Two stacked bar charts showing how most prison transfers are between the same security classification levels, and those between different levels are primarily for people stepping down from maximum security.

Data Source: Compiled from data obtained via public records request from the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. (Graph: Wendy Sawyer, 2025)

This graph originally appeared in “You want to be in the hell you already know”: How prison transfers regularly upend incarcerated people’s lives.

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