Legal Definitions - Transcarceration

Transcarceration refers to the practice of moving individuals who are incarcerated or institutionalized for mental health reasons from one facility to another facility of the same type. This means a prisoner is transferred to a different prison, or a patient in a psychiatric hospital is moved to another psychiatric hospital. It specifically describes movement between similar institutions, rather than a transition from an institution back into the general community.

Here are some examples to illustrate transcarceration:

• Example 1: Prison Overcrowding

  A state correctional department is facing severe overcrowding in its maximum-security prison. To manage the population and maintain safety, fifty inmates are transferred to another maximum-security prison in a different part of the state that has available capacity.

  Explanation: This is an instance of transcarceration because prisoners are moved from one prison to another prison – facilities of the same type – rather than being released or transferred to a community-based program like a halfway house.

• Example 2: Specialized Medical Care for Inmates

  An inmate serving a federal sentence develops a complex medical condition that requires highly specialized, long-term care only available at a dedicated medical facility attached to a different federal penitentiary located in another state.

  Explanation: This illustrates transcarceration because the individual is moved from one federal correctional facility to another federal correctional facility (a specialized medical one, but still within the correctional system), maintaining their incarcerated status within a similar institutional environment.

• Example 3: Restructuring of Mental Health Services

  A regional mental health authority decides to consolidate its long-term psychiatric care services. As a result, several patients receiving ongoing treatment in one state psychiatric hospital's long-term care unit are transferred to a newly designated, larger long-term care unit at a different state psychiatric hospital.

  Explanation: This is transcarceration because individuals institutionalized for mental illness are moved from one psychiatric hospital to another psychiatric hospital. Both are facilities designed for similar long-term mental health care, and the move does not involve their discharge into the community.