What is a “security level” in prison? Knowing how to answer this question would empower anyone who might be able to break into the system.
Since most people have no history of lockdowns and don’t know others who have been affected by lockdowns, they don’t have a realistic idea of what to expect. If they don’t know what’s coming, they don’t know how to prepare.
Minimum Security Prison
A minimum security prison may also be referred to as a Federal Prison Camp (FPC). Most people in a minimum security prison are white-collar criminals, meaning they have committed something called fraud or embezzlement. While these crimes are still considered serious, the perpetrators themselves are not considered dangerous: they do not face the same risk of violence as other prisoners.
White-collar criminals will be sent to minimum-security prisons where they will live in a dormitory-style environment. There are also fewer guards here and prisoners enjoy more personal freedom than in the high-security facilities. These facilities also have little to no fencing.
The Federal Penitentiary System
The institutions of the federal penitentiary system are divided into five categories: minimal, low, medium, high (safest), and administrative. Minimum security facilities, commonly referred to as “federal prison camps,” are designed for offenders who do not present a risk of violence or escape. According to Bureau statistics, approximately 15 percent of all inmates are housed in minimum-security facilities, ie detention camps, and community facilities. Most people want to be sent to a federal prison camp because of the lack of violence and what they believe to be better prison conditions. Minimum-security facilities have dormitories and rooms, relatively low staff-to-inmate ratios, and limited or no fencing.
These institutions are career and program oriented, and many are located adjacent to larger institutions or on military bases where inmates help meet the labor needs of the larger institution or base. Although inmates are theoretically free to leave these facilities, few do so because inmates who escape prison camps and are recaptured face dire consequences. Not only are these inmates prosecuted for escaping, but they spend the rest of their time in safer (and therefore tougher) facilities.
Although the designation as a detention center is the most common type of minimum security detention, the BOP also operates minimum security working cadres in administrative facilities, the mission of which is the detention of suspects on remand.
Generally, an inmate must be discharged within five years of release to be considered for placement in the field. And the likelihood of being so named increases in the absence of a valid court recommendation, or in the face of a non-specific recommendation (for example, the court recommends that the BOP transfer someone who lives near a major urban center “to an establishment closer to home “).
Work cadre placement is fundamentally different from camp placement. Despite being housed in a separate unit with other minimum security inmates, the cadre inmates tasked with maintaining the daily operations of the facility are exposed to a general population of all security levels , including people who have done so have been charged or convicted of very serious crimes — the latter awaiting transfer Also for environmental reasons, the inmates in the painting are confined in a similar way to high-security inmates, i.e. in a cell rather than an open cubicle . In throughout the facility there is an increased noise level at all times of the day and night; and occupants are not allowed to walk outdoors or breathe fresh air.