Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the profile of community members admitted to the first high secure Therapeutic Community (TC) for males with learning disability and personality disorder. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents descriptive data. Findings: The characteristics of the men admitted to a TC in the National High Secure Learning Disability Service are likely to present considerable challenges to the development and delivery of the service. Originality/value: There is very little literature describing interventions for offenders with learning disability and personality disorder. This paper is one of a series that will describe the effectiveness of a TC for men with such difficulties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)