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, and (2) animosity toward sex offenders is spread out among a larger group rather than being focused on a small group of individuals. 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, where they might not be as safe.