied manhunt for him which renders him unable to talk.
However, the moment he was read his rights on Monday - which as a citizen of the United States entitle him to the constitutional right to remain silent and seek a lawyer - he stopped communicating.
Indeed, it has been claimed that federal agents were surprised when a magistrate judge and a representative from the U.S. Attorney's office entered the hospital room and read Tsarnaev his rights, four officials and one law enforcement official said.
Investigators had planned to keep questioning him.
This apparent confusion came after the White House decided against treating Tsarnaev as an enemy combatant.
It is unclear as to whether this will matter in court as the FBI says Tsarnaev has already confessed to a witness.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said: 'Before being advised of his rights, the 19-year-old suspect told authorities that his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, only recently had recruited him to be part of the attack'.
The debate over whether suspected terrorists should be read their Miranda rights has become a sticking point.
Many Republicans believe they hinder intelligence gathering.
The Department of Justice has said investigators may wait until they have gathered intelligence about other threats before reading those rights in terrorism cases.
Investigators have found pieces of remote-control equipment among the debris and are analyzing them, officials said.
One official described the detonator as 'close-controlled,' meaning it had to be triggered within several blocks of the bombs.
Dzhokhar is recovering in a hospital from injuries suffered during a getaway attempt last Friday.
Police had previously said Dzhokhar exchanged gunfire with them for more than an hour last Friday before they captured him inside a boat in a suburban Boston neighborhood.