Every correctional facility operates under a disciplinary system that governs inmate behavior and imposes consequences for rule violations. Understanding how that system works is essential for anyone trying to navigate incarceration successfully, because a disciplinary record can affect housing assignments, program eligibility, good time credits, halfway house placement, and parole decisions. This section covers what types of disciplinary infractions exist and how they are classified, what the disciplinary hearing process looks like, what rights inmates have when facing a disciplinary charge, what sanctions can be imposed including loss of privileges, solitary confinement, and good time forfeiture, and how to appeal a disciplinary decision. The guidance here is written for inmates who want to understand the rules clearly enough to avoid violations and for families who want to help their loved one protect their record. See also our sections on Prison Violence, Survive Prison, and Sentence Reduction
Subject: Prison discipline
Group punishment for some bad act that occurred.
Subject: Prison discipline
Ther prisons do not share any information about the reasons for anything that goes on inside the walls. Unless the issue leaks out from an inmate that shared it with their loved ones, no news gets out
Subject: Prison discipline
23 housing refers to 23-hour lockdown, which is another way of describing segregation or the Special Housing Unit, commonly known as the SHU or the hole. The name comes from the reality of what it means day to day. The inmate is in their cell for 23 hours out of every 24, with one hour out for a shower or limited movement depending on the facility's specific protocol.
This placement outside of general population happens for several reasons and not all...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
SID stands for Special Investigations Division, which is the internal affairs unit within the New Jersey Department of Corrections. When an inmate is flagged for a SID investigation, it means something serious enough has occurred or been alleged that it requires a formal investigation beyond what the regular disciplinary process handles. This is not a routine write-up. SID gets involved when the situation involves potential criminal conduct, serious security threats, gang activity, contraband operations, or other matters that rise above...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
The fastest and most direct way is to ask your son. He knows what the write-up was for and what sanctions were handed down at his disciplinary hearing. If he is able to make his one weekly call from the SHU, that conversation will tell you everything the facility is unlikely to share with you directly.
From the outside, your options for getting information are limited. The facility is not required to notify family members about disciplinary infractions or the sanctions...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
Cyberstalking is not a charge that typically triggers the kind of inmate retribution that certain other offenses do. The categories that get someone targeted inside, particularly sex crimes against children, are specific and well-known. A cyberstalking conviction without any child victim element does not fall into those categories and is unlikely to make you a target on that basis alone.
That said, the single most important piece of advice for any federal inmate, regardless of their charge, is this: do not...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
The facility is correct and the protocol they cited is real. Correctional facilities operate largely without accountability to outside parties, and when a disciplinary situation is underway they have no obligation to discuss it with anyone on the outside, including family members and partners. The lieutenant declining to speak with you about it is standard procedure, not a personal decision.
Here is what is actually happening on your person's end. When an inmate is placed in the hole following a fight,...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
Yes, it is absolutely considered an escape. And as you could imagine, is going to create a tremendous hardship on them when they are captured.
Subject: Prison discipline
Do you know why he is in the SHU? The reason behind being in solitary would probably answer why it's taking so long. When I was in the SHU, there was a guy there for 11 months awaiting a transfer. He was caught with a cellphone and had to do 18 months in the SHU before they would transfer him to a higher custody prison. Administrative makes me think that he might have asked to be taken out of the...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
The SHU restrictions are very rigid. Inmates are permitted ONE 15-minute phone call per week. Their commissary list is reduced to a couple dozen items, only... more necessity items than and not a wide list of choices compared to the norm. The visits are limited depending on the reason for being sent there. Sometimes there are no visits, other times it'd be reduced to once a month.
Subject: Prison discipline
Cigarettes have been largely banned across all prison and jail types. Federal outlawed them over 10 years ago and the states and county jails have mostly followed suit. As we write this, we cannot find any that still allow them. BUT, that doesn't mean that the inmates have stopped smoking. Cigarettes are sold inside for $2.00 each, the penalty for getting caught is a few days in the SHU.
Subject: Prison discipline
You can call he facility and ask to speak to the counselor. They will tell you how our inmate is "behaving".
Subject: Prison discipline
The moves themselves tell a story even without an official explanation, and reading that pattern is worth doing carefully.
The honor farm is the best housing situation available in most county systems. It is reserved for inmates who have earned a lower custody classification, typically through good behavior, a nonviolent record, and a clean institutional history. Getting placed there initially means he qualified. Getting pulled from it means something triggered a reclassification, and facilities do not move people off the honor...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
CDU stands for Control and Discipline Unit, sometimes called segregation or the hole depending on the facility. It is where inmates are sent when they are found to have violated a facility rule, whether that violation involved a verbal order, a written directive, or a more serious infraction. Being sent to CDU means the facility determined your fiance broke a rule serious enough to warrant removal from general population.
As for what specific order he disobeyed, the facility will not tell...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
It means that they are in protective custody, special housing unit, the SHU - it is segregation from general population, 24/7 lockdown (3 hours per week for rec). This can be for either administrative or disciplinary reasons.
