Accepting a new Inmate into prison is usually composed of the bureaucracy in the beginning, and ends with the Inmate arriving at his bunk. The last part is actually pretty complex.

Deciding where the Inmate would go is a decision that is composed of many factor:

• What type of an Inmate is he? (Just arrested, sentenced, sentenced for a long period, etc)
• Why is he in prison for?
• What kind is he? (You want to avoid Inmate infighting, it creates paperwork, so you avoid putting them in conflict if possible)
• Where there is room available?

I am skipping on other stuff, but I think that you get the picture.

The Inmate’s location is another thing that seems simple on the surface but gets complicated when you drill down. The Inmate’s location is actually compromised from several different aspects. First, and the most obvious one, is the actual physical location of the Inmate. For example:

• Cell Block B, Section D, Cell 349
• Redbrick Hospital, ER
• Vacation
• East Misphat Courthouse
• “Loaned” to another prison

All of those are pretty obvious (loaning an Inmate is rarely done, but can happen if he has to do something like show up at a court near the other prison that is far from his current prison).

The next aspect is his location is who is signed for this prisoner. That is a problematic concept if you don’t understand how prisons work. You can think about it as a chain of responsibility. Since the Inmate is in Lawful Custody, if something happens to him, then someone is going to answer some questions. We used to have a joke, “you break, you replace”.  Who signed on for this Inmate is basically who has the legal responsibility for this Inmate. This can be:

• Cpt. Yom Kashe, Commander Cell Block D
• Lt. Halach Alley, Escorting to Courthouse
• Sarge. Yashnoni, Guarding at Hospital

I think that you get the picture. And finally, we have who has overall responsibility for this Inmate? Put simply, while the Inmate is hospitalized for a week, it may be Sargent Yashnoni who is actually standing over the bed, but it is Captain Kashe that has the responsibility for the guy. He is the one who has to report him as “not present, location is known”.