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Federal Prisons in Indiana

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By Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., and Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA

Federal prisons in Indiana at a glance

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates 2 institutions in Indiana, one of them with a satellite camp, holding 2,538 people as of September 2026. Both stand on one federal reservation south of Terre Haute, in the Bureau’s North Central Region, which is run from Kansas City, Kansas.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
USP Terre HauteU.S. Penitentiary · HighMen1,151—Terre HauteSouthern District of Indiana
FCI Terre HauteFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen1,102Camp: 285Terre HauteSouthern District of Indiana
Total2 institutions2,253285
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

How many federal prisons are in Indiana?

Two institutions on the Bureau of Prisons roster, which is what this page counts. One is high security, USP Terre Haute; one is medium, FCI Terre Haute, which also runs the reservation’s minimum-security satellite camp under its own code. The Bureau lists the three together as the Federal Correctional Complex at Terre Haute, code THX, and designates nobody to the complex code. There is no low-security institution, no detention center and no medical center, and all three facilities are recorded as holding men, so no federal prison for women — our guide to women’s federal prisons covers where the Bureau holds them. Our guide to security levels explains high and medium; the Bureau of Prisons directory has the rest.

What is each federal prison in Indiana like?

Both Terre Haute institutions, in the order the table lists them.

USP Terre Haute

Indiana’s only United States Penitentiary, high security for men, without a camp of its own. Its Special Confinement Unit holds men under federal sentences of death, and federal executions are carried out at the complex. After a 2015 site visit the Inspector General described the unit as housing them “in single-cell confinement for an average of 23 hours a day” (OIG Report 17-05, July 2017, at 16–17). See USP Terre Haute.

FCI Terre Haute

Medium security for men, with the reservation’s minimum-security satellite camp counted under its code. It is the older institution: the main building dates from 1940 and was the Terre Haute penitentiary until the present one opened, so an older opinion naming “USP Terre Haute” may mean this address. It held the Bureau’s first Communications Management Unit until 2025. See FCI Terre Haute.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees Indiana?

Both Terre Haute institutions sit in the Bureau’s North Central Region, whose regional office is at Kansas City, Kansas. It decides a BP-10 appeal after the Warden has answered, and lateness needs paperwork rather than an explanation: Program Statement 1330.18 provides at p. 7 that “Ordinarily, the inmate must submit written verification from institution staff for any reason for delay that cannot be verified through SENTRY.” The first rung is filing a BP-9.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from Indiana?

No reentry office prints the district both prisons stand in. Indiana is divided into two federal judicial districts, the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana, under 28 U.S.C. § 94. The Bureau’s page for RRM Chicago prints Northern Indiana; of the twenty-two reentry pages read on September 17, 2026, none printed Southern Indiana, where Terre Haute lies. That is a gap in the pages, not the work, so none is named here.

What governs is the release district. Program Statement 7310.04 notes at p. 13 that “location or remoteness from release residence” can be a suitable reason to decline a placement, so ask the unit team which office holds the contract for that district. Timing sits on our federal halfway houses page and the placement rules.

How do I find, write to, visit or send money to someone in an Indiana federal prison?

The inmate locator is national, and its display name separates the two prisons: Terre Haute USP is the penitentiary, Terre Haute FCI the medium. The camp reports under the FCI, so the locator will not say whether a man is at the camp.

Mail is the opposite problem: all three share one post office box, so the institution line and the register number route a letter. See writing to someone inside.

Visiting runs on the complex’s supplement and is not uniform: the Special Confinement Unit keeps separate rules from the rest of the penitentiary, and the camp keeps different days. See visitation.

Money arrives through the national lockbox, Western Union Quick Collect or MoneyGram, never the institution. Program Statement 4500.13 records at p. 79 that “Funds received may be viewed by the inmate on TRULINCS immediately after the posting.” See sending money.

Which federal prisons in Indiana are closing or have changed?

Neither institution is closing, and no Indiana facility was named in the closure announcement of July 1, 2026. Two things moved. The penitentiary’s bop.gov page gave it an adjacent minimum security satellite camp in August 2026 and dropped that clause by September, while roster and population report put the camp under the FCI throughout. A unit has also gone: an order in Duka v. Rule, No. 2:25-cv-00224 (S.D. Ind. Sept. 9, 2025), records that the Bureau “closed the CMU at FCI – Terre Haute (and another at FCI – Marion in Illinois), and a new, single CMU was established at FCI – Cumberland in Maryland.” The Bureau announced no closure, and the visiting supplement still on bop.gov describes the unit, so read it against PS 5214.05.

How many federal prisons does the Bureau of Prisons run in Indiana?

Two on the roster snapshot behind this page, USP Terre Haute and FCI Terre Haute, plus the minimum-security satellite camp the FCI administers and the population report lists beneath it. All three sit on one federal reservation in Vigo County, grouped as FCC Terre Haute.

What is the largest federal prison in Indiana by population?

USP Terre Haute, at 1,151 people as of September 2026, is the largest Indiana institution counted on its own, and it has no camp, so that figure covers everyone inside it. Counting a camp with its institution changes the answer: FCI Terre Haute and its satellite camp hold more between them. The Bureau reports the two as separate rows.

Does Indiana have a high-security penitentiary or a federal prison camp?

Both, on one site. USP Terre Haute is the state’s only penitentiary and its only high-security institution. The minimum-security camp on the same reservation belongs to FCI Terre Haute and holds 285 men, reported as its own row rather than a prison.

Is federal death row in Indiana?

Yes. Men under a federal sentence of death are held in the Special Confinement Unit at USP Terre Haute, and federal executions are carried out at that complex. In December 2024 the President commuted 37 of the 40 federal death sentences then imposed, and the Bureau’s execution page said in September 2026 that none was scheduled.

How do I look up someone held in an Indiana federal prison?

Use the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator, searching by register number or the committed name on the judgment. It shows Terre Haute USP for the penitentiary and Terre Haute FCI for the medium, but the camp reports under the FCI, so ask the unit team which compound holds him.

Which regional office covers the federal prisons in Indiana?

The North Central Region, whose office is at Kansas City, Kansas. Both Terre Haute institutions belong to it, so a regional appeal from either goes there. That office is the second rung of the remedy process, deciding a BP-10 after the Warden has answered.

Which reentry office handles halfway-house placement for someone releasing to Indiana?

It depends on the district, and the Bureau’s pages do not answer it fully. RRM Chicago prints Northern Indiana; no reentry page read on September 17, 2026 printed Southern Indiana, so for a release there none can be named from the published pages. What governs is the release district, not the prison.

Can someone ask to be designated to a federal prison in Indiana?

A request can be made and the sentencing court can recommend one, but the Bureau decides, and 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) provides that “a designation of a place of imprisonment under this subsection is not reviewable by any court.” Indiana offers a penitentiary, a medium and a camp, so the security score narrows it fast.

How can a federal defense firm help a family with someone in an Indiana federal prison?

Three problems recur on this reservation, each on the institutions’ own records. Restrictive housing: the penitentiary runs a Special Housing Unit as well as the Special Confinement Unit, and a placement outlasting its justification is argued through the administrative remedy program on a short clock. Classification: a sentence-length Public Safety Factor, not conduct, puts many men in a penitentiary, and a waiver is argued on the record — see federal prison transfers and the problems we work on inside. Programs: the Residential Drug Abuse Program runs at the FCI, not the penitentiary, so a program placement means a transfer, and whether time credits are applied is early release work.

Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. is a federal criminal defense and post-conviction firm based in Columbia, South Carolina, practicing nationwide. Mentions of Indiana places on this page do not imply an office or a lawyer there.

Call 843-620-1100 or contact us to arrange a paid one-hour consultation about a specific situation. Calls are answered 24 hours a day.

Sources and currency

Bureau of Prisons documents

Audits and inspections

Court records and statutes

News and other sources

Sources reviewed September 2026.

Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026

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