# Classification

*The intelligence layer over the wings you already build by hand.*

You already build a minimum wing and a max block. You already put the psychopath behind steel and the
teenage pickpocket behind a wooden door. Classification does not replace those walls, cells and locks —
it answers the question vanilla never does: **who belongs where.** It reads the one shared record every
part of the suite writes to and turns it into a single verdict, so the crime system, the search, the
escape and the classifier all agree on how dangerous a pawn is, because they read the same number.

Grade drives everything downstream: search frequency, privileges, escape risk, and — critically —
parole eligibility ([Parole](Parole.md) gates on grade).

> The isolation *toll* of a max/solitary placement is Prisoner Realism's (good) sim. Corrections only
> decides the placement.

---

## The tiers

Every held pawn falls into one of four security grades, low to high — the tiers you already build,
named:

| Grade | Risk score | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| **Minimum** | below 0.35 | Barely a disposition, clean record. Open dorm, light watch. |
| **Medium** | 0.35 – 0.79 | A real record or a real nature. Proper cell, routine search. The parole ceiling. |
| **Maximum** | 0.80 – 1.49 | Repeat offender or proven flight risk. Steel, solitary door, frequent search. |
| **Supermax** | 1.5 and up | The headline cases. Escapes plus crimes plus a dark nature. Never let them near a wall. |

Note the ceiling at **Medium**: [Parole](Parole.md) will only consider a pawn graded Medium or below.
Grade is therefore not just a placement hint — it is the gate a pawn has to fall back through before
they can be released.

---

## The risk score

Risk is a number from 0 to about 3: baseline disposition, plus everything on the record, minus reform
earned. Each thing a prisoner has done adds a fixed amount:

| What it counts | Adds to risk | Why this weight |
|---|---|---|
| **Nature** (0 to 1) | nature × 0.5 | Disposition alone can carry a pawn to Medium (nature 0.7+), but never past it on its own. Character is a suspicion, not a conviction. |
| **Each escape attempt** | +0.35 | The heaviest per-event term. A pawn who *runs* is the one who ends up armed in your base. One attempt is worth nearly two crimes. |
| **Each crime committed** | +0.20 | The staple. Steady, cumulative. |
| **Each time caught** | +0.15 | Caught contraband is worse than merely suspected. |
| **Each contraband item made** | +0.10 | The lightest term — making a shiv is common; escaping with one is not. |
| **Reform earned** | up to −0.4 | The only thing that *lowers* the grade. At most −0.4, since reform caps at 1.0. |

The total is never allowed below zero.

Two facts fall out of the numbers, and both matter for how you play:

- **Searching a prisoner does not raise their risk.** Only *finding* something does — a search that
  turns up nothing costs the prisoner no grade. Search freely.
- **Reform can shift at most 0.4 of risk.** At full reform (1.0), the downgrade is −0.4. So a pawn
  whose record *without reform* already totals 1.2 or more can never fall to Medium (below 0.8) no
  matter how thoroughly they reform — and therefore can **never be paroled**. A prolific offender is a
  life sentence. You will hold them, work them, or execute them; you will not release them. This is a
  deliberate property of the weights, not an accident.

---

## Worked example — grading a record

**Bram**, an Abrasive raider, has a nature of 0.20. He has three crimes, one escape attempt, was caught
twice, made two shivs, and has not been reformed. Add it up:

| Source | Contribution |
|---|---|
| nature 0.20 × 0.5 | 0.100 |
| 1 escape × 0.35 | 0.350 (the headline) |
| 3 crimes × 0.20 | 0.600 |
| caught twice × 0.15 | 0.300 |
| 2 shivs × 0.10 | 0.200 |
| no reform | 0.000 |
| **total** | **1.550** → Supermax |

Now treat him. Say patient handling and good conduct lift his reform to 0.40. That subtracts
0.40 × 0.4 = 0.16, dropping his risk to **1.39 → Maximum.** He falls a band.

But notice: his reform-*less* risk is 1.55, well above 1.2. Even at perfect reform (1.0) he lands at
1.55 − 0.40 = 1.15 — still Maximum. **Bram is beyond parole for the rest of his life.** His record
decided that, not his disposition.

Contrast **Cass**, a Kind pickpocket whose gentle nature floors her nature term at 0. She has one
crime, was caught once, no escapes, no contraband, no reform yet. Her risk is
(1 × 0.20) + (1 × 0.15) = **0.35 → Medium**, exactly on the line.

Give Cass the standard treatment up to reform 0.30. That subtracts 0.30 × 0.4 = 0.12, dropping her to
**0.23 → Minimum.** Cass is now Minimum, and — being Medium-or-below with reform at least 0.30 —
**paroleable.** Same institution, two futures, and the record told you which was which before you had
to guess.

---

## How to play with grades

- **Segregate by grade, not by vibe.** Sort your cells to the four bands and put a pawn where their
  score, not your hunch, says. The whole suite reads the record; you can too.
- **Escapes are the alarm.** One escape attempt (+0.35) will jump a middling pawn a band. If a pawn
  crosses into Maximum after a break attempt, believe it — treat them as the flight risk the number
  says they are.
- **A clean nature is not a clean record.** A Kind pawn who has escaped twice still grades Maximum;
  disposition is only half the score.
- **Watch the parole ceiling.** If you intend to release someone, keep their reform-less risk under
  1.2 — mostly that means limiting how deep their record gets *before* you start treating them. A pawn
  you let rack up escapes and catches has sentenced themselves.
- **Reform is the only lever that lowers a grade.** See [Discipline & Reform](Discipline-and-Reform.md)
  for how to move it, and [Parole](Parole.md) for where the grade gate lands.

---

*Part of the **Institution** suite for RimWorld 1.6: Core · Contraband · Policing · Corrections · Gangs · Ward.*