The letter and number next to your person’s name decide where they sleep, who watches them work, and what job they can hold.
A custody level is not the same thing as a sentence, and it is not a judgement about the crime. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) uses it to answer three practical questions about daily life inside: where and with whom someone can live, how much supervision they need, and what job they can be assigned. It is set by a committee after arrival, and it moves in both directions depending on behavior.
TDCJ’s own handbook puts it plainly: a custody designation “tells where and with whom he can live, how much supervision he will need, and what job he can be assigned to.”
That is the whole thing. It is not a measure of how serious the offense was, and it does not change the sentence. Three inputs set it: behavior inside right now, behavior inside previously, and the current offense and sentence length.
| Level | Where they live | Working outside the fence |
|---|---|---|
| G1 (J1 in state jail) | Dorms outside the security fence | Permitted with periodic, unarmed supervision |
| G2 (J2) | Dorms or cells inside the security fence | Permitted under direct, armed supervision |
| G3 | Dorms or cells inside the main building. Not eligible for dorms outside the main building, even inside the fence | Permitted under direct, armed supervision |
| G4 (J4) | A cell, with few exceptions. J4 state jail may be housed in designated dorms | Permitted under direct, armed supervision |
| G5 (J5) | A cell | Not without direct, armed supervision |
| Administrative Segregation (SR in state jail) | A cell, left mostly for showers and limited recreation | Not applicable |
Two details that surprise families. G1 means living outside the fence, in a dorm, working with only periodic unarmed supervision. If your person moves to G1, that is a significant change in daily life. And G3 is not a step down from G2 for behavior reasons: TDCJ reserves it for people serving sentences of 50 years or more, and state jail offenders are never assigned to it. Someone can hold G3 with a clean record.
People housed in trusty camps carry a separate designation, OT.
Administrative segregation is not the bottom rung of the same ladder. TDCJ uses it to separate someone from the general population either because they are considered dangerous to other people or staff, or because they are in danger from other people. People identified by the Security Threat Group Management Office as members of a designated group may be placed there.
Someone in administrative segregation leaves their cell mostly for showers and limited recreation. In expansion cellblocks they shower in the cell.
This one causes real confusion. Safekeeping, shown as P2 through P5, is a status layered on top of a general population custody level, not a level of its own. TDCJ applies it when someone needs an added measure of protection from other people held there.
So a person can be G4 with safekeeping status. The custody level still governs housing and work. Safekeeping governs who they are kept apart from.
These get mixed up constantly, and they are entirely separate systems.
Custody level governs daily life: housing, supervision, jobs.
Time-earning status, also called line class, governs how much good conduct time is credited each month. Everyone starts at Line Class I on arrival. It runs from Line Class III up to Line Class I, with State-Approved Trusty status above that. The monthly credit attached to each is fixed by law, and which law applies depends on when the offense was committed rather than when the sentence started.
New arrivals wait six months before becoming eligible for promotion in time-earning status, and are promoted automatically if they pick up no major disciplinary cases in that window.
A change in one does not automatically mean a change in the other.
The State Classification Committee and the Classification and Records Office decide the first unit, after intake. Nobody chooses their own unit.
On the unit, the Unit Classification Committee assigns the custody level. Your person appears before it when they arrive at a new unit, and again whenever a routine classification decision is needed.
It moves both ways. TDCJ’s wording: break the rules and someone “may be placed in a more restrictive custody”; follow them and they “may be assigned a less restrictive custody level.” That is worth knowing if you are watching a level go the wrong way, because it is not permanent.
One timing note that catches families out: someone convicted of a first, second or third degree felony can sit in a transfer facility for up to two years before moving to a permanent unit.
7 of 7 questions
G1 is the least restrictive and G5 is the most. The numbers run in the opposite direction to what most people assume. G1 allows living in a dorm outside the security fence and working with periodic unarmed supervision, while G5 means living in a cell.
Inmate SearchG4 means living in a cell, with few exceptions, and being allowed to work outside the security fence only under direct, armed supervision. In a state jail, J4 is the equivalent, and those held at J4 may be housed in designated dorms instead.
Inmate SearchG3 is not a behavior penalty. TDCJ reserves it for people serving sentences of 50 years or more, and state jail offenders are never assigned to it. Someone can hold G3 with a clean disciplinary record.
Inmate SearchSafekeeping, shown as P2 through P5, is a status added on top of a general population custody level rather than a level of its own. TDCJ applies it when someone needs an added measure of protection from other people held at the unit.
Inmate SearchCustody level governs housing, supervision and job eligibility. Line class, or time-earning status, governs how much good conduct time is credited each month and is fixed by law. They are separate systems, and a change in one does not automatically change the other.
Inmate SearchYes, in both directions. The Unit Classification Committee sets it when someone arrives at a unit and revisits it for routine decisions. TDCJ's handbook says a person may be moved to more restrictive custody for breaking rules, and to less restrictive custody for following them.
Inmate SearchTDCJ's public locator returns unit assignment, offense information and a projected release date. If you have the custody level from paperwork or from your person, this page explains what it governs.
Inmate SearchOne locator covers every unit. What it returns, what it leaves out, and the two ways to ask that accept a date of birth.
View ArticleTwo addresses cover the whole system. Letters go to Dallas, money orders go to Huntsville, and neither one is the prison.
View ArticleSearch for your loved one and start sending photos, letters, and messages today.
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All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified August 24, 2026.