Protective custody is a type of protective confinement to protect the person from harm by outside or inside sources
The placing of a person in government control to protect that person from threats of danger. Protective custody is sometimes used to help a child who has been threatened or abused by his parents. Sometimes the FBI will place a government witness in protective custody prior to trial to protect that witness’s safety.
The latter is common in cases of organized crime, such as when a defendant in a highly charged criminal prosecution turns state evidence and flips on another defendant in exchange for receiving a reduced sentence. The person that flips will need to be placed in protective custody to secure the safety of himself and his family during and after the trial.
Depending on the seriousness of the threat, the witness and his family may be placed in the witness protection program. This post-trial protection program would need to have been negotiated as part of a global plea bargain between the prosecutor and the defense.
