Those persons confined in any correctional facility are bound by codified rules of behavior and are subject to some form of loss of privileges or liberty if found guilty of violating these rules. When determining institutional disciplinary procedures, authorities consider legal variables such as information related to the specific rule violation and previous criminal activities of the accused, and extralegal variables such as personal-biographical information and institutional security level. Seriousness of the charge and the security level of the accused are also associated with formal processing of complaints. Minority group members are less likely to receive formal processing. The severity of one's sanction is almost exclusively understood in terms of who does the sanctioning. The authors discuss the implications of these findings, Figure, tables, notes, references, cases cited