Not sure , but it might be for his protection from other inmates !

Thank you.

In Illinois, a security level 5 prison is classified as a "high minimum" security facility. I suppose that is a cross between a medium and a minimum. Minimum security prisons are generally fairly safe, so you can guess what that prison is like.

I was at a medium and then I went to a minimum for the latter part of my sentence. The difference is like night and day. At mediums there was a lot of violence, stabbings, and drug trade. At the minimum, everyone was laid back.

He will probably be fine as long as he does not snitch, does not get into debt, keeps a low profile, minds his own business and does not advertise his crime.

I would say your son is not in as bad a place as he could be.

rewdiazepam

He is not in Illinois - he is in Kansas. Will he be safe there - I'm afraid he will get stabbed or hurt very badly in a level 5 pod. Or do they start at 5 then work their way down when the evaluation is over?

Oh yeah, I forgot. You are in Illinois and he is in Kansas.

A security level 5 is a very high security in Kansas. I would think it would be equivalent to a maximum security facility.

But I notice you said he is now in an "evaluation center." All these evaluation centers and assessment and reception prisons are maximum security, so that may be the reason he is in a level 5 at this time. If he is in an evaluation center, then I would expect him to be in a level 5.

When he gets evaluated and classified, they will ship him to the facility that is needed for his particular situation. That may well be a much lower security. In fact, I think it will UNLESS he is in some kind of Protective Custody (PC) situation. Any PC confinement would be a level 5 since they are usually locked down 23 hours a day.

I don't know his specific crime or how much time he received, but inmates with short sentences are usually sent to a minimum security prison. He will not get hurt there unless he does something terribly stupid like snitch on someone or get deep in debt.

Give him a couple of weeks until they finish the evaluation. Then you can get a better handle of where he will be.

rewdiazepam

They said he would be there six to eight weeks. He pleaded two counts SO - His public defender thinks that Illinois will not go after him if he got two counts instead of one. I'm not sure how to interpret his charge. It says: Sexual Exploitation Child; Poss Visual child less than 18 1 Non Drug-Grid Severity Level 5

What does that mean? He just got moved on Wednesday.

That all has to do with the charge and sentencing guidelines. Sexual Exploitation Child; Poss Visual child less than 18 refers to KSA 21-3516 (2) which is Kansas' child pornography statute.

http://tinyurl.com/mgfx3gq

1 is a 1 person felony for the purposes of criminal history during sentencing. Prior convictions, even misdemeanors, are added together to determine a Sentencing Category which is a letter, A through I with a being the highest category. If you were being sentenced for this offense and had no priors, your Sentencing Category would be I, the lowest category. If you had a prior person felony conviction your Sentencing Category would be D. (This will make more sense in a bit)

Non-drug grid means pretty much exactly what it says. This is a non-drug offenses so sentencing is determined using the non-drug grid.

Severity level is also for sentencing guidelines. Kansas assigns felony offenses a "Severity Level" from level 1 through level 10 which is then used on the sentencing grid. 1 is the highest severity and 10 the lowest

Once you know the severity level and category you can determine the appropriate sentence and if imprisonment is mandatory on the non-drug sentencing grid.

http://tinyurl.com/l9f7437

Each row is a Severity Level and each column is a Category. This is a Severity Level 5 offense so we start with the 5th row. For somebody with absolutely no priors, we'd go all the way over to column I where we see 31, 32, and 34. These numbers are the sentence length in months. The middle number is the standard sentence, the low number is for a mitigated sentence and the high number is for an aggravated sentence. Most often the judge will go with the standard sentence so it's 32 months. The box is dark gray so the sentence could be prison, probation or even a split sentence between prison and probation. If it had been a Severity Level 6 offense the sentence would be probation only.

Somebody with a prior person felony, Category D, would be subject to 52 months mandatory imprisonment and 24 months post-release supervision.

Since he is there to be evaluated will this chart be valid? Plus they have a release date of April 14, 2018. Will that change if his evaluation and behavior for the 8 weeks be clean?

Also, on the grid you sent me there is a grey "border box". What does that mean?

It sounds like he's already been sentenced and if so the evaluation wouldn't change that. My guess is the evaluation is to determine what facility to place him in, what programs, if any, to place him in or it's for SO therapy/treatment.

A light grey box means a probation sentence and a white box means a prison sentence. The dark grey border boxes means probation and/or prison is at the judge's discretion.