My Colorado son tells me that the DOC doesn't use common sense when they move inmates around. From the medical and classification prison, he was sent to a facility 4 hours away. Then two weeks later, they had to bring him back for a court appearnce. Then, a few days later, they had to take him back to the facility that was four hours away. What a waste of tax dollars.

I'm so glad your son sounded good. I know how much it means to us mothers to hear our son's voices and be assured they're ok. We mothers can sense things in our childrens' voices that other people are not sensitive enough to hear.

In the DOC, evidently there's a difference between medical problems and mental health problems. The intake prison usually has special staff and facilities to treat medical problems, such as heart problems, cancer, etc. But mental health programs in prisons are virtually non-existent, to my knowledge.

Also, the length of a sentence is figured into the equasion, when the DOC determines an inmate's security level...minimum, medium, or maximum. A shorter sentence usually means the inmate is highly motivated to stay out of trouble and is, therefore, less of a security risk. The lower the security risk, the lower the security level. The prisons are clssified by security level. So a minimum level prison has fewer restrictions on the inmates. The maximum security prisons have the strictest policies, due to the higher risk inmates being there.

With only 7 years, you son will be assigned to a minimum type security facility. You may not realize this yet, but that is the best news you could get at this point.

Minimum security facilities are for short-timers and mostly non-violent inmates. Your son will not get hurt there because of the nature of his crimes and you will not constantly have to worry about his safety.

At mediums, they usually make it difficult on sex offenders, even beating them up so badly that they have to be assigned to another prison. At a minimum, the other inmates might not really like another inmate in there for a sex crime, but they will not usually bother him. A medium and a minimum is the difference between getting half killed and shunned.

At a minimum, your son will find guys just like himself---scared, apprehensive, not knowing what to expect. He will make some friends and he will do his time fine.

I witnessed inmates badly hurt at the medium I was at, but at the minimum, I never saw anything more than a couple of inmates exchanging a couple of punches and maybe a bloody nose. And even that only happened once every couple of months.

Minimum security prisons are full of inmates at the tail end of their sentence. THEY WANT TO GO HOME. At this point, they are so anxious to go home that they will do anything to achieve that goal. The last thing they want to do is assault some inmate or cause trouble in any way because doing that would get them a misconduct which would delay their release or worse yet, get them sent to higher security, a medium prison, which nobody wants. It is at the medium security prisons where all the violence is at.

The cop knows what security level your son will be assigned because he knows the system. No DOC would ever place an inmate with only 7 years in a medium security prison, unless that inmate just kept causing trouble over and over and was shipped there for disciplinary reasons. The DOCs need the medium bedspace for people with 30, 40, or 60 years, not some young man with a 7 year NON-VIOLENT offense. I have never seen nor heard of any inmate with a 7 year sentence going to a medium---it just does not happen.

I am so very happy that you were able to talk to your son. Just hearing his voice lets you know that he is OK.

rewdiazepam

Rew, both my Iowa son and my Colorado son are at medium facilities. The Iowa facility is actually more mild than the Colorado facility. But...neither of these facilities is as bad as the medium level faility you describe. Just fyi.

Not only do the inmates get along better at a minimum, but there will also be more self-help programs available for your son there. They have vo-tech, GED classes, drug programs, rational behaviour programs, etc. at a minimum. At a medium, they basically throw you in there and let you fend for yourself, but minimums are not nearly as harsh. Comparing the two are like night and day.

I know, I was at both security levels for several years.

Taking programs will not only keep your son busy and make the time go by faster, but he can also earn good time credits which will allow him to be released earlier. Where I was at, earning a GED or attending vo-tech classes gave an inmate 90 days credit, and the other programs awarded an inmate 30 days credit. The maximum an inmate could earn was 90 days good time credit a year, but it all adds up.

He will be home sooner than you think. You WILL get throught his and your son WILL be fine.

rewdiazepam

Honestwitness,

How much time did your two sons receive?

I was in the prison system for 8 years and I never---never----heard of anyone with less than 10 years being assigned to a medium security prison. I am in Oklahoma and that has been my observations anyway.

I do know that the length of the sentence is not the only consideration, but it is a major one. They put the guys with more time to do at mediums because they are more likely to attempt to escape and are therefore more of a security risk than someone with 7 years.

Some states use a point system at classification to determine the level of security an imate is ultimately assigned to. As I said, the length of the sentence is the biggest factor, but in the classification process they also figure in the age of the inmate, whether his crime was violent or non-violent, and if he is a first time offender or a repeat offender. They assign points for each factor and use some type of equations to come up with a final score. If an offender is above a certain score, he goes to a higher security.

Lower sentences usually mean lower security, at least that has been my experience and observations over the years.

rewdiazepam

Honestwitness,

Didn't one of your sons receive a 20 year sentence? That is the main reason he is at a medium--the 20 year sentence. I received 20 years and I stayed at a medium until I worked my sentence down to 15 years, at which time I was shipped to a minumum security prison.

I live in the Bible Belt and the medium security prisons are certainly tough. Maybe some of the medium security prisons are not as bad as the ones in Oklahoma, but I would not think there would be a whole lot of difference.

rewdiazepam

My husband was sentenced for 5 yrs. They sent him over 8 hrs away..in the middle of nowhere. He did what he was told to do..when he went up for parole he was told don't be upset if you don't get out hardly anyone is released the first time. We prayed and they released him. It is so hard to go thru all of this..I wish there was a way to help.

Rew, my Iowa son has 20 years and my Colorado son has 4 years to life. Evidently it's different from one state to another.

I wonder what maximum security prisons in Oklahoma are like, if the mediiums are as bad as you describe. *cringe*

Rew, they have my son as a repeat offender. This is so frustrating. Could that mean he would go to medium?

Heartbroken,

I doubt he will go to a medium even though he is designated as a repeat offender. Seven years is just not a long enough sentence to justify placing an offender at a medium security prison.

Unless there are extreme circumstances a person with only seven years will go to a minimum. There is only one situations where I think they might place a guy with only seven years into a medium and that is if he had an attempted escape from a jail or prison on his record.

The last prison I was at was a minimum. At that prison, there were many, many guys who had previous offenses---in other words were repeat offenders---but their current, controlling offense was under ten years. So even if they had prior convictions, they were still minimum eligible.

Just think about it. An inmate is designated his prison according to its SECURITY level. After all, there are medium SECURITY level prisons and minimum SECURITY level prisons. Basically, the DOC looks at a lot of things when they assign an inmate, but they are most interested in whether that inmate will ever try to escape. Medium and minimums are, after all, the security level a person goes to.

Inmates with very long sentences of say, 60, 80, or 100 years or so, are most likely to attempt to escape. After all, what do they have to lose? This type of inmate knows he will never be released in his lifetime anyway.

Inmates with short sentences of say, less than 10 years, are not likely to escape. After all, they know they can do their time and be released some day to live again on the outside.

This is the very reason inmates with short sentences go to minimums. The DOC needs all the bed space at mediums for the inmates with longer sentences.

rewdiazepam

Honestwitness,

You said, "I wonder what maximum security prisons in Oklahoma are like, if the mediiums are as bad as you describe."

Stangely enough, the mediums were more dangerous than the one maximum we had in the state and I will explain why. At the mediums, the inmates were only locked in their cells about four times a day for a one hour period when they did head counts. The rest of the time, all the inmates were free to mingle around each other. Since the inmates were in contact with each other most of the time, that presented an opportunity for them to fight each other, beat on each other, or just create mayhem.

But at the one maximum we had, the inmates were rarely in contact with each other as most of the inmates were locked down 23 hours a day. So if a guy could get along with his cellmate, he was OK.

Actually the medium I was at was just another arm of the maximum. When the maximum was full, they shipped some of the inmates to my medium. BTW, they nicknamed the medium I was at "Gladiator School" and it was known as that througout the system.

This is why I cringe when I hear of a sex offender with a lot of time, as I know he will be going to a medium.

rewdiazepam

Rew, I'm puzzled as to why you never mention maximum security prisons. Does Oklahoma not have any?

honestwitness,

Oh, yeah they have a maximum security prison in McAlester, but it was reserved for those that had either 1) hundreds of years, or 2) those inmates who screwed up at a medium by getting a lot of misconducts and getting sent to a higher security or 3) those whose crime was so heinous that they did not want to put them at a medium.

But the mediums had their share of bad guys too, even lifers. My first cellmate was dong three consecutive life sentences for first degree murder and I had a friend on my unit who was sentenced to 3,400 years for sex assault on a child. His 3,4000 year sentence was overturned when DNA evidence exonerated him.

So a lot of the inmates at the medium really should have been at a maximum, but they ran out of bed space there, so they stayed at the medium.

Actually, Oklahoma has about eight medium security prisons across the state and only one maximum. They also have about a dozen or more minimum security prisons and several work release facilities, also called work camps. So yeah, this state is crazy when it comes to incarcerating people.

rewdiazepam

Thanks so much Rew. It's a shame how this came about but what can you do? The system unfortunately is bigger than us. It's just sad how they ruin lives. They should try to get in our shoes and try to find a place to live, etc and see how it affects their family, etc. They would not like it. It's such a stupid law anyway. The statistics show that it's not the people who live around you. This is a very cruel world no matter what state we live in. Thanks for your reply.

BTW, Honestwitness, I am so sorry that they did that to your two sons. I can only imagine the pain for a mother to have one son in prison, but having two must be unbearable and overwhelming.

If there is ever anything I can do for you or to help, please message me.

rewdiazepam