Lack of security for offenders?

At the beginning of S1E3, they only had only a female pilot transporting 4 offenders (don't know the degree of offense they've done) and she died right off the bat after failing to clear the GS54 species contaminating the outer hull of the ship. Either security is really lax or it was intentional to only put the pilot and no one else to transport them to the USS Discovery. The prisoners don't seem all that surprised either with just the pilot shipping them to what they thought was a prison colony. They also only seem to be tied down to the seats by just the cuffs on their hands which they could've easy stood up and over to get the extra leverage if they wanted to. Talk about easy possible escape.