Prison

A correctional facility, prison, a gaol (England), or jail is a facility in which inmates are forcibly confined and denied a variety of freedoms under the authority of the state as a form of punishment. The term "correctional institution" is still sometimes used (in the U.S. federal system, for low and medium security prisons) despite the U.S. Supreme Court's having ruled in U.S. v. Tapia that prisoners cannot be incarcerated for the purpose of rehabilitation.

Sex offenders

In the U.S. federal system, a sex offender management program has been set up in at least one prison in each region of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Psychologists at these facilities are trained to assist in monitoring the prisoners for deviant or "risky" sexual thoughts and behavior and to help in formulating restrictions to impose on them through, for instance, correctional management plans. Censorship of sex-related material (including written material) in incoming mail is also more likely to be practiced at these facilities.

Sex offenders at these facilities may feel safer than they would at other facilities with a lower concentration of sex offenders. The fact that there are more sex offenders means that (1) there are fewer non-sex offenders to push them around, (2) animosity toward sex offenders is spread out among a larger group rather than being focused on a small group of individuals, and (3) there will be other sex offenders to associate with in situations in association with other prisoners is mandatory (for example, at lunch tables or in cells).< Sex offenders who fight the system, for example by having articles published on the Internet criticizing the system, or filing administrative remedies challenging censorship of sex-related materials, are likely to be targeted by prison officials for stricter monitoring, with the unstated goal of finding an excuse to have them shipped to another facility (most likely a higher security facility), where they might not be as safe.

Chris Zoukis notes, "There is even a stratification system within the sex offender group. At some federal prisons, the pornography possessors view themselves as being superior to the producers. The younger sex offenders also tend to view themselves as less culpable -- or at least as less deserving of ridicule -- than the older sex offenders because of the closer age difference between themselves and the victim or the person in the photos. The stratification among sex offenders may, at times, be a bar to social standing, but for the most part there is little danger to a member of the sex offender group from those within the group. The real danger comes from other inmates."