FPC Pensacola at a glance
FPC Pensacola is closed. The Bureau of Prisons ran the minimum-security camp for men on Navy land at Saufley Field from 1988 until 2025, and on July 13, 2026 it signed an environmental finding for vacating the camp for good and handing it back to the Navy. It had left the Bureau’s institution roster by September 5, 2026 and was still off it when we checked on September 18, 2026. There is no address, deposit route or telephone number here, because the camp holds no one.
Each row comes from a dated Bureau record listed beneath the table.
| Official name | Federal Prison Camp, Pensacola (FPC Pensacola) |
|---|---|
| BOP facility code | PEN |
| Status | Closed in 2025, on the Bureau’s Finding of No Significant Impact (signed July 13, 2026); absent from the Bureau’s institution roster on September 5 and September 18, 2026 |
| Location | Saufley Field, part of Naval Air Station Pensacola, Escambia County, Florida |
| Security level | Minimum. The Bureau’s facility page, captured June 11, 2026, read “Minimum security federal prison camp.” |
| Held | Men. The Bureau’s facility page read “Male offenders”; its 2026 finding calls the camp one “for men.” |
| Bureau region | Southeast Region |
| Judicial district | Northern District of Florida |
| Population, last published | 0 (Bureau facility page, captured June 11, 2026). The Bureau’s 2026 finding gives a recent average of 515. |
| Bureau relationship | Bureau-operated camp on land and buildings leased from the U.S. Navy, 1988 to 2025 |
| Now | Vacant. The Bureau’s July 13, 2026 finding covers vacating the camp permanently and returning the property and buildings to Navy control, with no demolition planned. |
| Finding someone | Use the Bureau’s Inmate Locator |
On this page
What happened to FPC Pensacola?
The Navy owned the buildings, and rather than upgrade them the Bureau moved the men out. Its July 2026 finding calls the facility “functionally obsolete, inefficient, costly for staff to maintain, and in need of extensive repairs and renovations in order to continue to operate” (Finding at 2).
- 1988. Operations began “when the BOP negotiated a partnership with the U.S. Navy to lease land and several excess buildings at Saufley Field,” with the Navy responsible for major repairs and replacements (Finding at 1).
- September 2020. After Hurricane Sally the Bureau reported “no reported injuries to inmates or staff at FPC Pensacola from Hurricane Sally.” The camp ran on emergency generators until full utility power returned on the afternoon of September 19, with no standing water on the grounds and no structural damage noted (Bureau update, September 22, 2020).
- December 5, 2024. The Associated Press reported that the Bureau had told employees and Congress it would deactivate several camps, Pensacola among them, and that it described the Navy-owned buildings as in “significant disrepair” and due for demolition once about 500 prisoners and 100 staff were relocated.
- 2025. The camp closed. The Bureau’s finding says it “began operations in 1988 and operated successfully with broad support until its closure in 2025” (at 3) and that the Bureau “has already transferred inmates and most staff to other facilities within the Federal prison system” (at 2).
- June 11, 2026. The Bureau’s facility page, still online, showed a population of 0.
- July 13, 2026. After public comment in April, the Bureau’s Director signed its Finding of No Significant Impact for closing and vacating the camp permanently.
- September 5 and 18, 2026. Off the Bureau’s roster; the old facility page on bop.gov redirects to its locations page.
The plan for the buildings changed. The 2024 report had them demolished; the signed 2026 finding returns them to the Navy “with no upgrades, alterations, new construction or building demolitions planned,” and says closure “would eliminate the possibility of the BOP resuming operation” (Finding at 4–5). The later, signed record controls: this page does not say the camp will be torn down. The finding also notes that the Bureau had “already ceased all operations at the facility,” and that the alternative it rejected would have left the buildings “vacant, in caretaker status” under Bureau control (at 2).
Two other camps the report named, Duluth in Minnesota and Morgantown in West Virginia, were still on the roster in September 2026: the Bureau rescinded the Duluth order in July 2025, and on July 1, 2026, in a closures release that did not mention Pensacola, said both would become Federal Satellite Lows.
Where are the men who were held at FPC Pensacola?
Spread across the federal system. The Bureau’s finding says only that it moved them to other federal facilities, and we have seen no record naming a receiving prison, so this page does not guess. Some may since have been released or moved again.
Look a person up on the Bureau’s Inmate Locator by register number if you have it, or by full first and last name, since a last name alone will not run. Before trusting an empty result, try spelling variants and each part of a compound surname. For someone already released, the entry shows a release status and date where a facility name would be.
A record reading “Orlando” or “Miami” may be a reentry office, RRM Orlando or RRM Miami, supervising a halfway-house or home-confinement placement rather than a prison; the facility type beside the name tells you which. Our inmate locator and transfer guides say more.
What was FPC Pensacola?
A work camp for the Navy. A 2022 PREA audit report records that it “came into existence as part of a mutual agreement between the Department of the Navy and the Bureau of Prisons,” the Navy supplying housing and the Bureau “a free work force in the way of inmate labor” (audit report at 8). The men’s work assignments were mostly grounds maintenance and common labor at Saufley Field, Whiting Field, Corry Station, Blue Angel Park and Naval Air Station Pensacola, and the auditor noted that the Bureau and the military had taken care that the men did not replace civilian jobs. The camp’s January 2023 orientation handbook put the priority plainly: “Our mission is to supply a grounds keeping force to the NAVY” (at 45). The same handbook’s list of off-base details also included a UNICOR factory (at 45).
It was never built as a prison. The finding describes 21 structures, about 142,000 square feet in all, on “land and excess buildings designed and constructed for military purposes at Saufley Field,” with a staff complement of 122, and says there are “no plans to replace FPC Pensacola or the lost bedspace with a new facility in the BOP’s Southeastern Region” (Finding at 1–2).
The old page’s famous former residents and “easy prison” rankings are gone; the names had no court or Bureau record or dated Locator check.
Federal prisons still operating in Florida
The Bureau’s roster lists eight Florida institutions, which held 10,605 people in its population report of September 10, 2026. Our Florida federal prisons hub names each with its security level and records, and all eight sit in the Bureau’s Southeast Region, as Pensacola did.
We steer no one toward a prison; the Bureau designates on its own criteria. Our explainer on major federal prison closures and deactivations puts Pensacola beside the Bureau’s other recent closings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is FPC Pensacola still open?
No. The Bureau’s July 2026 environmental finding says the camp operated from 1988 until its closure in 2025, and that the men were transferred to other federal facilities. FPC Pensacola was absent from the Bureau’s institution roster when we checked on September 18, 2026.
Why did the Bureau of Prisons close the Pensacola camp?
The Bureau says the camp, built from surplus Navy buildings it did not own, was functionally obsolete, costly to run and in need of extensive repairs it chose not to make. The Associated Press reported in 2024 that the Bureau also cited staffing shortages and limited budgets.
Will the FPC Pensacola buildings be demolished?
Not under the plan the Bureau approved in July 2026, which returns the property to Navy control with no building demolitions planned, although the Associated Press had reported demolition in December 2024. No record we found says what the Navy will do with it.
Did Duluth and Morgantown close along with Pensacola?
No. The Associated Press report of December 2024 named the minimum-security camps at Duluth, Minnesota and Morgantown, West Virginia alongside Pensacola. Both were still on the Bureau’s roster in September 2026: the Bureau rescinded the Duluth deactivation in July 2025, and on July 1, 2026 it said both camps would become Federal Satellite Lows.
How can I find a man who was held at FPC Pensacola?
Use the Bureau’s Inmate Locator, with a register number or a full first and last name. The Bureau moved the men to other federal facilities without publishing where. A result naming a Florida city such as Orlando may be a reentry office rather than a prison.
Can I still send mail or money to FPC Pensacola?
No. The camp holds nobody, and the address the Bureau once published for it should not be used. Find the person first, then follow the mail and deposit procedures of whichever institution now holds them, which differ from one place to the next.
What work did the men at FPC Pensacola do?
Mostly grounds maintenance and labor for the Navy, at Saufley Field, Whiting Field, Corry Station and Naval Air Station Pensacola. The camp began in 1988 under an arrangement trading housing for inmate labor, and its 2023 handbook called the base work details its main priority.
Where we can help
A man moved from Pensacola raises any problem where he is held now; we work on problems inside a federal prison, the BP-9 remedy process and compassionate release.
Talk Through a Custody Problem. You leave knowing whether this is grievable, and how long there is to act. Conditions inside are sometimes evidence, and the administrative clock runs whether or not anyone files.
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.
Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. is a federal criminal defense and post-conviction firm based in Columbia, South Carolina, practicing nationwide. Mentions of Florida places on this page do not imply an office or a lawyer there.
Sources and currency
Bureau of Prisons records
- Finding of No Significant Impact: Permanently Deactivate, Close, and Vacate the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, Escambia County, Florida, Federal Bureau of Prisons, signed July 13, 2026, at the address in its notice of July 24, 2026. The 1988 lease, the Navy’s repair duty and the 21 structures at 1; population, staff, obsolescence, transfers, operations ceased and no replacement at 2; the 2025 closure and the April 2026 comment period at 3; Table 1 at 4–8. Read September 18, 2026.
- Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Audit Report: FPC Pensacola, final report March 7, 2022 (on-site visit February 15–17, 2022), prepared by an independent auditor and published on bop.gov. The Navy agreement, work sites and civilian-jobs note at 8.
- Admission & Orientation Handbook, Federal Prison Camp Pensacola, updated January 2023. Work details and the UNICOR factory at 45.
- Hurricane Sally Update, BOP News, updated September 22, 2020.
- BOP News, July 15, 2025, on the Director’s FPC Duluth visit: deactivation rescinded.
- Federal Bureau of Prisons Announces Facility Closures and Operational Changes, July 1, 2026.
- FPC Pensacola, Bureau of Prisons facility page, captured June 11, 2026 from bop.gov: population 0. Now redirects (checked September 18, 2026).
- Our Locations, Federal Bureau of Prisons. Roster queried September 18, 2026, without FPC Pensacola; Florida population as of September 10, 2026.
- Find an inmate, Federal Bureau of Prisons.
News report
- The US government is closing a women’s prison and other facilities after years of abuse and decay, Associated Press, December 5, 2024: a news account of an unpublished Bureau document.
Sources reviewed September 2026. If the Bureau or the Navy publishes a decision on the Saufley Field buildings, this page will be updated to say so.
Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026