# Paying someone to get you to XYZ facility. Bogus

Nobody can get you designated to a specific prison. Not for $5,000, not for $50,000. Designation is decided by BOP (the federal Bureau of Prisons) staff at the Designation and Sentence Computation Center in Grand Prairie, Texas, using a security scoring sheet, your PSR (the report that follows you the whole sentence), medical and program needs, proximity to your release address, and bed space, which is the part no one sells. The judge can recommend a facility. The BOP is free to ignore the recommendation, and sometimes does.

The scoring sheet isn't secret, either. It's [PS 5100.08](/resources/program-statements/5100-08-inmate-security-designation-and-custody-classification), and the statute behind it says a designation "is not reviewable by any court." No court, no consultant, no Rolodex.

So what is a "placement package" actually? It's your lawyer asking the judge for a recommendation (which is free, and which your lawyer should be doing anyway) wrapped in an invoice and a prayer.

"We have relationships inside the BOP." — A relationship that steers designations would be corruption. They don't have it. What they have is a phone number for a call center, same as you.

"97% placement success rate." — Unverifiable, and rigged. Most low-level, nonviolent people score out to a camp anyway. They're charging you for gravity, then taking credit when the apple lands.

"We got a client into the camp of their choice." — Ask for the name and the docket. The designation happened; the causation is invented. Survivorship bias with a payment plan.

What actually moves the needle: a clean, accurate PSR (fight errors _before_ sentencing, because the BOP treats that document as gospel), documented medical needs, a judicial recommendation, and not having detainers (a hold from another jurisdiction) or security points you could have addressed. All of it runs through your attorney. None of it costs extra.

Companion reading: [paying non-lawyers for legal work](/resources/non-lawyer-legal-work). Same industry, same product, different wrapper. The wider version, covering every claim the industry makes and the ones that are actually true: [prison consultants, myths and facts](/resources/prison-consultants).

**Need help with this? Just ask.**

These pages cover the general rules. Your situation has details they don't. Email me a question. **Answers are free** , and "you don't need to pay anyone for this" is my most common answer.

[josh@federalprisondude.com](mailto:josh@federalprisondude.com)

I answer in the order received, usually within a couple of days. I have a day job. If your situation genuinely needs more than an email, I take a limited number of consults, so say so and we'll work it out.