News FeedShould Prisoners Request Specific Prison Camp Placements?
Eric wrote me asking whether it was beneficial to request the court to recommend a specific prison where the defendant could serve his sentence. He wanted to know whether the Bureau of Prisons would honor such requests. If the BOP did honor judicial recommendations, Eric wanted to know whether any Federal Prison Camps were worth requesting.
In my article Comparisons of Three Federal Prison Camps within The Bureau of Prisons, I described three separate prison camps where I have served time. Those camps include the camp at Florence, the camp at Lompoc, and the camp at Taft. There were significant differences between each. Yet if an individual adjusts well, he can succeed in either of the camps.
With regard to Eric’s question about judicial requests for specific camp placement, I do think the Bureau of Prisons takes a judicial recommendation into consideration. Yet the BOP is crowded, and sometimes administrators cannot accommodate the court by assigning an inmate to a specific camp. Yet the BOP has a policy of trying to keep offenders in camps that are closest to the individual’s recorded residence. I think the defendant should learn as much as possible about the various prison camps, and then he should certainly ask the judge to make a recommendation. In my experience of speaking with other prisoners, the BOP grants the judge’s request better than eight out of ten times, provided the security level is appropriate.
The key point to remember is that more than the specific camp, it is the security level that makes all the difference. Inmates in a camp, generally, are less volatile than inmates in higher security prisons. That is an excellent reason to pursue camp placement. For more information on prisons and the people they hold, I urge readers to check out the articles catalog and the daily content I provide at www.prisonnewsblog.com.
