18 U.S.C. § 4081
Section 4081 · Classification and treatment of prisoners
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 58 court decisions — leading case Wolfish v. Levi (1978)
Most recently applied in 121 F. Supp. 3d 843 - Shah v. Samuels (August 2015)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The Federal penal and correctional institutions shall be so planned and limited in size as to facilitate the development of an integrated system which will assure the proper classification and segregation of Federal prisoners according to the nature of the offenses committed, the character and mental condition of the prisoners, and such other factors as should be considered in providing an individualized system of discipline, care, and treatment of the persons committed to such institutions.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §907 (May 27, 1930, ch. 339, §7, 46 Stat. 390).
Language of section is so changed as to make one policy for all institutions, thus clarifying the manifest intent of Congress.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.