The BOP inmate custody classification system assigns every person in federal custody two separate designations: a security level that decides which facility they go to, and a custody level that decides how closely staff supervise them inside it. Both come out of a point-based scoring process that weighs the offense, criminal history, age, education, and institutional behavior, and both can be overridden by mandatory Public Safety Factors or by discretionary Management Variables applied by staff. Scores get revisited on a fixed schedule throughout the sentence, so the placement someone starts with is rarely the one they finish with.
Security Level and Custody Level Are Not the Same Thing
Security level describes the facility. It reflects the perimeter, the housing type, the detection systems, and the staffing ratio. The Bureau operates Minimum, Low, Medium, High, and Administrative institutions, and your security level determines which of those buildings you report to.
Custody level describes you. It sets how closely staff supervise you within whatever facility you’re housed in. There are four:
- Community, the least restrictive, allowing housing outside the perimeter, outside work details with minimal supervision, and community-based programs.
- Out, which allows less secure housing and work outside the secure perimeter, with staff checks at least every two hours.
- In, meaning regular quarters and full access to standard work and programs, but no movement outside the secure perimeter.
- Maximum, reserved for people identified as assaultive, serious escape risks, or seriously disruptive, with housing and work chosen for the highest level of control.
Two people in the same medium-security facility can live very different daily lives depending on whether one carries “In” custody and the other “Out.” Any change into or out of Maximum requires written justification and stays permanently in the inmate’s central file.1Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 5100.08 – Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification
How the Initial Security Score Is Calculated
Staff pull information from court documents and criminal records into the Inmate Load and Security Designation Form (BP-337). The total drives the initial security level.
Offense Severity and Sentence Length
The current offense contributes the most points. Scoring reflects actual offense behavior, not just the charge of conviction, so someone who pleaded to simple assault but whose conduct involved serious bodily injury is scored at the higher severity level.2Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 5100.08 – Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification Longer sentences add points, and a male sentence with more than ten years remaining triggers a Public Safety Factor that on its own pushes placement to at least Low security.
Criminal History, Violence, and Escapes
Prior convictions add points, with heavier weight for repeated offenses and documented violence, including whether weapons were involved. Prior escape attempts count too, and the type matters: walking away from a minimum-security camp scores differently than breaking out of a secure facility using force.
Age and Education
Younger inmates receive more points:3Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 5100.08 – Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification
- Age 24 or younger: 8 points
- Age 25 through 35: 4 points
- Age 36 through 54: 2 points
- Age 55 and older: 0 points
Education is scored too. A verified high school diploma or GED adds zero points. Active GED enrollment adds 1. No diploma and no participation adds 2.
The Score Ranges
Once tallied, the total maps to a security level. Male and female inmates use different tables, which catches many people by surprise.
For male inmates:1Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 5100.08 – Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification
- Minimum security: 0–11 points
- Low security: 12–15 points
- Medium security: 16–23 points
- High security: 24 or more points
For female inmates the ranges are wider, and there is no medium-security category:
- Minimum security: 0–15 points
- Low security: 16–30 points
- High security: 31 or more points
These are baselines. Overrides come next.
What Each Security Level Actually Looks Like
Minimum security institutions, called Federal Prison Camps, have dormitory housing, limited or no perimeter fencing, and a low staff-to-inmate ratio, with a strong emphasis on work programs and vocational training.4Federal Bureau of Prisons. Federal Prisons
Low security Federal Correctional Institutions have double-fenced perimeters, mostly dormitory or cubicle housing, and a higher staff ratio than camps. Programming stays strong; movement is more controlled.
Medium security facilities add strengthened perimeters that often include electronic detection, mostly cell-type housing, and a higher staff ratio still. Internal controls are considerably tighter.4Federal Bureau of Prisons. Federal Prisons
High security institutions, the United States Penitentiaries, have walls or reinforced fences, single or multiple-occupant cells, the highest staff ratio of any level, and close control of all movement.
Administrative facilities serve specialized purposes and can hold inmates of any security level: medical centers, pretrial detention facilities, and Metropolitan Correctional Centers holding people awaiting trial or sentencing regardless of score.
Overrides: Public Safety Factors and Management Variables
A low score does not guarantee a low-security placement. Two override mechanisms can raise or lower where the points would otherwise land you.
Public Safety Factors are mandatory flags that block certain inmates from minimum security regardless of their BP-337 total. Nine PSFs exist, each triggered by specific case or behavioral history.2Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 5100.08 – Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification They cover things like any sex offense in the current or prior convictions, non-U.S. citizenship (Deportable Alien), male sentences with more than ten years remaining, current offenses at the top of the Offense Severity Scale, serious escape history, validated membership in a disruptive group, involvement in a serious institutional disturbance, and use of the telephone to further criminal activity. When a PSF applies, placement is at least Low security unless the PSF is formally waived. Staff may waive one when circumstances warrant, but the default is that the override applies.
Management Variables give staff flexibility in the other direction, letting them place an inmate at a different security level than the score dictates. These are not triggered by specific offenses; they capture what the formula cannot, such as a judicial recommendation for a particular region, a medical need that only one facility can meet, or a population-management issue at the scored facility. Every use of a Management Variable has to be documented.2Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 5100.08 – Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification
Who Makes the Initial Placement
Classification starts with paperwork from the criminal case. The two key documents are the Presentence Investigation Report, prepared by a probation officer under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32, and the Judgment and Commitment order signed by the sentencing judge.5Cornell Law Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 32 – Sentencing and Judgment The Presentence Investigation Report supplies the offense conduct, criminal history, personal background, and financial detail. The Judgment supplies the sentence length and any judicial recommendations about facility or location.
The Designation and Sentence Computation Center in Grand Prairie, Texas, handles initial facility assignments. Once the DSCC receives the required documentation from the U.S. Marshals Service and the probation officer, it ordinarily completes the designation within three working days.3Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 5100.08 – Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification Staff enter the data into the BP-337, the form calculates the score, PSFs and Management Variables are applied, and the facility assignment comes out.
Reviews and Reclassification Over Time
Classification is not a one-time event. Two overlapping review cycles run in parallel, and people frequently confuse them.
Program Reviews happen at least every 180 days. Within 12 months of the projected release date, the schedule accelerates to every 90 days.6Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 5322.13 – Inmate Classification and Program Review The Unit Team reviews institutional behavior, work performance, program participation, and release planning, and completes a Program Review Report.
Custody reclassification uses a different form, the Custody Classification Form (BP-338), on its own timeline. The first BP-338 is scored at the first program review after initial classification, roughly seven months after arrival. After that, a new BP-338 is completed at least every 12 months, even if nothing has changed.1Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 5100.08 – Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification The form scores disciplinary history, time remaining on the sentence, and institutional adjustment. The resulting custody level (Community, Out, In, or Maximum) is a recommendation. The Unit Team and Warden have final authority.
Disciplinary infractions directly move the BP-338 score. Severity and recency both matter: a “Greatest” severity incident report from the past ten years is weighed very differently than one low-moderate infraction from the past year.1Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 5100.08 – Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification Clean conduct over time is the main way to earn a lower custody level and, eventually, a less restrictive facility.
Why the Score Matters Beyond Housing
Classification and the First Step Act are separate systems that share inputs. The First Step Act uses its own risk tool, PATTERN, which rates recidivism risk as Minimum, Low, Medium, or High.7Federal Bureau of Prisons. First Step Act Training PATTERN and the BP-338 both look at age, criminal history, education, and disciplinary record, but score them independently.
Eligible inmates earn 10 days of time credits for every 30 days of successful participation in approved recidivism reduction programs or productive activities. Inmates assessed at minimum or low recidivism risk on two consecutive PATTERN assessments earn an additional 5 days per 30-day period, for 15 total.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3632 – Evidence-Based Recidivism Reduction Program and Recommendations Applying those credits toward early transfer to prerelease custody or supervised release generally requires the inmate to have maintained a minimum or low PATTERN risk level through recent assessments.9Federal Bureau of Prisons. FSA Time Credits Final Rule Certain disqualifying offenses under 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(D) prevent earning credits at all, and inmates subject to a final deportation order cannot apply credits toward prerelease custody even when earned.
The overlap matters in practice. A single serious incident report can raise the BP-338 custody score and simultaneously push a PATTERN rating from Low to Medium, costing the enhanced earning rate and the ability to apply credits toward early release.
The BP-338 also drives the reentry placement decision as release approaches. It is the Bureau’s primary risk prediction tool when deciding between a Residential Reentry Center (halfway house) and home confinement for the final months.10Federal Bureau of Prisons. RRC and Home Confinement Guidance Memorandum Lower scores favor home confinement; higher scores point toward a Residential Reentry Center. Guidance emphasizes professional judgment rather than reducing the decision to a single number, but the BP-338 is the starting point.
Challenging a Classification Decision
Inmates who believe their classification contains an error can challenge it through the Bureau’s Administrative Remedy Program. Deadlines are strict, and missing one can forfeit the right to challenge at all.11Federal Bureau of Prisons. Administrative Remedy Program
- Informal resolution with staff. Required before a formal filing.
- Formal request to the Warden on Form BP-9, within 20 calendar days of the triggering event.
- Regional appeal on Form BP-10 to the Regional Director, within 20 calendar days of the Warden’s signature.
- Central Office appeal on Form BP-11 to the General Counsel, within 30 calendar days. This is the final administrative step.
Extensions may be granted for legitimate reasons, such as time in transit or physical incapacity. Submissions rejected for fixable defects get a short window to correct and resubmit at each level. In rare cases involving safety concerns, an inmate can bypass the institution and file directly with the Regional Director by marking the request “Sensitive” and explaining why filing at the facility would put them at risk. Exhausting all three levels is also a prerequisite for a federal lawsuit challenging classification; courts routinely dismiss cases where a step was skipped.