All residents committed to the custody of the department are sent to the Reception and Diagnostic Unit (RDU) for evaluation and classification. During the RDU process (usually lasting two weeks), the resident receives a physical examination, psychological evaluation, educational assessment and a substance abuse evaluation. Information received during the reception and diagnostic process is reviewed by a classification committee and entered on a classification sheet.
The three resident classifications are close (those serving long-term sentences, have an escape history or a disciplinary problem), medium (those who have demonstrated an ability to follow instructional rules and regulations, may have a considerable amount of prison time left to serve and who may be an escape risk at a lower custody level), minimum (those who have continually demonstrated the ability to follow instructions and who don’t represent an escape risk).