I heard low medium means less security.

I don't know about state but in Federal Low and Medium are 2 different levels. My son was in low in a federal prison in Floriduh and they also had a medium there.

Most states have their prisons divided according to security level. They have a work release---sometimes called a work camp---a minimum, a medium, and a maximum, with the maximum being the highest security where the inmates with very long and violent sentences are kept and the minimum where short timers with non-violent sentences do their time.

In the federal system they have a high and a low, which roughly corresponds to a medium and a minimum respectively.

But some states have a maximum, a high medium, a low medium, and a minimum.

Your son is at a low medium which is still a fairly high security. It is high enough that he needs to have a cover story to tell if and when he is asked about his crime.

The only facilities I would feel relatively safe if I had a sex crime conviction and the inmates found out would be a minimum security prison. The inmates there may shun the inmate, but they will not usually bother them.

At mediums, the inmates will sometimes really try to hurt an inmate with a sex crime. They usually will first approach him and tell him he "needs to find another place to stay, that they do not want him around." If he doesn't, he can probably prepare for some kind of confrontation.

rewdiazepam

He was NOT charged by the Feds, his attorney got a letter saying they would not charge him. But the State of Kansas did. Does that affect anything? The reason he got the medium is because they had to put him on anti-depressants which counted as a point against him.

No, it doesn't really change much, but being charged by the state instead of the feds is usually a blessing.

I'm sort of surprised that he was given another security point because of a medical reason.

One thing to remember, is that as time goes by, if he stays out of trouble in there and receives no misconducts, some of those security points will drop off. In about six months, he may have dropped a point or two which will make him minimum eligible, so it is not like he is stuck at a medium for his entire sentence.

One or two security points will automatically fall off as he does some time and reduces his sentence.

When I first went to prison, I was placed at a medium because I had a 20 year sentence. In 26 months, with good time credits, I had worked that 20 year sentence down to 15 years. Then I was minimum eligible and was shipped to a minimum.

So that is the good news for your son. If he gets his cover story down pat, he will be OK until he is shipped out UNLESS he does something incredibly stupid like snitch on someone or get into debt and cannot pay.

Keep a positive attitude. He will be OK.

rewdiazepam

My son was moved yesterday to a LOW MEDIUM facility. When talking with one of the staff they told me that if, after 30 days he didn't get any points, they would move him to the minimum part of the jail. Does that sound right? Right now he's in general population.

I wouldn't trust what the staff tells you. They're not your friends and often lie.
General public is in all levels, from what I understand. Maybe he's in medium.. and if he gets no points he goes to low? If you're not in general then, most likely you're in the Shu or medical. But I'll sit back because I'm sure Rew can clear this up for you.

A low medium might be a prison that's between a minimum and medium.

OK, your son has been moved to a low medium facility. I assume that he was sent there directly from the evaluation center after they were done with him.

Unless there is something going on that I am unaware, they have already given him a security classification at the reception and assessment center and he classified as needing to be at a low medium security. It is unlikely that they would move him to the minimum part of the jail so soon after a classification. I have never heard of that. Usually they do a re-classification or review of the security points every six months to a year, but not before, certainly not again in 30 days.

Each state's DOC is different and the rules are not uniform with each other from state to statge. I don't know the procedure in your son's state, but I know in Oklahoma he would never move from a low medium--just called a medium in Oklahoma--- to a minimum within 30 days. That would not happen in my state.

Did he tell you how many security points he had? I could determine his status better if I knew that.

So he is in the general population of a low medium, meaning that he is not in SHU, PC, DU, or RHU, nor is he in a medical facility somewhere. He is with all the other inmates and not segregated.

It is possible that they could move him to the minimum section of the prison, but probably not likely this soon. But maybe his security points were low enough to go to a minimum, but there was no room there, so they put him at the medium. No, no, on second thought, they would not do that. They never place inmates out of their proper security classification.

The good thing is that his points will gradually fall off as time goes by IF he does not get into trouble in there and get some misconducts. So at some point, he will be minimum eligible, but I have no way of knowing when.

I echo Nak's sentiment towards prison staff. They are there to do a job and not there to help inmates. True, many of them will not go out of their way to cause an inmate trouble, but they will not usually do anything out of the call of duty to help one either.

The staff may or may not know what he or she is talking about. Even when an inmate gets his security points down to where he is minimum eligible, it still takes them several months to finally ship him.

BTW, each prison has a general population. That is the area for those not in segregated housing either because of misconducts, they are about to be shipped, or for their own protection. Minimum and medium security prisons are completely separate and fenced off from each other. Within each security, both the minimum and medium, there is a general population. Medium security inmates can never mingle with minimum security inmates as they are not even housed in the same area.

I hope this sheds some light on your son's situation.

rewdiazepam

My son only has one point and that's for his anti-depression medication. The person I talked to said that after 30 days they would move him to the minimum part of the prison if there was a bed open. He said he would NOT be moved from this prison but put in the minimum section. That make sense?

If your son has only one security point, he should not be at any kind of medium UNLESS Kansas has some statute where anyone with a sex crime must be housed at a higher security. I doubt that they do, but some states do or they at least state in the statutes than anyone with a sex crime cannot be housed anywhere where there is not some razor wire between them and the outside world.

Knowing that he has only one security point, I think the person that told you he would be moved to a minimum as soon as a bed was open is probably correct.

I think there may be some confusion about medium and minimum prisons. Most prison systems have several prisons and each separate prison has both a medium and minimum section. In Oklahoma, the medium I was at had a minimum prison, but it was not connected to the medium section. It was separated by about 1000 feet, but was still considered a part of the prison complex. But it was a separate unit.

Some state prisons have a minimum and medium section that is divided by only a fence, as the two sections are jammed up against each other. The fence of course has the standard section of razor wire everywhere so the inmates in the medium can never access the inmates in the minimum. It would defeat the purpose of security levels if they allowed that to happen. They don't want hardened criminals, murderers, mingling with petty criminals like a simple second degree burglary inmate.

Your son will not be moved to another prison in another part of the state, but will be placed in the minimum section of his current prison.

I think your son is probably headed to a minimum, but it might be several weeks before a bed is available. Comparing a medium security prison with a minimum is like night and day. He will be much, much safer at the minimum.

rewdiazepam

In florida a S.O. never gets below a medium status even if he stays out of trouble. I am not sure how your state works but he will most likely never drop below a medium that would mean outside work detail would be available to him and the state will not take a chance of an S.O. re-offending while in prison.
Bill

In the federal system they have a high and a low, which roughly corresponds to a medium and a minimum respectively.
Rew

My son was in low in Floriduh, in federal and they had a medium and a low.

Madbill, my son was in Floriduh federal and he was in low.

@madbill, that is what I was referring to when I said that some states now have statutes or at least DOC policies that preclude a SO from ever being house in a minimum or a prison without a fence with barbed wire.

When I was in prison in Oklahoma, a SO could go to a minimum, but never a work release. And even at that minimum, a SO could never work on one of the outside crews cutting grass or cleaning up state parks. The risk is too great that he could escape and reoffend.

I would like to have a list of states that have this provision, but I have been unable to find one.

@Nak, you are correct. The federal system does indeed have a medium security level along with a high and low. In the state system, you will never hear the words "high and low" when referring to level classifications of facilities, but the federal system is different. I overlooked the fact that they also refer to some prisons as medium. I stand corrected.

rewdiazepam