38-612: The Federal Bureau of Prisons classifies prisons into seven categories: This list does not include military prisons , halfway houses , or prisons, jails, and other facilities operated by state or local governments that contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It also does not include facilities operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Most United States penitentiaries (USPs) are high-security facilities, which have highly secured perimeters with walls or reinforced fences, multiple and single-occupant cell housing,
76-458: A crime or are awaiting trial on criminal charges." The definition includes secure facilities and community-based correctional facilities. Federally sentenced juveniles may be moved into federal adult facilities at certain points; juveniles sentenced as adults are moved into adult facilities when they turn 18 and juveniles that were sentenced as juveniles are moved into adult facilities when they turn 21. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 reinstituted
114-546: A delay in executions as they could not be carried out safely without risking the spread of COVID-19. United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth The Federal Correctional Institution, Leavenworth is a medium-security federal prison for male inmates in northeast Kansas. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons , a division of the United States Department of Justice . It also includes
152-624: A former high-security facility, is presently a low-security facility with the primary purpose of holding inmates until they are transferred to other institutions. In 2024, all former USP facilities were renamed to FCI facilities to more accurately reflect their security level. Many current USPs include minimum-security satellite camps on the same property and under the same administration as the higher-security units. Federal correctional institutions (FCIs) are medium- and low-security facilities, which have strengthened perimeters (often double fences with electronic detection systems), mostly cell-type housing,
190-522: A military facility located on the adjacent Fort Leavenworth army post. Located 4 miles (6.4 km) north of the FCI, the USDB is the sole maximum-security penal facility for the entire United States military . Prisoners from the original USDB were used to build the former civilian penitentiary. In addition, the military's medium-security Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility (JRCF), located southwest of
228-611: A prominent member of the Leavenworth community 1933/3/18 - 2007, authored the book; Leavenworth: Beginning to Bicentennial . USP Leavenworth was the largest maximum-security federal prison in the United States from 1903 until 2005 when it was downgraded to a medium-security facility. USP Leavenworth was one of three first-generation federal prisons which were built in 1913. Prior to its construction, federal prisoners were held at state prisons. In 1895, Congress authorized
266-457: A relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio, and limited or no perimeter fencing. These institutions are work- and program-oriented. Many are located adjacent to larger institutions or on military bases, where inmates help serve the labor needs of the larger institution or base. Administrative facilities are institutions with special missions, such as the detention of pretrial offenders; the treatment of inmates with serious or chronic medical problems; or
304-657: A satellite federal prison camp (FPC) for minimum-security male offenders. FCI Leavenworth is located in Leavenworth, Kansas , which is 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Kansas City, Kansas . FCI (formerly USP) Leavenworth, a civilian facility, is the oldest of three major prisons built on federal land in Leavenworth County, Kansas. It is separate from, but often confused with, the United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB),
342-438: A staff continually patrolling. The Auburn system was a marked difference from the earlier Pennsylvania plan popularized at Eastern State Penitentiary in which cell blocks radiated out from a central building and was the original design for the nearby Disciplinary Barracks before it was torn down and replaced by a totally new prison. The St. Louis, Missouri architecture firm of Eames and Young designed both Leavenworth and
380-497: A wide variety of work and treatment programs. FCI Terre Haute contains a more restrictive section designated as a communication management unit for inmates considered high-security risks. FCI Marion contains one of two highly restrictive communication management units , which holds inmates under stricter controls. In August 2016, Justice Department officials announced that the FBOP would be phasing out its use of contracted facilities, on
418-866: The Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia . The BOP has five security levels : Some units have small, adjacent, minimum-security "satellite camps". Twenty-eight institutions hold female inmates. As of 2010 , about 15% of Bureau inmates are in facilities operated by third parties, mostly private companies, while others are in local and state facilities. Some are in privately operated Residential Reentry Centers (RRC) or Community Corrections Centers. The Bureau uses contract facilities to manage its own prison population because they are "especially useful" for housing low-security, specialized groups of people, such as sentenced criminal aliens. Officers employed by
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#1732773102861456-502: The United States Penitentiary, Atlanta . Leavenworth's prison cells are back to back in the middle of the structure facing the walls. The prison's walls are 40 feet (12 m) high, 40 feet (12 m) below the surface and 3,030 feet (920 m) long and enclose 22.8 acres (92,000 m ). Its domed main building was nicknamed the "Big Top" or "Big House." The domed Disciplinary Barracks two miles (3 km) to
494-465: The Bureau of Prisons is Colette S. Peters. As of 2020, 62.5% of Bureau employees are white, 21.3% are black, 12.6% are Hispanic, 2.3% are Asian, and 1.3% are Native American. 72% are male. There is roughly one corrections officer for every 12.5 prisoners. All BOP law enforcement employees undergo 200 hours of formal training in their first year of employment and an additional 120 hours of training at
532-493: The Bureau was responsible for approximately 131,040 inmates, in 122 facilities. 57.9% of inmates were white, 38.2% were black, 2.5% native American, and 1.5% Asian; 93.3% were male. 30.4% were of Hispanic ethnicity, which may be any of these four races. 75% of inmates were between the ages of 26 and 50. As of 1999 , 14,000 prisoners were in 16 federal prisons in the state of Texas. As of 2010 , almost 8,000 felons in 90 facilities, sentenced under D.C. laws, made up about 6% of
570-526: The Evaluation and Inspections Division, Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice, found the Bureau's programming and policy decisions did not fully consider the needs of female inmates in the areas of trauma treatment programming, pregnancy programming, and feminine hygiene. As of 2010 , juveniles sent into Bureau custody are between 17 and 20 and must have been under 18 at
608-532: The FBOP are uniformed federal law enforcement officers who are responsible for the care, custody, and control of federal inmates. Primary Law enforcement officers working for the Bureau of Prisons have statutory powers of arrest "18 U.S. Code § 3050 - Bureau of Prisons employees' powers" . per the United States Code, and the ability to carry a firearm off duty. The BOP has a Special Operations Response Team and Disturbance Control Team. As of 2021,
646-616: The Federal Bureau of Prisons. Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons ( BOP ) is responsible for all federal prisons and provides for the care, custody, and control of federal prisoners. The federal prison system had existed for more than 30 years before the BOP was established. Although its wardens functioned almost autonomously, the Superintendent of Prisons, a Department of Justice official in Washington,
684-725: The General Agent was abolished, and its functions were distributed between three new offices: the Division of Accounts (which evolved into the Justice Management Division ); the Office of the Chief Examiner (which evolved in 1908 into the Bureau of Investigation, and in the early 1920s into the Federal Bureau of Investigation ); and the Office of the Superintendent of Prisons and Prisoners, later called
722-532: The Superintendent of Prisons (which evolved in 1930 into the Bureau of Prisons). The Bureau of Prisons was established within the Department of Justice on May 14, 1930 by the United States Congress , and was charged with the "management and regulation of all Federal penal and correctional institutions." This responsibility covered the administration of the 11 federal prisons in operation at
760-684: The Trump administration, the BOP carried out 13 executions. Parole was abolished for federal inmates in 1987 and inmates must serve at least 85% of their original sentence before being considered for good-behavior release. The current sentencing guidelines were adopted in response to rising crime rates in the 1980s and early 1990s, especially for drug-related offenses. Some analysts and activists believe that strict federal sentencing guidelines have led to overcrowding and needlessly incarcerated thousands of non-violent drug offenders who would be better served by drug treatment programs. The yearly increases in
798-547: The construction of the federal prison system. The other two were Atlanta and McNeil Island (although McNeil dates to the 1870s the major expansion did not occur until the early 1900s). The prison follows a format popularized at the Auburn Correctional Facility in New York where the cell blocks were in a large rectangular building. The rectangular building was focused on indoor group labor with
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#1732773102861836-616: The containment of extremely dangerous, violent, or escape-prone inmates. Administrative facilities include metropolitan correctional centers (MCCs), metropolitan detention centers (MDCs), federal detention centers (FDCs), federal medical centers (FMCs), the Federal Transfer Center (FTC), and the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners (MCFP), all of which are capable of holding inmates in all security categories. This list enumerates facilities that were formerly owned by
874-563: The federal death penalty. On July 19, 1993, the federal government designated the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute in Indiana as the site of execution for both males and females sentenced to execution. The Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Texas holds the female inmates who have been sentenced to death. Some male death row inmates are instead held at ADX Florence . As of January 16, 2020, 49 federal inmates are on death row. Under
912-401: The federal inmate population doubled in the 1980s and again in the 1990s. The population increase decelerated in the early 2000s, but the population continued to increase until 2014. The National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997 transferred responsibility for adult felons convicted of violating District of Columbia laws to the BOP. The current director of
950-479: The federal inmate population have raised concerns from criminal justice experts and even among DOJ officials themselves. Michael Horowitz, the DOJ Inspector General, wrote a memorandum concerning this issue: First, despite a slight decrease in the total number of federal inmates in fiscal year (FY) 2014, the Department projects that the costs of the federal prison system will continue to increase in
988-751: The grounds that private prisons provide less safe and less effective services with no substantial cost savings. However, under the Trump administration in 2017, the Justice Department rescinded this phaseout, stating that it would re-implement its usage of private correctional facilities. Most of these institutions are operated by the GEO Group, Inc. , exceptions being Giles W. Dalby Correctional Institution , operated by Management and Training Corporation , and McRae Correctional Institution , operated by CoreCivic . Federal prison camps (FPCs) are minimum-security facilities, which have dormitory housing,
1026-540: The highest staff-to-inmate ratio, and close control of inmate movement. The most restrictive facility in the federal prison system is USP Florence ADMAX , the federal supermax prison, which holds inmates who are considered the most dangerous and in need of the tightest controls. USP Leavenworth, USP Lewisburg, USP Lompoc, and USP Marion were originally operated as high-security facilities but have since been downgraded to medium-security facilities (former USP Lompoc has again been downgraded, to low-security). USP Atlanta, also
1064-439: The new USDB, opened in 2010. The USDB and JRCF operate independently from FCI Leavenworth. The prison was described by Pete Earley , the only writer at that time who had ever been granted unlimited access to the prison, in his book, The Hot House . The prison's history has also been covered in a pictorial history titled U.S. Penitentiary Leavenworth by Kenneth M. LaMaster, the retired Institution Historian and J.H. Johnston III,
1102-410: The north was nicknamed the "Little Top" until it was torn down in 2004 and replaced with a newer structure. Frank Grigware, imprisoned for train robbery, escaped from Leavenworth in 1910 with five other men by smashing through the prison gates with a hijacked supply locomotive. While the others were quickly recaptured, Grigware escaped to Canada. In 1916 he became the mayor of Spirit River, Alberta . He
1140-515: The pandemic that reportedly did not adhere to physical distancing rules, leading to criticism that the BOP was facilitating "superspreader" events. Staff reportedly refused to wear face masks, a violation of court orders, and knowingly withheld information about confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses from people who had interacted with infected individuals along with hindering contact tracing efforts and allowing staff members who had been exposed to COVID-19 to refuse testing and work. Public health experts called for
1178-598: The system as inmates while pregnant. The Bureau pays for abortion only if it is life-threatening for the woman, but it may allow for abortions in non-life-threatening cases if non-BOP funds are used. In 2017, four Democratic Senators, including Kamala Harris , introduced a bill explicitly requiring tampons and pads to be free for female prisoners. In August 2017, the Bureau introduced a memorandum requiring free tampons and pads. The previous 1996 memorandum stated "products for female hygiene needs shall be available" without requiring them to be free of charge. A 2018 review by
List of United States federal prisons - Misplaced Pages Continue
1216-704: The time of the offense. According to the Bureau, most of the juveniles it receives had committed violent crimes and had "an unfavorable history of responding to interventions and preventive measures in the community." In 2010, most federal juvenile inmates were from Arizona , Montana , South Dakota , Nebraska and the District of Columbia . The Bureau contracts with facilities that house juvenile offenders . Title 18 , U.S.C. 5039 specifies that "No juvenile committed...may be placed or retained in an adult jail or correctional institution in which he has regular contact with adults incarcerated because they have been convicted of
1254-710: The time. By the end of 1930, the system had expanded to 14 institutions with 13,000 inmates, and a decade later in 1940, the system had 24 institutions with 24,360 incarcerated. The state of Alaska assumed jurisdiction over its corrections on January 3, 1959, using the Alaska Department of Corrections ; prior to statehood, the BOP had correctional jurisdiction over Alaska. As a result of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 and subsequent legislation, which pushed for longer sentences, less judicial discretion, and harsher sentences for drug-related offenses,
1292-444: The total Bureau population. As of August 2020, 46.2% of inmates were incarcerated for drug offenses. The BOP receives all prisoner transfer treaty inmates sent from foreign countries, even if their crimes would have been tried in state, DC, or territorial courts if committed in the United States. As of 2015, 27 Bureau facilities house women. The Bureau has a Mothers and Infants Nurturing Together (MINT) program for women who enter
1330-430: The well-known gangsters Frank Nash , George "Machine Gun" Kelly , and Thomas James Holden . On September 5, 1930, serial killer Carl Panzram , under a federal death sentence for murder, was hanged at USP Leavenworth. On August 12, 1938, two men under the sentence of death for murder, Robert Suhay and Glenn Applegate, were hanged at USP Leavenworth. The penitentiary maintains a cemetery for deceased prisoners outside
1368-542: The years ahead, consuming a large share of the Department's budget. Second, federal prisons remain significantly overcrowded and therefore face a number of important safety and security issues. By July 30, 2020, there were 2,910 federal inmates and 500 BOP staff who had confirmed positive test results for COVID-19 during the nationwide COVID-19 pandemic . 7312 inmates and 683 staff have recovered. There have been 99 federal inmate deaths and two BOP staff member deaths attributed to COVID-19. The BOP conducted executions during
1406-665: Was discovered by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the FBI in 1933, but serious doubts about his original conviction led the U.S. to drop its extradition request in 1934. Grigware never returned to the U.S. and died in Alberta in 1977. Basil Banghart escaped from Leavenworth three times. He escaped federal custody a fourth time while awaiting return to Leavenworth. On December 11, 1931, seven inmates took Warden Thomas B. White hostage and escaped, aided by
1444-587: Was nominally in charge of federal prisons. The passage of the "Three Prisons Act" in 1891 authorized the first three federal penitentiaries: USP Leavenworth , USP Atlanta , and USP McNeil Island with limited supervision by the Department of Justice. Until 1907, prison matters were handled by the Justice Department General Agent , with responsibility for Justice Department accounts, oversight of internal operations, certain criminal investigations as well as prison operations. In 1907,
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