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
‘Intoxication’ means the same on the inside as it does on the outside. they either tested positive for a urine test for alcohol or drugs. when I was in federal, they would randomly UT inmates the day after a holiday. Alcohol got snuck in and people got wasted. It's easy enough to get weed, xanax, oxy or meth inside. BUT, if you test positive inside, you are getting some serious SHU time or worse.
Subject: Prison discipline
No. The inmate is not held responsible for a visitor's outstanding warrant. The background check process catches these things and the visitor will simply be denied approval, but the inmate who submitted the request is notified and not punished. They are not expected to know whether someone they care about has a warrant in another jurisdiction.
The person with the warrant, however, should take this seriously. If a warrant is discovered during the facility's background check process, the information does not...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
There is always a reason. It might be a shitty one, but they are in charge, and there aren't any appellate processes for the inmate. The CO can basically levy an accusation of specific charges on any inmate by placing "under investigation". Once that status is tagged, they take the inmate(s) to the SHU until the investigation is concluded. This could literally take weeks or months. There are different commissary rules for the SHU, the item list is very limited.
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Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
The 23-hour lockdown is real and it does happen, though it is not universal across every unit. Certain housing situations, whether due to classification, population management, or facility conditions, result in inmates spending the vast majority of the day confined to their cell with only one hour out. It is one of the harder realities of detention center life, particularly in a county facility where overcrowding and staffing shortages are common.
On calls, it depends on the specific setup of the...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
The length of time in segregation depends almost entirely on how the incident was written up and by whom.
Seven days in already puts him past the short end of what these things typically run. If the officer on the receiving end of his outburst filed a straightforward report without escalating it, another week is a reasonable estimate. That puts him in the two-week range total, which is fairly standard for a verbal incident without any physical component.
Where it gets longer...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
When a facility says an inmate is in lockdown and the email system is simultaneously blocking your messages, those two things are almost certainly connected.
There are two different kinds of lockdown worth understanding. A facility-wide lockdown affects everyone at once, usually due to an incident, a search, or a staffing situation. In that case all communication gets suspended temporarily and restores once the lockdown lifts. But when it is just your husband who cannot receive messages while everyone else is...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
Two disciplinary tickets adding up to over six months of sanctions is serious, and the concern you feel as a parent is completely understandable. But the harder truth is that this is also a critical moment that could go one of two ways for your son.
At 19, he is at an age where the habits and patterns he establishes now inside will follow him. Inmates who accumulate tickets early tend to accumulate more. Each one goes on their institutional record,...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
Three facility transfers in two weeks is not a routine administrative shuffle. What you are describing has a name inside the system: diesel therapy.
Diesel therapy is the practice of moving a troublesome or targeted inmate repeatedly from facility to facility, often with no clear destination or purpose. The inmate gets shackled, loaded onto a transport bus, and moved to a new location, sometimes for days at a time. Then it happens again. The effect is deliberate disruption. The inmate loses...
Read moreSubject: Prison discipline
What do you think happens? I saw a cho-mo get his teeth completely broken out with a weight and then having their mouth used by the inmates repeatedly, over days until they were transferred...
Subject: Prison discipline
there is no maximum... i knew guys that were in there for their entire bid. it really depends on the infraction and reason for being sent there... for instance, getting caught with a cell phone got one guy 9 months in the SHU another got 18 months in the SHU
