Types Of Imprisonment

There are several different types of prisons that people may be sent to depending on the kind of crime they committed. The most well known are medium to high security facilities that are also referred to as general population prisons. These are the penitentiaries that most people would think of, where inmates who were found guilty of crimes ranging from theft to assault and even murder are housed. Several other types of prisons exist as well.

Minimum security prisons are reserved for people who commit crimes that do not physically harm another person. These misdeeds are better known as white collar crimes, and they include such offenses as fraud, embezzlement and insider trading. Prisoners at these facilities are generally considered to be a very low risk for escape attempts. Their accommodations are much better than at standard prisons, with rooms that are closer in style to dorm rooms than the cells most people think of four housing inmates. Unlike penitentiaries, these facilities tend to have just one large fence surrounding the entire property, and it is not usually patrolled by armed guards.

Any person under the age of 18 who is convicted of a crime will not be sentenced to time spent at a facility where adults are present. Instead, they are placed in juvenile prisons that are made up of people who are under the legal age. These prisons are often criticized for being overcrowded and ineffectual. The packed environment is thought to lead to increased levels of violence and a lack of supervision which is more likely to send youths down a lifelong path of crime instead of rehabilitating them for a safe return to society.

Branches of the military maintain their own prison facilities. Military Police, or MP's patrol posts where members of the armed forces live. Service personnel who are found guilty of crimes will often be incarcerated at these facilities instead of being sent to civilian penitentiaries. Prisoners of war and enemy combatants such as terrorists may also be locked up in a military prison.

Although they are not prisons in the strictest sense of the word, mental hospitals are often used to incarcerate people who have been convicted of crimes. Convicts who are thought to have mental disorders will be placed in these facilities instead of standard penitentiaries. While there, inmates will be kept under regular surveillance, treated for mental illnesses and given psychiatric evaluations. Prisoners who show drastic signs of improvement may be released if they are no longer considered to be a threat to themselves or others.

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