95. What Should I Know About Prison Transfers‪?‬ Prison Professors

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What Should I Know About Prison Transfers?  
 
 
Based upon the number of minimum-security camps in the federal prison system, we estimate that less than 20% of the federal prison population gets the privilege of voluntarily surrendering. Being able to surrender to prison is a perk.
Ordinarily, when judges sentence people to serve less than 10-year terms, and the person does not have a history of violence or escape attempts, the Bureau of Prisons will classify that person as “minimum-security.” Judges may allow those people to report to prison on their own volition. In the systems, it’s known as “voluntary surrender.”
There is an advantage to surrendering to prison voluntarily. It’s less stressful. Rather than mixing with hundreds of other prisoners, many of whom may be intimidating, it’s easier to have a family member or friend drive to the prison. A person walks out and presents himself to a guard. That’s when the admissions process begins.
The other 80% of people that serve time do not get the privilege of voluntary surrender. They may have been held in detention centers for months because they did not qualify for release on bail. Or they may have been taken into custody right after the sentencing hearing. In most cases, the U.S. Marshals service will transport those people to prison.
Prison offers comparatively more freedom than the local jail or detention center. But time in transit can be among the worst time a prisoner spends in confinement. For security reasons, staff members do not tell the prisoner when he is scheduled for transfer. That “unknown” factor brings considerable amounts of stress.
My partner, Michael, served 26 years in federal prisons of every security level. He transferred numerous times. In several of his books, including Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term, he wrote extensively about the transfer process.
Like everything else in confinement, there is a lot of hurry-up-and-wait. Once the officer notifies the prisoner to gather his belongings, the officer will rush the prisoner out of his area and lead him to a separate holding area, usually a cage or a room. The officer will lock the prisoner inside the new cage. If it's not full already, the cage where the prisoner is held will quickly fill with scores of other prisoners who also are being prepared for transfer. Think of a sardine can.
Occasionally, a jailer will come to the outside of the cage and scream for the prisoners to quiet down as he makes some announcement. The jailer will be looking for prisoners with special needs, medical and such, and provide instructions on what procedures will follow. After the long wait—and a prisoner should expect to spend several hours as these preparations are made for transport—jailers will begin calling names, usually in groups of four or five. They will begin escorting those prisoners to another holding cell. Authorities will order the prisoners to strip naked as guards search for contraband.
The strip search is part of the journey. Guards will perform their visual inspections of naked prisoners several times during the transfer process. Although strip searches may humiliate a new prisoner, to guards it is routine and impersonal.
The prisoner strips naked. The guard stands about two feet in front of him and begins barking commands: “Lift your arms! Run your fingers through your hair! Open your mouth!  Stick out your tongue! Lower your lips! Lift your g******s! Turn around! Let me see the bottom of your feet! Bend over! Spread ‘em! Wider! Get dressed!”
After the strip search, the guard issues the prisoner a set of transfer clothing. The clothing is usually a one-size-fits-all set of bright orange overalls o