Prison Classification and Reclassification

 by insideprison.com, April 2006

Proper classification is crucial to the efficient and safe operation of any prison facility. Offenders are a heterogeneous lot, possessing a variety of behavioural styles, treatment needs, and states of psychological health. Because many prisoners are incompatible with either their immediate prison environment or the people they share their living space with, proper classification can reduce prison infractions and maintain a safer environment for both inmates and staff. Because intake units face both a large number and a large variety of cases, and because the law requires institutions to administer the least restrictive form of punishment to an offender while securing his or her safety, objective classification measures are used. Not only can proper, evidence-based placement reduce the number of inmates in expensive maximum-security facilities, but it can also reduce the escape risk by placing offender only in compatible environments. See the chart above.

The process of prison classification encompasses several different stages, including Intake Assessment, Initial Classification, Placement, and Reclassification.

Initial Assessment

Initial Assessment and Intake Assessment take place in maximum security placement, and all offenders upon intake are initially subject to this security level. Once initial assessment and classification assessment have been completed, the offender will be designated a final security level, either in minimum, medium, maximum, or super-maximum incarceration. Minimum security, in its ideal type, describes a "camp-like" atmosphere, where offenders serve their sentence in cabins, huts, portables, rooms, communal rooms or dormitories. There are usually no fences in minimum security, meaning offenders may leave if so inclined, however this is rare, as proper classification assessment instruments can usually identify those offenders most likely to escape, and designate them accordingly to a higher security level.

In medium security facilities, many of the features of maximum security are present, but not to the same degree. Inmates are secured by high fences or double fences, motion detectors, armed guard towers, and armed guard patrols, and a "pass-system" of mobility. These prisons are more expensive to operate and maintain than minimum security.

In maximum security facilities, all of the features of medium security apply, in addition to full, round-the-clock monitoring, accountability measures, electronic monitoring, and segregation of serious and misbehaving offenders who pose security risks. These prisons are the next most expensive to operate and maintain.

Initial Assessment is not focused as much on risk assessment as it is focused on integrating the offender properly into a sentence plan. This preliminary assessment first includes a basic orientation to the facility, which communicates basic rules and regulations of the prison and what is expected of the offender. The next step covers the initial sentence plan, which clarify certain important dates, such as eligibility for parole, day-parole, full-parole, and the offender's warrant expiry date. The next step involves considering certain critical concerns, which are various health-concerns such as heart conditions and medication. Initial assessment also includes the administration of the offender’s sentence.

Initial Assessment

Initial Assessment involves the most basic assessments necessary to place offenders into prison, including an orientation process where prisoners are given a brief introduction to the operation and rules of the facility, a health assessment, an overview of all the offender's relevant documents, and an outline of the offender's initial plans and sentence plans, including important dates and deadlines such as day-parole eligibility and the warrant expiry date (WED).

If an offender requires special medical care, such as the case would be for a heart condition, asthma, sickness, or broken bones, he or she will be referred to the medical unit. If the problems are psychological in nature, such as suicidal tendencies, then he or she will be referred to the psychiatric unit, if one is available. In addition to these concerns, there will be consideration given to educational programs and substance abuse treatment opportunities, and various programs available to the offender.

Placement

Placement occurs after a comprehensive risk assessment process is met. First is an administration interview, then the initial assessment (outlined above), followed by an assessment of static factors. Risk assessment scales may be used at this point, such as the Custody Rating Scale, to classify the offender on a broad range of static risk factors that determine his or her risk level, such as employment history, prior convictions, prior violence, prior prison misconducts, and substance abuse problems. Dynamic risk factors are then considered, such as hostility or anger management problems, antisocial attitudes, peer associations, family environment, and emotional states. Factors that are especially predictive of prison misconduct include, gang membership, history of violence, young age, program dropout, and disciplinary actions. Contrary to what many may think, factors that are not predictive of prison misconduct include drug abuse in prison, escape history, severity of offense, and time left to serve.

Such instruments that measure these constructs must be robust, accurate, and reliable. The Classification Unit itself must also be heavily centralized, so that discretionary decisions do not intrude into the process, leaving one offender with a different placement than another, even if both offenders are in reality of the same risk level. The process must also be fully automated to allow decisions to be recorded and evaluated for integrity. Decisions must also be able to include "override" factors, such as features of someone's personality that may be particularly suited to one custody level over another with one offender and not with another offender.

While much of this is case-based investigation, some of it is also behaviourally-based, conducted by a trained psychologist. Following this is the final, overall assessment that integrates all the information and comes up with a risk rating and custody placement level.

The entire process takes from 6 to 8 weeks to complete.

Reclassification

Objective Offender Classification requires regular reclassification to occur every year, or sooner. This is to ensure that the process of classification is accurate both for one year the next, and to ensure that individual-differences among offenders are taken into account to avoid clumping all inmates who fall under a broad risk category the exact same level of custody or treatment. Above all, it injects sensitivity and responsivity into the process of risk assessment and classification, one of the central tenets of Andrews' Psychology of Criminal Conduct on which objective offender classification is based.

Reclassification places greater emphasis on dynamic factors than static factors. Because offenders change, learn, and adapt to new life circumstances and conditions, factors that concerned with prior offenses and behavioural history may have little value assessing the risk of someone who has or is learning to become more prosocial. Offenders may be participating successfully in treatment groups, they may be performing their duties well in workshop, or may be getting straight As in their educational courses. Would keeping the offender in maximum-security still be the best solution, both for recidivism reasons or cost-savings? Possibly, but in many cases, it is not. These factors must be taken into account when reassessing individuals. It may more efficiently and safely place them in a lesser-security setting, where they will have a greater chance of socializing with more positive peers, and greater access to rehabilitative programs. One instrument that is useful for reclassification is the LSI-R, which assesses an offender on a broad range of dynamic risk factors and is particularly useful for detecting subtle changes in institutional adjustment, learning, and threat level.

Canadian researchers have proven that reclassification is effective both from a re-offending perspective as well as a cost-savings perspective. When offenders are more properly placed in a custody-level that matches their precise levels of risk and needs, more offenders complete their sentence successful.

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