What Is the Difference Between a Criminal That’s in a Maximum Security Prison and a Minimum Security Prison?

The worst criminals ie murderer’s, rapist, child rapists, are in max. The other’s are in the min. security. It depends on their crimes. ~~~

If a person kills someone they will be in max. If a person has many dui or behind on child support they are min.If you are risk of running then max

Security levels
Prisoners are placed into different facilities that vary by security level, especially in security measures, administration of inmates, and weapons and tactics used by corrections officers. The following levels are used in state prisons in the United States; the federal government uses a numbered scale from 1 to 6, with Level 6 being the most secure.

[edit] Supermax
Supermax prison facilities provide the highest level of prison security. These prisons were designed to house the most dangerous of inmates. These include serial killers, inmates who have committed murders in less secure prisons, and high-profile criminals such as Theodore Kaczynski, Terry Nichols, Zacarias Moussaoui and (formerly) Timothy McVeigh.

The United States Federal Bureau of Prisons operates two such facilities: United States Penitentiary, Marion (formerly a Level 5 facility), and ADX Florence, which was built specifically as a super max facility in 1994. Utilizing a penal construction and operation theory known as the “control unit” prison, the conditions of these facilities are extremely harsh — excessively so to some human rights watchdog organizations. Inmates generally spend 23 or more hours per day in their cells, with the additional hour spent either in a supervised one-man shower, or in an “outdoor” recreation area, generally a solid-walled pen twice the size of a cell and also used in solitary.

The cells themselves in ADX Florence are also designed to minimize social contact and increase isolation between cell mates and the external prison workings. The cells, usually 3.5 x 2 meters (7’x12′) are constructed with solid “boxcar” doors, i.e., with no windows and a locked food “wicket”, and are nearly completely soundproofed. Drains and drainpipes leading to the cells, which in USP Marion were used as a method of communication, are routed to a central location and damped. Telephone privileges are virtually non-existent, as is any access to radios, the Internet and all mail save pre-announced legal communications is opened, read, and censored. Visiting is no-contact; prisoners receiving visitors are isolated in sealed compartments and speak by telephone. Also, the windows of the cells are very small and designed to give no actual view.

Some prisoners at ADX Florence are part of a stepdown program, where they are gradually rewarded for good behavior by being allowed more common-area interactions. These prisoners, if they complete the program, will be transfered back to a maximum-security facility.

Although the US federal government only operates two, (ADX Florence and Marion) facility of this nature, many states are now following suit by building segregation units in existing prisons or whole new facilities (such as the Ohio State Penitentiary) built on the same model.

[edit] Maximum security
All have individual cells with sliding doors that are controlled from a secure remote control station. Often prisoners are confined in their cells 23 hours a day, but in some institutions prisoners are allowed out of their cells for most of the day, and when out of their cells, are always kept in the cell block or an exterior cage. Movement is tightly restricted through the use of restraints and escorts by correctional officers.

[edit] Close security
Prisons have individual cells operated from a remote control station. Each cell has its own toilet and sink. Inmates are allowed out of their cells for work assignments or correctional programs. The fences are generally double fences with watch towers, housing armed guards.

[edit] Medium security
Prisoners that fall into the Medium Security group may sleep in dormitories on bunk beds with lockers to store their possessions. They may have communal showers, toilets and sinks. Each dormitory is locked at night with one or more correctional officers supervising, there is less supervision over the internal movements of prisoners. The perimeter is generally double fenced and regularly patrolled.

[edit] Minimum security
Prisoners in minimum-security facilities are generally judged to pose little physical risk to the public, and are mainly non-violent “white collar criminals”. Minimum Security prisoners live in less-secure dormitories, which are regularly patrolled by correctional officers. As in Medium Security, they have communal showers, toilets, and sinks. Martha Stewart was such an inmate at “Camp Cupcake” in West Virginia.

The facility generally has a single fence that is watched, but not patrolled by armed guards. At facilities in very remote and rural areas, there may be no fence at all. Prisoners may often work on community projects, such as roadside litter cleanup with the state Department of Transportation. Under no circumstances are inmates allowed access to the internet, save for the TRULINCS inmate email service which only permits text-based electronic communications between pre-approved individuals

Well, they put criminals who they feel pose more of a threat, in a maximum security prison. But as far as the crime itself, I guess they put rapists, murderers, attempted murderers, and 3rd time offenders in maximum security. People who are in for a repeated DUI, breaking and entering, and crimes not as bad as the above, in minimum security. They also try to put some of the phedophiles & rapists together….for some reason. ? ?

Good god. I have never seen so many “probably,” “maybe,” or “most likely” answers in one place in awhile.

My husband has been in federal prison for 26 years so please allow me to shed some authenticity on the subject. The convictions on specific crimes do determine where they start out, such as a U.S. Penitentiary, like Leavenworth.

But over time, some can wind up at a Medium or a Minimum. IF they live long enough, they can be released to a camp before going home. Camp is still a controlled environment.

You were not give accurate descriptions at all of the various levels, including the Wikipedia response.

My husband was convicted on less than four ounces of cocaine, and got 41 years, thanks to RICO back in the 80’s. Due to his age and health, he is currently at a Minimum. He has been in prisons in Kansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky and Florida. Go figure. He is currently 700 miles away from any family, one way. He is 65 years old, with health problems, and has been thoroughly screwed over by the parole board (long story). We have been trying to get THAT straightened out for four years now.

Minimums are not Cupcake Facilities. Minimums are enclosed by razor wire, they are patrolled internally and externally, and the guys are told when to get up, when to eat, when they can go outside, when they have to come inside, when they have to go to bed. Visitors have to be on a list, and go through metal detectors, and at least three interior doors to get to the visiting room.

There is one doctor for the 2000 men at his facility. I knew a young man that got gangraped and died from his injuries there, and an elderly diabetic who died in his wheelchair outside the med unit waiting for help. Miniums are no picnic.

Unlike TV shows (I Hate Prison Break!), the guys do not discuss their crimes. Child molesters keep their mouths shut, and gangsta wannabees brag to enhance their reputation. You can’t believe anything the inmates tell you, period, so no one really knows what anyone is in there for, unless it makes the news.

If you check out my husband’s web site, you will see that he was not a white-collar criminal, as someone else stated. There are white-collar criminals there, like income tax evasion or embezzling, but I would guestimate that 90% of the inmates in federal prison are there on drug-related charges (thanks to our politicians and their “get tough on crime” mandatory minimums – 5 years for one joint).

There are a lot of men and women who have no business in prison, but the power to decide cases on individual points has been taken away from judges, by the politicians and their laws. Those laws always impress voters, until someone in their family gets in trouble. Then they find out that once those doors slam, that’s it. The kid who died after being gang-raped was only in there for a three-year drug sentence, not a death sentence. I met his parents and they will never get over it.

There are Cupcake prisons, for Martha and the politicians, but regular folks will never see one of those.

For the most part, the documentaries you see on PBS are more accurate about current prison life, in any of the prisons. Prison is hell on earth, with camp being Purgatory. They are not intended to rehab, but are warehouses, to keep the “bad” people away from the “good” people.

Hope this gives you more accurate info.