Prison Choice

by Brenda
(Pasco, FL)

How is it determined which prison an inmate will be sent?

When an inmate begins serving their time, they will undergo a process called classification. Many assessments are completed which will impact what prison will be selected for the inmate to be transferred to once they have leave the reception/diagnostic center.

Here are some of the considerations:

1. Security needs of institution: Inmates with violent and more severe crimes will begin their time typically at a maximum security prison. Inmate with less serious offenses and shorter sentences may do all their time at a minimum security prison. Each prison has certain levels of inmates allowed to be housed within. At times all security levels might be available within a prison complex, others may only house a single type of inmate.

2.Treatment considerations: Some inmates may be required to go to a certain type of treatment that is found at one or more prisons within a state.

3. Release considerations: Some states try to have inmates housed at a few select prisons when they are close to release in order to deliver reentry programming.

4. Medical considerations: Some prisons are dedicated to treat inmates with certain medical conditions.

5. Enemies: A security concern would be to keep known enemies apart. Sometimes, an inmate cannot be transferred to a particular prison because someone is already housed there who are on an enemies list of that inmate.

This is only a partial list of the many variables that need to be considered when assigning an inmate to a prison. It is not an easy task when there are thousands of inmates who are constantly moving in and out of the correctional facilities.