Practical guide
Published August 16, 2026
If someone you know has just been sentenced in California, the question that follows “where is he?” is usually “what level will he be, and when will we know?” California answers that with a number. This explains how the number is worked out, who works it out, and how long it takes.
Nobody is assigned a level at sentencing
A person sentenced to state prison in California does not go straight to their permanent prison. They go first to a reception center, which is a designated yard inside an existing prison rather than a separate building. At Richard J. Donovan in San Diego, for example, reception is Facility D — the “four yard.” It admits people at every level but operates as a Level IV yard, because until a person is scored, the system does not yet know what they are.
Expect roughly 30 days there for orientation and classification while the score is calculated. The main exception is a death sentence: those cases bypass reception and go directly to the institution that houses condemned inmates.
So a family visiting during that first month is visiting a higher-security yard than the one their relative will most likely end up on. That is normal, and it is not a statement about the person.
The score decides the level
California assigns a placement score. The score maps to a security level, and the level determines which prisons a person can be sent to:
| Placement score | Security level |
|---|---|
| 0–18 | Level I |
| 19–35 | Level II |
| 36–59 | Level III |
| 60 and above | Level IV |
Source: California Code of Regulations, Title 15, §3375.1(a), as cited in the Prison Law Office's California Prison and Parole Law Handbook, Chapter 4 (updated August 2026).
What actually adds points
The score sheet is CDCR Form 839, and the factors are set out in California Code of Regulations Title 15, §3375.3. The two halves are background and prior custody behaviour.
Background factors
- Sentence length — term in years multiplied by two. This is usually the single largest driver. A death sentence or life without parole scores the maximum of 50 term points. For 25-to-life on a murder count the base term is 25 years; for most other life sentences the base term is 15 years; enhancements and consecutive counts are added before the calculation. The term score is capped at 50.
- Age at first arrest and age at reception, each scored from a matrix on the form.
- Street gang or disruptive group involvement — 6 points, with codes recording the group type and how the affiliation was verified.
- Prior sentences of 31 days or more — no more than one point.
- Prior incarcerations, juvenile and adult, state or federal.
Behaviour during the last 12 months in custody
This counts time in county jail after conviction, and in juvenile or federal custody, not only CDCR time.
- No serious disciplinaries in that period — 4 favourable points (which reduce the score). Where a person served 12 months or more but the records are not available, the 4 favourable points are granted anyway.
- Each serious disciplinary — 4 points.
- Battery, or attempted battery, on a non-incarcerated person — 8 points.
- Battery, or attempted battery, on another incarcerated person — 4 points.
- Distributing a controlled substance into a jail or prison — 4 points. Personal use or a small quantity is not scored here.
- Possessing or making a weapon — 4 points, or 8 if it happened within five years of reception on the current term.
- A leadership role in a riot, racial disturbance or work strike — 4 points.
- Battery causing serious bodily injury — 16 points. People who ordered or conspired in it receive the same.
Disciplinary offences more than 10 years before reception on the current term are not scored.
Two things that override the arithmetic
Mandatory minimum score. Certain case factors require that a person be housed no lower than a set level, whatever the arithmetic produces. If the mandatory minimum is higher than the calculated score, it becomes the placement score. Under Title 15 §3375.3(d) these are: a death sentence 60 points; life without parole 36; life with the possibility of parole 19; a history of escape 19; an “R” suffix for a sexual offence 19; and a current or prior conviction or juvenile adjudication for a violent crime 19. Where more than one applies, the highest is used.
Note what that means in practice: a death sentence carries a mandatory minimum of 60, which is Level IV on its own, and life without parole carries 36, which is Level III on its own — before any other factor is counted.
Administrative determinants. A Classification Staff Representative can place someone at a different security level than the score indicates — for enemy concerns, medical or mental-health need, program availability, or population pressure. That approval only holds while the score stays inside the same security level.
So the score sets the expectation. It does not guarantee the outcome.
Why the arithmetic surprises families
Because term points are the sentence in years doubled, sentence length alone can decide the level before anything else is counted. Thirty years is 60 points, which is Level IV on its own. Someone with no prior record, no gang finding and clean custody behaviour can still score Level IV purely on the length of the sentence.
The reverse is also true and gets missed: the score is not fixed. It is reviewed and can fall with time served and clean behaviour, which is how people move to lower-level yards later in a sentence.
What this means for a facility page
Most California prisons hold several levels at once, on separate yards. A directory that records one security level per prison is recording the highest level that prison is authorised to hold, not where any particular person lives. If a facility page says “maximum,” that describes the institution’s ceiling. It does not tell you your relative’s classification.
Ask the counsellor for the placement score and the yard. Those two facts, together, are the real answer.
Frequently asked questions
How long does classification take in California?
Plan for about 30 days at a reception centre while orientation and scoring are completed, though it can run longer. The person is then endorsed to an institution matching their placement score.
Does a long sentence automatically mean maximum security?
Effectively, yes, at the start. Term points are the sentence in years doubled and Level IV begins at 60 points, so a sentence of 30 years or more reaches Level IV on term points alone. Death and life-without-parole sentences score the 50-point maximum for term, and carry a mandatory minimum on top.
Can a security level change later?
Yes. The placement score is reviewed and can go down with time served and no serious disciplinaries, or up after serious misconduct. A changed score can move someone to a different level of institution.
Why is my relative on a higher-security yard than I expected?
Three common reasons: they are still in reception and have not been scored; a mandatory minimum score applies because of a specific case factor; or a Classification Staff Representative applied an administrative determinant that overrode the score.