Federal Prison Intake Process: Admission & Orientation

By Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., and Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA

Federal prison intake is a defined, four-department procedure with deadlines set by regulation: a social interview immediately on arrival, a Health Services screening within 24 hours, a PREA risk screening ordinarily within 72 hours, and initial classification with the unit team within 28 calendar days. The governing regulation is 28 C.F.R. §§ 522.20–522.21, and no one can be placed in general population until medical clearance and the social interview are both complete.

This page is the procedural companion to our overview of the first day in federal prison. It covers the machinery: every screening step, who performs it, which form it lands on, and what the clock is. Each item carries a page cite to the Bureau of Prisons’ own document so you can check it. Remember what a Program Statement is — the Bureau’s internal instruction for applying a regulation, not law in itself. Where policy leaves something to the local institution, this page says so and names the institution supplement that fills the gap.

The intake screening procedure, step by step

This is the sequence, in order, with the deadline and the source for each step. Nothing here is estimated; where the Bureau sets no national deadline, the table says so.

#	Step	Who performs it	Deadline	Source
1	Identity verified before entry, then again on removal from the holding area — verbally by name, date of birth and register number, plus comparison of physical description and photographs	Correctional Systems (R&D)	Before entry and at processing	PS 5800.19 at p. 15
2	Pat search before entry into the institution	Correctional Systems	Before entry	PS 5800.19 at p. 15
3	Visual search and metal-detector or body-scanner screening in R&D (all but those charged solely with misdemeanor offenses)	Correctional Systems, same-sex staff	During R&D processing	PS 5800.19 at pp. 17–20
4	Property separated, searched and inventoried; contraband documented on BP-A0402	Correctional Systems	As soon as possible	PS 5800.19 at pp. 20–21
5	Institutional clothing, shoes and hygiene items issued	Correctional Systems	Before leaving R&D	PS 5800.19 at pp. 20–21
6	Medication, medical devices and supplies secured in a dedicated area pending a self-carry decision	Health Services	On arrival	PS 5800.19 at pp. 9, 21
7	Social interview — private, no other prisoners present, to identify non-medical reasons for housing away from general population	Unit Manager, Correctional Counselor, Case Manager, or trained designee who has completed CIM certification	Immediately upon arrival	28 C.F.R. § 522.21(a)(1); PS 5295.01 at p. 2
8	Intake Screening Form pulled from the Bureau’s system at the moment of arrival, with current CIM Clearance and Separatee Data attached	Interviewing staff	At arrival, not before	PS 5295.01 at p. 3
9	Presentence report and central file reviewed for history of sexually aggressive behavior or recent sexual victimization; copy forwarded to Psychology Services and Correctional Services if either appears	Interviewing staff	During the social interview	PS 5295.01 at p. 2
10	PREA Intake Objective Screening Instrument applied; results noted in the comment section of the Intake Screening Form	Unit Management	Ordinarily within 72 hours of arrival	28 C.F.R. § 115.41(b); PS 5333.01 at p. 31
11	Load/admit transaction into the Bureau’s inmate management system	Correctional Systems	Within two hours of arrival	PS 5800.19 at pp. 9, 20
12	Health Services intake screening, ideally still in R&D, documented on the Intake Health Screen template	Qualified health care provider	Within 24 hours of arrival	28 C.F.R. § 522.21(a)(2); PS 6031.06 at p. 18
13	Suicide-risk screening; BP-A0519 questionnaire completed within 24 hours at pretrial and detention facilities	Medical staff, reviewed by the social-screening staff member	Ordinarily within 24 hours of admission	28 C.F.R. § 552.41(c)(1); PS 5332.01 at pp. 8–9
14	BP-A0407 and BP-A0408, Acknowledgment of Inmate, completed and witnessed	Intake screening staff	During intake	PS 5800.19 at p. 22; PS 5295.01 at pp. 4–5
15	Identification photograph, fingerprints, inmate ID card	Correctional Systems	At commitment	PS 5800.19 at pp. 23–25
16	Case Management Coordinator and SIS Lieutenant review for high-profile or special-interest cases; Associate Warden or designee approves the unit assignment	CMC, SIS Lieutenant, AW	Before housing assignment	PS 5800.19 at p. 22; PS 5295.01 at p. 4
17	Results of the intake medical screening and social interview filed in the central file; Intake Screening Form filed in section 3	Staff	After completion	28 C.F.R. § 522.21(a)(3); PS 5295.01 at p. 3
18	Unit Officer’s safety orientation and unit security overview; BP-S597 signed	Unit Officer	Day of arrival in the unit, no later than lights out	PS 5290.14 at p. 9
19	Unit orientation by Unit Manager, Case Manager and Correctional Counselor	Unit team	Within seven calendar days of arrival in the assigned unit	PS 5290.14 at p. 10
20	Psychology Services Initial Intake Evaluation: questionnaire, records review, clinical interview, mental-health care level assigned	Psychologist	Within the first 14 calendar days of arrival	PS 5310.17 at p. 15
21	Comprehensive medical evaluation (history, physical, diagnoses, treatment plan)	Physician or advanced practice provider	14 days with a history or active condition; 30 days if none identified at intake	PS 6031.06 at p. 20
22	Institution Admission and Orientation program; BP-S518 signed	A&O Coordinator and department heads	Ordinarily within four weeks of arrival	PS 5290.14 at p. 9
23	Initial classification with the unit team; Program Review Report issued	Unit Manager (chair), Case Manager, Correctional Counselor	Within 28 calendar days of arrival	28 C.F.R. § 524.11(a)(1); PS 5321.10 at p. 13
24	PREA risk reassessment based on any new information	Unit Management, at the initial classification meeting	Not to exceed 30 days from arrival	28 C.F.R. § 115.41(f); PS 5333.01 at pp. 32–33

Two ordering rules govern the whole table. First, steps 7 and 12 gate everything downstream: 28 C.F.R. § 522.21(a) requires the warden to ensure a newly arrived person “is cleared by the Medical Department and provided a social interview by staff before assignment to the general population,” and PS 5295.01 adds that if that is not possible, people “are to be kept in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) until completion of the medical clearance and social interview” (PS 5295.01 at p. 2). Second, the intake screening is itself the first step of Admission and Orientation, not a separate thing — the Bureau treats it as “the first step in orienting an inmate to the institution,” completed before A&O programming begins (PS 5290.14 at p. 8). Step 16 is the one families most often misunderstand: the unit assignment is approved by the Associate Warden or designee, not by Receiving and Discharge, and our page on inmate housing covers what happens after that approval.

The rule behind it: 28 C.F.R. §§ 522.20–522.21

The whole procedure rests on two short regulatory sections that have been on the books since 1980. Section 522.20 states the purpose: staff “screen newly arrived inmates to ensure that Bureau health, safety, and security standards are met.” Section 522.21 sets four requirements, and the Bureau reproduces them verbatim in bracketed bold in its own policy:

1. Except at camps and satellite facilities where segregating a new arrival is not feasible, the warden must ensure the person is cleared by the Medical Department and given a social interview before assignment to general population.
2. Immediately upon arrival, staff must interview the person to determine whether there are non-medical reasons for housing them away from general population, evaluating both general physical appearance and emotional condition.
3. Within 24 hours after arrival, medical staff must medically screen the person to determine whether there are medical reasons for housing them away from general population or for restricting temporary work assignments.
4. Staff must place the recorded results of both the intake medical screening and the social interview in the central file.

Everything else on this page is implementation. The Bureau’s implementing document is PS 5295.01, Intake Screening, dated 3 September 2026, which replaced PS 5290.15 (30 March 2009). Our policy explainers for the three documents that carry this procedure are intake screening, admission and orientation and receiving and discharge. PS 5290.15 had rescinded PS 5290.12 (16 March 1999), and its stated purpose for the 2009 revision was to clarify “the intake screening procedures for inmates with a history of aggressive sexual behavior or who have been victims of sexual assault” (PS 5290.15 at p. 1). The 2026 reissue keeps that screening and adds two requirements: SIS staff must review all pertinent information on incoming inmates, and the Case Management Coordinator and SIS Lieutenant must clear, and the Associate Warden or designee approve, the housing assignment of high-profile and special-interest cases (PS 5295.01 at pp. 1, 3–4). It matters, and the “What changed” section below explains how.

Who does what: the four departments

Federal prison intake is not one interview. It is four, run by four departments, each with its own instrument and its own record system.

Department	What they screen for	Instrument	Where it is documented
Unit Management	Non-medical housing risks, separations, CIM status, PREA risk of victimization and abusiveness, emotional condition	Intake Screening Form + PREA Intake Objective Screening Instrument	Section 3 of the Inmate Central File
Health Services	Urgent medical, oral health and mental-health needs; intoxication or withdrawal; housing and work restrictions; transmissible infection; pregnancy; disabilities; medication reconciliation; any recent PREA history	Intake Health Screen template	Electronic health record, signed by a physician
Psychology Services	Suicide and self-directed violence risk, mental-health history, substance use, sexual offending and victimization history, adjustment to incarceration, mental-health care level	BP-A0519, Psychology Services Inmate Questionnaire, plus a clinical interview	Psychology Data System
Correctional Systems (R&D)	Identity, contraband, property, funds, fingerprints, photograph, register number	BP-A0383 property record, fingerprint card, BP-197 funds receipt	J&C file and the inmate management system

The social interview is the one people underestimate. Policy requires it to be conducted in private, with no other prisoners in the area, by a Unit Manager, Correctional Counselor, Case Manager or other warden-designated staff trained in intake screening — and the interviewer must have completed the Central Inmate Monitoring Certification Program before conducting it (PS 5295.01 at p. 2). The interviewer pulls the Intake Screening Form from the system at the moment of arrival, because retrieving it earlier “may result in outdated or even inaccurate information,” and the current CIM Clearance and Separatee Data must be attached (PS 5295.01 at p. 3).

Separations are checked hard at this step. To ensure separatees are not housed together, staff review the CIM Clearance and Separatee Data on the newly generated form and may cross-check names against an alphabetical list of everyone in the institution (PS 5295.01 at p. 3). For someone in holdover status, staff use an NCIC record and the Marshals’ Individual Custody and Detention Report (USM-129) alongside system data when the presentence report and central file are unavailable (PS 5295.01 at pp. 3–4).

The forms you sign: BP-A0407 and BP-A0408

Two forms are completed by the staff who conduct intake screening, and they matter for years afterward. The BP-A0407 (Acknowledgment of Inmate, Parts 1 and 2) and BP-A0408 (Parts 3 and 4) cover five subjects (PS 5295.01 at p. 4; PS 5800.19 at p. 22):

• correspondence,
• authorization for disposition of funds,
• monitoring of telephone calls,
• procedures for unmonitored attorney telephone calls, and
• notification in case of death or illness and disposition of property in case of death.

Each section carries a signature block for the person and for the staff member who witnesses it. If the person refuses to sign, the witnessing staff member notes that in the designated space. If Part 1 of the correspondence section is signed electing not to have general mail opened and inspected, the mail room is notified and given a copy (PS 5800.19 at p. 22). If someone cannot supply next-of-kin information at intake, they are given a reasonable amount of time to obtain it.

The Bureau’s own language on why these matter is worth quoting: “It is vital that each section of the BP-A0407 and BP-A0408 forms are completed accurately and legibly. These forms are relied upon for many reasons, including inmate litigation involving the Bureau” (PS 5295.01 at p. 5). The data can be changed at any time during the sentence, and the forms are reviewed at each program review to confirm the information has not changed. A new form is required only when it has; when a person transfers and the existing form is still correct, staff document that on the current form with the institution mnemonic, the interviewer’s and the person’s initials, and the date — and the person records their own initials (PS 5295.01 at p. 5). The forms are also on the checklist the unit team reviews at every initial classification and program review (PS 5321.10 at p. 12).

The medical, dental and psychology interviews

Health Services

A qualified health care provider must conduct an intake screening assessment within 24 hours of arrival, ideally while the person is still in Receiving and Discharge (PS 6031.06 at p. 18). It addresses urgent medical, oral health or mental-health needs; signs of acute intoxication or withdrawal requiring prompt intervention; restrictions on housing or temporary work assignments; transmissible skin, respiratory or gastrointestinal infection; pregnancy, screened as soon as practical on arrival; disabilities requiring evaluation and possible accommodation; any new medical problem since the last comprehensive evaluation; renewal of current medications through medication reconciliation; medication for opioid use disorder history and needs; and any recent PREA history (PS 6031.06 at pp. 18–19).

Three rules from that policy deserve emphasis:

• The screen cannot be waived. “This intake screen is mandatory and cannot be waived.” If it cannot be completed within 24 hours it is done at the earliest possible opportunity with a note explaining the delay. A person who refuses to participate “will not be housed in the general population until screening is completed; applicable disciplinary action will be taken” (PS 6031.06 at p. 19).
• A physician signs off on every one. All intake screenings are reviewed and signed by a physician responsible for verifying that comprehensive evaluations, labs, imaging and follow-ups are scheduled (PS 6031.06 at p. 19).
• Returning from outside custody restarts it. Anyone out of Bureau custody for more than seven days — jail, writ, bail — gets an updated intake screening within 24 hours of return (PS 6031.06 at p. 20).

The full physical comes later. Since the 22 June 2026 reissue of Patient Care, the Bureau has folded the old history-and-physical and the separate 14-/30-day chronic care evaluation into a single comprehensive medical evaluation, with two deadlines: complete within 30 days if no history or active medical or mental-health diagnosis is identified at intake, and within 14 days for people with a history or active chronic or new health concerns (PS 6031.06 at pp. 1, 20). At that evaluation, HIV screening and hepatitis screening are ordered for all newly incarcerated people unless refused, and a refusal requires a signed form scanned into the record (PS 6031.06 at p. 21). Female-specific assessments — gynecological and obstetrical history, pelvic examination, Pap smear and STI cultures where clinically indicated, clinical breast exam where applicable — are completed as part of the same evaluation. See medical care in federal prison and the Patient Care policy explainer.

A medical restriction entered at intake is what produces the accommodations people ask about later. Restrictions authorizing a lower bunk, housing closer to the medical unit, or work and recreation limits are entered on the Medical Duty Status (MDS) form in the health record by the clinician who evaluates the person (PS 6031.06 at pp. 26, 32). Two other MDS statuses run on short clocks: medical idle, a maximum of three calendar days for recuperation from acute illness or injury, restricting the person to quarters except for meals, religious services and medical call-outs; and medical convalescence, a maximum of 30 calendar days, renewable if clinically indicated (PS 6031.06 at p. 32).

Dental

Dental care is on the list of essential ambulatory services the Bureau requires each institution to provide, and oral health needs are screened at intake as part of the Health Services assessment (PS 6031.06 at pp. 17–18). What follows the initial dental evaluation is a request-driven system: routine care is scheduled by priority, and the way into it is a request to staff to Dental Services. Waits vary enormously by institution and are not set by national policy. See dental care in prison and the Dental Services policy.

Psychology Services

Psychology’s role begins during the social screening, not after it. Since the 19 March 2026 reissue of the Suicide Prevention Program, the staff member conducting the initial social screening must review the completed BP-A0519 questionnaire during that screening — specifically to see whether the person answered “yes” to item 7, “Are you thinking of harming or killing yourself now?” If the answer is yes, that staff member must notify Psychology Services immediately by telephone or in person; the policy states that “[e]mail or voicemail/other telephonic message notification for this is never acceptable” (PS 5332.01 at pp. 1, 9). After reviewing the questionnaires, the screening staff member leaves them in a secure, mutually agreed location for Psychology to retrieve.

At pretrial and detention facilities, the questionnaire is completed within 24 hours of arrival, in R&D, alongside the Health Services screening and the social screening; completed questionnaires for everyone else are ordinarily reviewed by a psychologist within one working day (PS 5310.17 at p. 14; PS 5332.01 at p. 8).

For someone newly designated to a camp, low-security institution, FCI, penitentiary or the general population of a medical center, the full Initial Intake Evaluation happens within the first 14 calendar days of arrival: the person completes the questionnaire, a psychologist reviews the available records, conducts a clinical interview, documents the evaluation and enters a mental-health care level assignment (PS 5310.17 at pp. 15–16). That comprehensive evaluation is conducted only at initial designation and is not repeated at later transfers unless a significant change of status occurs. Transfers, writ returns and anyone out of the institution for more than 30 calendar days get a shorter Transfer Intake Screening within 30 calendar days of arrival, which becomes a clinical interview if the questionnaire shows current symptoms, if staff report concerns, or if the record shows a suicide risk assessment in the previous 12 months, a current mental-illness diagnosis, a psychology alert, or a care level of 2, 3 or 4 (PS 5310.17 at p. 16). See mental health programs for inmates, the Psychology Services explainer and the Suicide Prevention Program explainer.

The PREA screening on the 72-hour clock

This is the step almost no competing page states correctly, and it is a fixed, dated rule. 28 C.F.R. § 115.41(a) requires that all prisoners “be assessed during an intake screening and upon transfer to another facility for their risk of being sexually abused by other inmates or sexually abusive toward other inmates.” Subsection (b): “Intake screening shall ordinarily take place within 72 hours of arrival at the facility.” Subsection (c) requires an objective screening instrument, which for the Bureau is the PREA Intake Objective Screening Instrument applied by Unit Management staff to complete the Intake Screening Form (PS 5333.01 at p. 31).

The regulation lists ten criteria the screening must consider, at a minimum, for risk of victimization: a mental, physical or developmental disability; age; physical build; prior incarceration; whether criminal history is exclusively nonviolent; prior convictions for sex offenses against an adult or child; whether the person is or is perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex or gender nonconforming; prior sexual victimization; the person’s own perception of vulnerability; and whether the person is detained solely for civil immigration purposes. For risk of being sexually abusive, the initial screening considers prior acts of sexual abuse, prior convictions for violent offenses, and any history of institutional violence or sexual abuse known to the agency.

Three consequences follow, and each is a real procedural right:

• You cannot be disciplined for declining four of those questions. 28 C.F.R. § 115.41(h) protects refusal to answer, or incomplete disclosure, on the questions asked under (d)(1) disability, (d)(7) sexual orientation or gender identity, (d)(8) prior sexual victimization, and (d)(9) perception of vulnerability. The Bureau restates the protection in its own manual (PS 5333.01 at p. 31).
• What you disclose is need-to-know. Information about victimization or abusiveness, including the comment section of the Intake Screening Form, is limited to staff who need it for treatment and for security and management decisions such as housing and cell assignments, work, education and programming (PS 5333.01 at p. 33), and subsection (i) obliges the agency to control dissemination so the information “is not exploited to the inmate’s detriment by staff or other inmates.”
• A disclosed history triggers specific referrals. A history of sexual victimization in Bureau custody requires notice to the institution’s PREA Compliance Manager and, if the allegation is not already documented, referral to Psychology Services, the Captain or supervisory designee, and Health Services. Victimization in a non-Bureau setting requires documentation, notice to the PREA Compliance Manager and a referral to Psychology Services for a Sexual Abuse Intervention. A history of sexual predation requires referral to Psychology Services and notice to the Captain (PS 5333.01 at pp. 30–31).

The reassessment is separate and it is the reason initial classification matters here too. Within a set period not to exceed 30 days from arrival, the facility must reassess risk based on any additional relevant information received since intake — and the Bureau does this “during the initial meeting with Unit Management, within 30 days of the inmate’s arrival,” documented in the initial classification meeting notes (PS 5333.01 at pp. 32–33; PS 5321.10 at p. 13). If new risk factors appear, the person is referred to Psychology Services. See our explainer on PREA and sexual abuse prevention, and violence and sexual assault in prison.

Admission and Orientation: two components, two deadlines

Once intake screening is done, A&O begins. PS 5290.14 requires every person committed or transferred to a Bureau institution to participate, and splits the program into an Institution component and a Unit component (PS 5290.14 at p. 1).

Institution A&O is the long session — the one usually held in the chapel or a large program space, where department heads describe their operations. It covers everything on the BP-S518 Institution A&O Checklist, including mandatory national policy topics and local procedures. It is “[o]rdinarily… completed within four weeks of an inmate’s arrival at the institution.” Completing it before initial classification is “highly recommended” but not mandatory, and old-law violators are ordinarily classified within two weeks of arrival (PS 5290.14 at p. 9). Anyone initially housed in the Special Housing Unit completes institution A&O ordinarily within four weeks after release to general population.

Unit A&O has two parts on two clocks. The Unit Officer delivers the safety orientation and unit security overview on the day the person arrives in the unit — assigned or temporary — and no later than lights out, covering fire escape procedures, sanitation, smoking rules, counts, accountability, searches, passes, and wake-up and lights-out times, then signs the BP-S597 (PS 5290.14 at p. 9). Unit orientation by the Unit Manager, Case Manager and Correctional Counselor must be completed within seven calendar days after arrival in the assigned unit; each staff member signs their own section (PS 5290.14 at p. 10). Moving to a different unit inside the institution triggers a fresh unit orientation within seven calendar days and a new BP-S597.

Other A&O rules worth knowing:

• The handbook. Institutions may develop an inmate handbook and written orientation materials to supplement the lectures. Staff must develop written materials; lesson plans are maintained by the A&O Coordinator and reviewed annually (PS 5290.14 at p. 7).
• Language and literacy. Where a literacy problem prevents someone from understanding the material, a staff member must offer assistance. Where an institution has a significant number of non-English speakers, A&O information including written materials must be made available in the appropriate languages, and anyone not fluent in English should be advised that translated documents exist (PS 5290.14 at p. 7).
• Emotional distress. A staff member who believes someone is experiencing significant emotional stress must notify the A&O Coordinator, who notifies psychology staff for evaluation and assistance (PS 5290.14 at p. 7).
• Medical exemption. The Associate Warden may exempt someone from A&O when health services staff determine they are medically or mentally incapable of participating fully; the exemption ends when they are capable (PS 5290.14 at p. 8).
• Phone calls. “Ordinarily, newly committed inmates will be permitted to complete at least two local or long distance phone calls during the admission process” (PS 5290.14 at p. 10). See inmate phone calls.
• Property limits are announced here. Numerical limits on authorized personal property are notified at A&O and posted on unit bulletin boards (28 C.F.R. § 553.11(a); PS 5580.10 at p. 2).
• The record. Completion is documented on the BP-S518 and BP-S597, both filed in section 3 of the central file; the A&O Coordinator keeps the master checklist and the participant list for three years or until the next program review (PS 5290.14 at pp. 10–11).

Initial classification and the first program review

Initial classification is where the sentence takes its working shape. 28 C.F.R. § 524.11(a)(1) requires classification “within 28 calendar days of arrival at the institution designated for service of sentence.” The sentence computation must be completed first; if it is delayed, initial classification is ordinarily completed within 14 calendar days of the completed computation, with the reason documented on the Program Review Report (PS 5321.10 at p. 13). Following a transfer, an initial program review happens within 28 calendar days of arrival at the new facility.

At a minimum the meeting includes the assigned Unit Manager — who chairs it — the Case Manager and the Correctional Counselor (PS 5321.10 at p. 12). The team reviews the central file to confirm the presence and accuracy of the BP-A0407 and BP-A0408, the Judgment and Commitment Order, the presentence investigation report, the Statement of Reasons if applicable, and Central Inmate Monitoring documentation.

What comes out of it:

• an Individualized Needs Plan and program recommendations from Education, Psychology Services and Health Services, stated in measurable terms with short- and long-term goals;
• the first PATTERN recidivism risk assessment, generated with the auto-PATTERN tool 28 days after arrival at the designated facility, with a sanitized copy given to the person (PS 5321.10 at pp. 7, 14);
• a First Step Act time-credit eligibility determination, with notice to the person through their copy of the Program Review Report (PS 5321.10 at pp. 6–7);
• a work assignment — every sentenced person physically and mentally able is assigned to a work program at initial classification (28 C.F.R. § 524.11(d)), and the specific job is an institutional decision, not a national rule; see jobs and inmate work assignments; and
• the PREA risk reassessment described above.

Procedural protections attach. Everyone gets at least 48 hours’ notice before appearing, the docket is posted in a highly visible place in the unit at least 48 hours ahead, and anyone without access to the posting must be notified separately (28 C.F.R. § 524.11(b)(1); PS 5321.10 at pp. 14–15). The notice can be waived in writing. The Unit Manager and the person both sign the Program Review Report, and a copy is given to the person at the end of the meeting (PS 5321.10 at pp. 13, 15). Refusing to appear is documented on the report with the reason, if known, and ordinarily draws disciplinary action if the meeting was properly scheduled.

After the first one, program reviews run at least every 180 calendar days, and at least every 90 calendar days once the person is within twelve months of the projected release date (28 C.F.R. § 524.11(a)(2)). Delays have their own limits: if a review date falls while the person is at an outside hospital or on writ, the meeting ordinarily occurs within 14 calendar days of return (PS 5321.10 at p. 14). The separate 14-day cap on delaying a review for someone in the Special Housing Unit, found in the 2024 edition, is not carried into the 2026 Unit Management Manual. A decision made at initial classification or program review can be appealed through the Administrative Remedy Program (PS 5321.10 at p. 16) — the formal BP-9 is due within 20 calendar days of the event. See unit team and program review and First Step Act time credits.

Applied Insight — Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, Managing Director: The 48-hour notice rule is the most under-used procedural right in this whole sequence. It exists so a person can walk into the team meeting with something in hand — a medical record supporting a lower-bunk restriction, documentation of a program completed at the jail, a verified release address, a letter about a family circumstance. Recommendations set at initial classification get carried forward at every later review, and reversing one afterward is far harder than getting it right the first time. Use the two days.

Issued clothing, linens and footwear

Within a day or two of arrival, people receive institutional clothing, footwear, bedding and linens, hygiene items and an identification card. What exactly is issued is not set by national policy. R&D must stock enough clothing and shoes for the season and climate in a variety of sizes to ensure proper fit, and toiletries must be available for new arrivals as needed (PS 5800.19 at p. 21); at facilities housing women, feminine hygiene products must be available in R&D, and women may take a reasonable quantity into the institution and on trips outside it. Beyond that, issue is governed by the local Institution Supplement on Inmate Clothing (PS 5800.19 at p. 20). That supplement is why accounts of the first issue differ so much from prison to prison, and it is the document to ask about if something is missing.

Civilian clothing does not stay. 28 C.F.R. § 553.11(c) provides that civilian clothing “ordinarily is not authorized for retention,” and prohibits wearing any clothing not issued by the government or bought in the commissary; prerelease civilian clothing may be held by R&D staff during the last 30 days of confinement (PS 5580.10 at p. 3). Commissary clothing colors are restricted to gray and white for men and pastel green, gray and white for women, with an exception for religious headgear. Property in general is inventoried on the BP-A0383, Inmate Personal Property Record whenever status changes — admission, SHU placement, transfer or release — with items valued over $100 documented (PS 5580.10 at p. 2). Each housing area must include a locker or other securable area for authorized property, and people may purchase an approved locking device in regular living units (28 C.F.R. § 553.11(b)). See prison clothes and bedding, inmate personal property and inmate canteen and commissary items.

Modified intake: pretrial, holdovers, detainees and court returns

Not everyone goes through the full sequence, and the exceptions are written down.

Camps and satellite facilities. Where segregating a new arrival in detention is not feasible, the warden must still ensure clearance by Health Services and a social interview consistent with the policy — the requirement does not disappear, only the detention step (PS 5295.01 at pp. 1–2). See minimum security federal prison camps.

Pretrial short-term stays and court returns. Modified intake screening procedures are ordinarily appropriate only at metropolitan correctional or detention centers and other institutions whose primary mission is pretrial confinement (PS 5295.01 at p. 3). The 2009 edition let the warden modify screening for pretrial short-term stays of less than 48 hours and for court returns through an Institution Supplement copied to the Regional Correctional Programs Administrator (PS 5290.15 at pp. 4, 6); the 2026 edition calls for no Institution Supplement (PS 5295.01 at p. 1). See pretrial inmates.

Holdovers. Everyone in temporary holdover status is screened at each institution, using an NCIC record and the USM-129 alongside system data when the presentence report and central file are unavailable (PS 5295.01 at pp. 3–4). Special attention goes to warning comments on the In-Transit Data Form to ensure no separatee is housed at that institution; an exception for an overnight holdover requires the warden or designee to decide that safeguards will prevent contact. Holdovers are not required to complete A&O, but at their first holdover facility they must receive and acknowledge the Inmate Rights and Responsibilities material, the prohibited acts and disciplinary system, and the acknowledgment forms — and the BP-S408 must be completed or verified at every holdover facility (PS 5290.14 at p. 5).

Detainees. Immigration detainees participate in both A&O components unless they have already done so at that institution. Other detainees are not required to participate but must receive and acknowledge the same three items (PS 5290.14 at p. 6).

Anyone starting in the SHU. People initially housed in the Special Housing Unit must be given information about SHU safety and operating procedures during the intake screening process, in writing or by discussion (PS 5290.14 at p. 5). See solitary confinement and Special Housing Units.

Where people get stuck during prison intake

“They took his medication and never gave it back.” Medication, devices and supplies are held in a designated secure area until Health Services decides whether self-carry is appropriate (PS 5800.19 at pp. 9, 21), and medication reconciliation is a required element of the intake screening (PS 6031.06 at p. 19). The route is sick call plus a written request to staff addressed to Health Services, not the unit officer.

“He’s still in the SHU and no one will explain why.” Incomplete screening is the most common reason, and it should resolve in days. If it does not, a member of the unit team must ordinarily visit anyone in the SHU whenever that staff member is scheduled to work, and the Unit Manager at least weekly (PS 5321.10 at p. 8), which gives a documented person to ask. Initial classification is still due within 28 calendar days of arrival, including for someone assigned to the SHU (PS 5321.10 at p. 13).

“Nobody told him about the team meeting.” The 48-hour notice and the posted docket are regulatory requirements (28 C.F.R. § 524.11(b)(1)). A meeting held without notice, and without a written waiver, is an administrative remedy issue.

“He raised a safety concern at intake and nothing happened.” Screening results are supposed to drive housing, bed, work and program assignments. Put it in writing to the Unit Manager and the institution’s PREA Compliance Manager. Sexual abuse and harassment allegations may also be reported directly to the DOJ Office of the Inspector General through the electronic Request to Staff Service (PS 5511.08 at p. 2).

“The property inventory is wrong.” The BP-A0383 is the document. Property is ordinarily mailed or shipped to the designated institution within 72 hours after departure (PS 5800.19 at p. 36). See inmate property claims.

Requests to staff are now filed electronically. Since the 19 March 2026 reissue of Inmate Request to Staff, the “cop-out” goes through the Request to Staff Service in TRULINCS, limited to one request per department per day, with a response ordinarily completed within 30 calendar days if warranted; the paper BP-A0148 is for people the warden has exempted and for those in a Protective Custody Unit (PS 5511.08 at p. 2).

What changed in 2026 — and what did not

The most useful thing to know about federal prison intake in 2026 is that the Admission and Orientation policy at its center still dates from 2003, while almost everything around it has been rewritten — including, on 3 September 2026, the intake-screening policy itself.

Policy	Date	What changed
PS 5295.01, Intake Screening	Reissued 3 Sep 2026 (rescinded PS 5290.15, 2009)	Renumbered. Adds an SIS review of all pertinent information on incoming inmates, and requires the CMC and SIS Lieutenant to clear, and the Associate Warden or designee to approve, the housing assignment of high-profile and special-interest cases. Its references section now names current policies by title rather than the superseded editions the 2009 version listed (PS 5295.01 at pp. 1, 3–4, 6).
PS 5290.14, Admission and Orientation Program	3 Apr 2003 — unchanged	The four-week, seven-day and same-day A&O deadlines and the “at least two” admission calls all date from 2003.
PS 6031.06, Patient Care	Reissued 22 Jun 2026	Combined the history-and-physical and the 14-/30-day chronic care evaluation into one comprehensive medical evaluation, 14 days with a condition and 30 days without; removed the Utilization Review and Radiology sections (PS 6031.06 at p. 1).
PS 5332.01, Suicide Prevention Program	Reissued 19 Mar 2026 (rescinded PS 5324.08, 2007)	Requires the social-screening staff member to review the BP-A0519 during that screening; expands the definition of suicide watch; disallows cameras as the primary means of monitoring anyone on watch; adds cut-down tool requirements (PS 5332.01 at p. 1).
PS 5333.01, Sexually Abusive Behavior Prevention and Intervention Program Manual	Reissued 19 Mar 2026 (rescinded PS 5324.12 CN-1)	Clarifies Unit Management and Psychology Services responsibilities for assessing and reassessing risk; adds retaliation-monitoring forms; updates guidance on separating alleged victims and perpetrators (PS 5333.01 at pp. 1–2).
PS 5800.19, Receiving and Discharge Manual	Reissued 7 May 2026 (rescinded PS 5800.18 CN-1)	Adds whole-body-imaging guidance, separatee notification on commitment, express language on determining fitness for confinement and capability of self-care at intake, and CMC/SIS review of the incoming manifest (PS 5800.19 at p. 1).
PS 5580.10, Inmate Personal Property	Reissued 7 May 2026 (rescinded PS 5580.08, 2011)	New national property list, moved into the body of the policy.
PS 5511.08, Inmate Request to Staff	Reissued 19 Mar 2026 (rescinded PS 5511.07, 1998)	The cop-out moved to the electronic Request to Staff Service in TRULINCS.
PS 5321.10, Unit Management Manual	Reissued 3 Sep 2026 (rescinded PS 5321.09 CN-1, 2025)	Folds in the staff-correspondence and parole-representative policies; updates unit-team roles and the BP-A0407/BP-A0408 acknowledgment forms; adds Insight Application Suite data entry. The 2024 edition it replaces had combined the old Unit Management Manual and the classification policy, required the sentence computation before initial classification and incorporated First Step Act duties (PS 5321.10 at p. 1).

One conflict is worth stating plainly. PS 5333.01 reproduces 28 C.F.R. § 115.41(d) with item (d)(7) replaced by asterisks, while still printing subsection (h), which protects a person from discipline for declining questions asked under “(d)(1), (d)(7), (d)(8), or (d)(9)” (PS 5333.01 at pp. 32–33). The regulation is unchanged, is verified current, and is the authority: (d)(7) reads “[w]hether the inmate is or is perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or gender nonconforming.”

Frequently Asked Questions About the Prison Intake Process

Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026