Minimum Security Federal Penitentiary Camp – Pretrial Custody vs. Self Surrender

There are two ways to get to the Federal Minimum Security Prison Camp. One, escorted by US marshals into preventive custody and two, on their own recognizance, what is known as self-surrender. Self-surrender is by far the more desirable of the two. If you expect to arrive at the Federal Minimum Security Prison Camp through pretrial custody, you will be detained immediately upon sentencing. Thereafter, be prepared for an uncomfortable few weeks or months before you reach your designated federal prison camp. If you have been given the opportunity to surrender yourself to a federal prison camp, the judge has done you a favor that he should be thankful for and make the most of.

Custody Recommended

If you are placed on remand by the U.S. Marshals at the time of your sentence, you will spend several weeks or even months in detention centers, transfer centers, and city and county jails before finally reaching your prison camp. federally designated minimum security. He will be transported between these institutions and ultimately to the Federal Prison Camp free of charge courtesy of the United States Marshals. By all accounts, federal inmate transportation is extremely inconvenient, time-consuming, and tedious.

There are two factors that make pretrial detention in the Federal Minimum Security Prison Camp particularly unpleasant. First, inmates from all security levels are transported together. This means that security is maintained at the highest level. Even if you are headed to a federal prison camp, you will be treated like an inmate in a maximum security federal prison camp.

Your wrists will be handcuffed in front of you, while leg shackles will prevent more than a slow walk. A chain connecting the handcuffs and shackles will further limit your movement. During the transportation process, which takes place in vans, buses, and airplanes (affectionately called Con Air by many inmates), shackles and handcuffs are not removed, even when bathroom breaks are required.

Armed with shotguns, the Marshals care about only one thing, getting you from point A to point B and finally to your minimum security federal prison camp. As you can imagine, the mood during this process, both among the inmates, recently sentenced to the Federal Prison Camp, and among the Marshals in charge of ensuring security during the trip to the Federal Minimum Security Prison Camp, is quite serious.

Second, there is absolutely no rush to take him to his designated minimum security federal prison camp. He will be transported at your convenience and according to the US Marshals’ schedules. This, coupled with the fact that US Marshal policy allows daytime transportation only means that relatively short distances can take weeks or even months to travel.

The entire process of checking in and out of various facilities and sitting chained in vans, buses and planes can be exhausting, so much so that inmates commonly refer to the ordeal as diesel therapy. For the first time in a federal prison camp inmate, diesel therapy will serve to teach a valuable lesson. The BOP has very little interest in your privacy, convenience and comfort.

self delivery

Self-surrender to the Federal Minimum Security Prison Camp is a luxury afforded to those deemed by the court to be no flight risk and no threat to the community. If you are lucky enough to be allowed to surrender yourself, after your sentence, you will spend one to six months at home, awaiting your minimum security federal prison camp designation.

Whether or not you have been told to wait for a letter of appointment, I recommend that you call the US Marshals office in the court where you were sentenced for updates on the status of your appointment. It is his responsibility to report to the Federal Minimum Security Penitentiary Camp on the specified date and time. Failure to show up puts you on the run with dire consequences.

In my case, they told me to wait for a letter, which never arrived. Fortunately, I contacted the US Marshals Office over the phone and they finally gave me my designation over the phone. The details of your designation will include the name of the minimum security federal prison camp, the time and date you are due to surrender, and the address and telephone number of the federal prison camp.

The US Marshals will also be able to tell you your new eight-digit BOP registration number, which must be included to receive funds in your Federal Prison Camp account and to receive mail.

A quick word on the location of your federal prison camp designation. A recommendation from the sentencing judge that you be sent to a certain prison is just that, a recommendation. The BOP is under no obligation to comply. In addition, the BOP claims that they make an effort to place an inmate within 500 miles of her family. This effort is not always successful. In my case, I was assigned to a federal prison more than 2,000 miles from my home.

Although my medical history dictated that I be sent to a Federal Medical Center rather than a Federal Minimum Security Prison Camp, there were two other such facilities within a 500-mile radius. For some reason neither of them was sent to me. If you are away from home, you may eventually be transferred to a prison closer to your friends and family. But it is not going to happen quickly and you must be prepared for this eventuality.