NCJ Number
130906
Journal
Federal Prisons Journal Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1991) Pages: 28-36
Date Published
1991
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the rationale and effectiveness of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' (BOP) policy in designating the Marion Correctional Institution (Illinois) as the single institution for inmates classified as level-six security.
Abstract
Since 1978, when the BOP adopted a new classification system that distinguished quantifiable security needs of inmates according to six levels, Marion has been designated the only level-six security institution. Marion was selected because its design, although not ideal, is more suitable for high-security operations than other Federal prisons. Marion is single-bunked, has a heavily reinforced perimeter, and contains a control center that has good visibility down each of the four interior corridors. The BOP has chosen to concentrate high-risk offenders in one facility rather than disperse them among all institutions because daily activities are more readily available to the inmates, security operations can be more cost effective, and safe staff contact with inmates is facilitated. Marion, as part of a carefully crafted inmate and institutional classification, has contributed to a drop in murder and assault rates in Federal prisons at a time of explosive inmate population growth. For this reason, as second level-six security facility will be constructed in Florence, Col.