FCI La Tuna: Closure, Visiting, Mail and Inmate Guide

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

FCI La Tuna at a glance

FCI La Tuna is a low-security federal prison for men, with a minimum-security satellite camp beside it, at 8500 Doniphan Road in Anthony, Texas, about a mile south of the New Mexico line and 15 to 16 miles north of El Paso. It held 558 men as of September 2026, 437 in the FCI and 121 in the camp.

Official name	Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna
BOP code	LAT
Security level	Low; men; with an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp
Status	Closing (announced July 1, 2026); no closure date published
Population	558 (as of September 2026) · 437 in the FCI, 121 in the camp
Visiting	Saturday, Sunday and federal holidays, 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.; the FCI also has weekday visiting · see visiting hours
Inmate mail	FCI: Inmate Name & Register Number · FCI La Tuna · Federal Correctional Institution · P.O. Box 3000 · Anthony, NM 88021 Camp: Inmate Name & Register Number · FCI La Tuna · Federal Correctional Institution · Satellite Camp · La Tuna SCP · P.O. Box 8000 · Anthony, NM 88021
Send money	Lockbox · Western Union (code city FBOP, DC) · MoneyGram (receive code 7932)
Phone	915-791-9000 · Fax 915-791-9858
Street address	8500 Doniphan Road, Anthony, TX 79821 · El Paso County
Judicial district	Western District of Texas, El Paso Division
BOP region	South Central
Housing	FCI: six numbered units, Unit 5 for RDAP, plus C and D Block · camp: two units
Special Housing Unit	Yes
Medical care level	2
Mental health care level	2
RDAP	Yes · at the FCI
UNICOR	Yes · vehicle factory
Camp	Yes · minimum-security satellite camp

It sits in the Bureau of Prisons’ South Central Region, among the federal prisons in Texas. On July 1, 2026 the Bureau announced that it will close La Tuna, without giving a date. La Tuna also carries a mission its own handbook calls distinct: it is where prisoners gather for the treaty transfers between the United States and Mexico, “normally held four times per year.”

Is FCI La Tuna closing?

Yes, according to the Bureau of Prisons, but on no date it has announced. A Bureau press release of July 1, 2026 lists “La Tuna FCI, FSL (Federal Satellite Low), and Satellite Camp” among six institutions the Bureau “will close,” citing “decades of deferred maintenance and extreme staffing challenges” and a maintenance backlog “exceeding $4 billion.” Staff at three other listed institutions are to move to Bureau units “onsite or nearby”; for La Tuna, as for Big Spring, the release announces a “reduction-in-force.” It also says “[m]inimal staff will be affected at La Tuna FSL and Taft FCI, as both facilities are currently non-operational,” which describes La Tuna’s satellite unit at Fort Bliss, not the FCI and camp in Anthony.

The Bureau’s systems still treat La Tuna as a working prison: its location record lists FCI La Tuna with a satellite camp, and its La Tuna page carries no closure notice. The count is falling, though: the Bureau’s La Tuna page showed 700 men in June 2026, 548 in the FCI and 152 in the camp, against 558 as of September 2026. The Bureau has not said publicly where the rest will go, and Rep. Veronica Escobar, as KTSM reported on August 12, 2026, said she had yet to get an answer.

No official timetable is public; the nearest is second-hand. After an oversight visit, Escobar’s office wrote on August 13, 2026 that La Tuna “has been slated to be shut down next year,” adding: “We were told it would require $80 million of investment to fix HVAC, the roof and the plumbing.” At a news conference the next day, as KFOX14 reported, she said, “I didn’t see any evidence of the need to shut it down immediately,” said the Bureau had not indicated any reversal or delay, and put the workforce at more than 250, with some vacancies. In July the union had told KFOX14 that La Tuna had about 160 to 170 employees, and Julian Patrick, president of AFGE Local 2516, said 90 to 95 percent could be displaced.

One national report stretched the release too far: Federal News Network wrote on July 2, 2026 that La Tuna and Taft were “not currently in operation,” but the release says that only of the La Tuna FSL and FCI Taft. La Tuna is one of three Texas prisons on the list, with FCI Beaumont Low and FCI Big Spring; the Bureau’s location record still lists all three among 13 Texas institutions, eight of them with a camp.

If La Tuna closes: transfers, visitors, property and mail

• Where he goes. The statute directs the Bureau, subject to bed space, security and his other needs, to place a prisoner “as close as practicable to the prisoner’s primary residence” and, “to the extent practicable,” within 500 driving miles of it, and makes the designation “not reviewable by any court” (18 U.S.C. § 3621(b)). Give the unit team, in writing and now, the family’s home address and any medical, program or family reason to keep him within reach; our guides to designation and transfers explain the process.
• Who can visit him there. Staff at the receiving prison “do not need to reapprove the visitors already contained on the inmate’s visiting list,” but they review it against the new institution’s security level and local rules, and rerun background checks more than two years old (PS 5267.09, Change Notice 1, at 17).
• What he can take. La Tuna’s handbook says canned soda, fruit, magazines, newspapers, books beyond five, thermoses, thermal underwear, beard trimmers and unapproved commissary items are mailed home at his expense, and issued clothing stays behind. A radio, MP3 player or watch bought in a Bureau commissary can ordinarily be used elsewhere; if the new prison bars it, the receiving institution pays to mail it out.
• Mail, money and credits. General correspondence is forwarded for 30 days and then returned; legal mail is forwarded by any practical means. Deposits are keyed to his name and register number, so they need no new address. A new unit team will track his First Step Act time credits, so keep copies of every program completion.

Where is FCI La Tuna, and what happened to its FSL?

In Texas, with a New Mexico mailing address, and without the third unit many listings still show. The FCI and camp stand in Anthony, Texas, in El Paso County; the post office that serves them is across the state line in Anthony, New Mexico; and the Federal Satellite Low that La Tuna once ran at Fort Bliss is, in the Bureau’s words, “currently non-operational.”

The federal court for La Tuna is in El Paso

A federal habeas petition from La Tuna belongs in the Western District of Texas, whose El Paso Division “comprises the county of El Paso” (28 U.S.C. § 124(d)(3)). The New Mexico mailing address misleads people often enough that a federal judge in New Mexico called it “a common mistake”: La Tuna “has facilities that abut the Texas/New Mexico border, and possibly even cross into New Mexico, but the physical/legal address remains in Texas,” and the petition went to El Paso (Alexis v. Hijar, No. 21-cv-158 (D.N.M. Feb. 25, 2021)). In 2019 the same court had dismissed a La Tuna prisoner’s RDAP petition for lack of jurisdiction (Archuleta v. United States, No. 2:19-cv-00711 (D.N.M. Aug. 14, 2019)). Our pages on § 2241 petitions and on § 2255 versus § 2241 explain which remedy fits.

Which address and phone number to use

Use 8500 Doniphan Road, Anthony, TX 79821, and 915-791-9000, fax 915-791-9858: the figures on the Bureau’s La Tuna page and in its location feed, matching La Tuna’s handbook and visiting supplement. The Bureau’s address feed also carries a second “physical address,” on “SSG Sims Road” in El Paso, ZIP 79906, telephone 915-564-2100. That row belongs to the satellite unit at Fort Bliss, which the 2025 handbook lists under the same number, and the script that builds the Bureau’s page skips it. It is not where the prison is, and it is not a number for anyone held in Anthony.

What happened to the Federal Satellite Low

La Tuna’s third unit, a Federal Satellite Low, sat about 30 miles from the main prison on Biggs Army Airfield at Fort Bliss, where its visitors needed a driver’s license, car registration and proof of insurance to enter the base (handbook, 2025; visiting supplement, 2018). A warden’s declaration described in a 2010 appeal said prisoners with gang ties were kept out of it as a threat to Fort Bliss security (Morales v. United States, 371 F. App’x 528 (5th Cir. 2010)).

No Bureau news release dates the FSL’s emptying. The Inspector General counted 411 people at “LA TUNA-FSL (EL PASO)” as of November 29, 2007; the Bureau’s population report dated September 10, 2026 has no La Tuna FSL line, although it lists the satellite lows at Elkton and Jesup separately; and the July 2026 release calls the unit “currently non-operational.”

The record has only partly caught up. The Bureau’s La Tuna page still described an FSL in June 2026, while its roster no longer flags one. But La Tuna’s February 2025 handbook still gives the FSL its own units, mailbox and visiting hours; the Bureau’s national facilities page still says La Tuna “has a low security facility affiliated with, but not adjacent to, the main institution”; and the live La Tuna page still shows an inmate-mail block for a “Federal Satellite Low” at P.O. Box 3000, a box the handbook assigns to the FCI; it gives the FSL Box 6000. Address mail to the FCI or camp blocks below.

The name it opened under, and the other La Tuna

La Tuna formally opened on May 1, 1932, according to the Handbook of Texas, which notes its Spanish-mission architecture, and a camp was added in 1978. Its early name was the U.S. Detention Farm: the Bureau’s history of Officer Royal C. Cline, who began his career there in November 1931 and was the first officer killed at Alcatraz, uses it, and a 1933 State Department record quotes “the Warden of the United States Detention Farm, La Tuna, Texas.”

Searches for “La Tuna” also turn up La Tuna in Sinaloa, the Mexican hamlet Reuters has described as the birthplace of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. The Bureau’s records place Guzmán, register number 89914-053, at USP Florence ADMAX in Colorado.

What is the security level at FCI La Tuna?

Low, with a minimum-security camp beside it; the Bureau’s page describes “a low security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp.” Which a man is sent to depends on the security points, custody level and Public Safety Factors in the Bureau’s security designation rules, Program Statement 5100.08, explained in our guide to federal security levels. The Bureau’s care-level charts, released under FOIA request 2024-03455, rate La Tuna 2 for both medical and mental health care, the medical level the Inspector General also recorded as of November 29, 2007.

What sets La Tuna apart is the border. Its handbook describes “the distinct mission of coordinating the International Prisoner Transfer Program,” known as the Treaty, with Mexico: prisoners approved to finish their sentences in Mexico, and Americans serving time there, “arrive at FCI La Tuna to participate in the Treaty Transfer,” normally four times a year. The Justice Department’s Inspector General went to La Tuna, on the Bureau’s suggestion, to watch one of the consent verification hearings at which a U.S. magistrate judge confirms that a prisoner understands and agrees to a transfer, as its December 2011 review of the program records. The case manager answers eligibility questions; our page on international prisoner transfer covers the rules.

La Tuna is also a hearing and release site for the Institution Hearing Program, through which the Bureau, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the immigration courts complete removal proceedings for sentenced non-citizens so that removal can follow the sentence (PS 5111.04, Change Notice 1, at 15). The handbook says the Mexican consulate visits monthly “[d]ue to the proximity of FCI La Tuna to the border of Mexico”; a man asks his correctional counselor for a meeting.

The population reflects that mission. On the first day of the June 2023 PREA audit, 200 of the 862 men held had limited English, and the handbook provides an interpreter in orientation for men who speak only Spanish. A deportable man may work in UNICOR while his case is pending, but once written documentation shows a deportation order, he is reassigned and removed from the UNICOR waiting list.

Who are the notable inmates at FCI La Tuna?

The best-known men connected with La Tuna were there years or decades ago, and one name that keeps appearing belongs to a man pardoned before he was due to report. In the Bureau’s records the facility code BUT is FCI Butner Medium I, and CLB is the Long Beach residential reentry office, not a prison. The table gives each man’s La Tuna connection, its source, and his Bureau record.

Person	Connection to La Tuna	Bureau record
Joseph Valachi, the government informer	Died at La Tuna in April 1971 (New York Times, Apr. 4, 1971)	Not listed; the locator covers people held from 1982 on
Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo	Sent to La Tuna in 1982 “to keep him as far away as possible from his local criminal associates” (UPI, Aug. 21, 1982); released from La Tuna in January 1984 (New York Times, Jan. 21, 1984)	09813-050; deceased, January 14, 2017, on a record coded to FCI Butner Medium I
George Jung	In federal prison at La Tuna in 2012 (Enterprise News, June 5, 2014)	19225-004; released July 3, 2017; last record RRM Long Beach
Paul F. Little (“Max Hardcore”)	Served part of a federal sentence at La Tuna (Forbes, July 21, 2011)	44902-112; released July 19, 2011; last record RRM Long Beach
Leroy “Lee” Baca, former Los Angeles County sheriff	Arrived at La Tuna on February 4, 2020, at 77 (Los Angeles Times, Feb. 5, 2020)	73171-112; released January 14, 2022; last record RRM Long Beach
Duncan D. Hunter, former U.S. representative	Designated to La Tuna, to report to the camp on January 4, 2021 (Roll Call, Oct. 16, 2020); pardoned on December 22, 2020 (Justice Department pardon list)	78219-298; record reads IN TRANSIT, release UNKNOWN (the screen shows “NOT IN BOP CUSTODY” and “Release Date: UNKNOWN”)

Two corrections follow. El Paso Matters listed Hunter on July 1, 2026 among the prison’s well-known inmates, but his pardon came 13 days before his report date. And Jung, often listed without dates, is documented there in 2012.

How do I find someone at FCI La Tuna?

Search the locator by the eight-digit register number, or by the first and last name on the judgment. It names the institution, not the housing unit, so it will not say whether a man is in the FCI or the camp. While La Tuna empties, check it before every trip and deposit: a man who has been moved shows his new institution; a record the Bureau marks IN TRANSIT names no facility and shows “NOT IN BOP CUSTODY”. Our guide to register numbers explains the digits.

How do I write to someone at FCI La Tuna?

Write to a post office box in Anthony, New Mexico, with the man’s committed name and register number on the first line, using 3000 for the FCI and 8000 for the camp. These are the Bureau’s own blocks as its La Tuna page showed them on September 16, 2026, less one line explained below.

FCI (low security)	Satellite camp (minimum security)
Inmate Name & Register Number FCI La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution P.O. Box 3000 Anthony, NM 88021	Inmate Name & Register Number FCI La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution Satellite Camp La Tuna SCP P.O. Box 8000 Anthony, NM 88021

On the Bureau’s page the FCI block also carries a line reading “LA TUNA FSL,” a leftover from the non-operational unit; La Tuna’s handbook addresses Box 3000 simply to “Federal Correctional Institution La Tuna,” and so do we. The handbook asks senders to put the man’s housing unit on the envelope too, to speed delivery. Letters are delivered Monday through Friday by the evening officer, and a package needs approval before it is sent.

Because La Tuna is a low-security prison, the Bureau’s correspondence rules let a man seal his own outgoing letters, and softcover books and magazines may come from any source. Two La Tuna rules catch people: personal letters going out must be handwritten (the law library’s typewriters are reserved for legal and special mail), and mail to lawyers, courts and members of Congress must be sealed in front of Special Investigative Services staff, who are available at the lunch meal for that purpose. A lawyer’s incoming letter is opened in the prisoner’s presence, unread, only if it shows the attorney’s name and the words “Special Mail – Open only in the presence of the inmate,” or similar. See our guides to writing to a federal prisoner and to attorney-client communication.

How do I send money to someone at FCI La Tuna?

Not to Anthony. Money for a man at La Tuna goes through the Bureau’s national system, and every route needs his committed name and register number. La Tuna’s 2025 handbook gives these three routes and posting times:

Route	Where it goes	When it posts
U.S. Postal Service money order	Federal Bureau of Prisons Committed Inmate Name Register Number Post Office Box 474701 Des Moines, Iowa 50947-0001	Money orders from anyone but the Postal Service, and checks from anyone but a government, wait 15 days
Western Union Quick Collect	Code city FBOP, DC, with his register number and committed name	Two to four hours for transfers sent from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern time; later ones by 7:00 a.m. the next day
MoneyGram ExpressPayment	Receive code 7932; company name Federal Bureau of Prisons, Washington, DC; up to $300 online	The same windows as Western Union

What the money can buy is capped at $460 a month nationally (PS 4500.13, dated May 7, 2026); the commissary section below sorts out the older limits in La Tuna’s handbook. A man who refuses to join the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program is held to $25 a month, not counting stamps and telephone credit (PS 5380.08). Withdrawals he requests are processed weekly, and any over $500 needs an associate warden’s approval, the handbook says. Fees for each route are set out in our guide to sending money to federal prisoners.

What are the visiting hours at FCI La Tuna?

At both the FCI and the camp, 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays, local Mountain time. The FCI also has weekday visiting, which La Tuna’s own documents describe in two different ways. Visitors are not processed after 2:00 p.m., and on weekends and holidays no one is admitted after 9:30 a.m. until the 10:00 a.m. count clears.

The Bureau’s La Tuna page links visiting supplement LAT 5267.09, dated August 10, 2018, which applies the Bureau’s national visiting regulations and adds only “the first Monday of each month” at the FCI. La Tuna’s handbook, updated February 12, 2025, lists “Monday, Friday, and Saturday, Sunday, and Federal holidays,” and adds in capitals: “THERE IS NO VISITING ON TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY.” Neither says it replaces the other. Before a Monday or Friday trip, call 915-791-9000. The three La Tuna documents compare this way:

Rule	English supplement, Aug. 10, 2018	Spanish supplement, Aug. 10, 2018	Handbook, Feb. 12, 2025
FCI days	Saturday, Sunday, first Monday of each month, federal holidays	The same in the body; the attachment says “el lunes” (Monday)	Monday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, federal holidays
Camp days	Saturday, Sunday, federal holidays	Saturday, Sunday, federal holidays	Saturday, Sunday, federal holidays
Points a month	FCI 5 and camp 6; the attachment says up to 6	6 for every prisoner	7 at the FCI and 7 at the camp
Points per visit	Monday 1; weekend or holiday 2	Monday 1; weekend 2	Weekday 1; weekend or holiday 2
Visitors at one time	5	5 including children in the body; the attachment says children are not counted	5

Weekends and holidays, common to all three, are the safest plan for a first trip.

Who may visit, how often, and how many at once

Only people on the prisoner’s approved list: under the supplement, immediate family, other relatives, and up to ten friends who ordinarily knew him before prison unless the warden makes an exception. Visitors are checked through the national crime database, non-family visitors return form BP-A0629, and the list is ordinarily cleared within four weeks of his arrival; a criminal record means a background investigation and the warden’s approval, not an automatic bar.

An FCI prisoner’s five points under the English supplement cover two weekend visits and a Monday; the handbook’s seven cover three weekend visits and a weekday. A family traveling far can ask for more: the prisoner gives his unit manager a written request with the reasons, the visitors and where they are coming from, and the unit manager can deny it or send it to the associate warden with a recommendation. Requests for more than five visitors also go through the unit manager.

A man in the Special Housing Unit visits by video, with his visitors in the FCI visiting room, for up to two hours; the supplement allows four visitors and the handbook five. The handbook’s video schedule rotates monthly: in odd-numbered months Units 1, 2 and 3 and the camp use Fridays and Saturdays while Units 4, 5 and 6 use Sundays and Mondays, and in even-numbered months they swap. The prisoner must tell his visitors which day is his.

What visitors can wear and bring

Clothing must cover the body from the shoulders to three inches above the knee, and La Tuna’s lists also rule out sleeveless tops, shorts, spandex, see-through fabric, hats, sweatpants of any color, all-gray sweat suits, and anything khaki, orange or camouflage that could pass for prison or staff clothing. The 2018 attachment adds pants with holes, open-toe shoes, and caps or sunglasses inside the secure perimeter.

A visitor may carry up to $20 in coins and small bills, or one credit or debit card, in a clear cosmetic bag no larger than 4 by 6 inches. For a baby, one small clear diaper bag may hold up to four sealed jars of baby food, four plastic bottles, six diapers, moist towelettes, a feeding cloth, a small blanket and a pacifier. Strollers, outside food, phones and watches stay out; front-lobby lockers open with a key issued in exchange for photo ID. On medicine the documents differ: the 2018 supplement lets a visitor keep medication needed to preserve life, such as nitroglycerin or an asthma inhaler, while the 2025 handbook has the visiting room officer hold all medications and hand them over if needed.

Contact is limited to holding hands and a brief kiss and embrace at the start and end; a small child may be held. A first breach draws a logged warning, the next an incident report. Children under 16 must come with an adult family member. Arrive no earlier than 30 minutes before visiting starts, park only in the designated lot, and do not go back to the car, because “[u]nder no circumstances will anyone or pets be allowed to wait in a vehicle.”

Identification and screening

Bring a passport, a state driver’s license or a state identification card with a current photo. La Tuna’s 2025 handbook says a Mexican consular identification card, the matrícula consular, is not accepted for visiting, so a visitor whose only photo ID is a matrícula should bring a passport. Visitors 16 and older sign a notification form, in English or Spanish. Searches are random, in a sequence set by the Special Investigative Services office (“Search two, skip four,” the supplement’s example begins); a breath test needs a senior official’s approval; no one under 18 is pat-searched. The handbook lists a positive ion-scan test among the reasons a visitor can be turned away.

If your family reads the Spanish supplement

The Bureau’s page also links a Spanish edition, “Regulaciones de Visitas,” with the same number and date. One rule differs from the English edition and another contradicts itself: every prisoner gets six visiting points a month (“Cada interno recibirá seis (6) puntos de visita al mes”), and the body allows “cinco (5) visitantes a la vez, incluyendo niños” while the visitor attachment says the five “no incluyen a los niños.” A family relying on the Spanish text should confirm both with the visiting room before the trip.

Getting to FCI La Tuna

The supplement’s directions: take Interstate 10 from El Paso or Las Cruces, leave at the Anthony or Westway–Vinton Road exit, follow Highway 20 to 8500 Doniphan Road, and turn onto the institution’s access road.

Visitors who fly can use El Paso International Airport, which the City of Las Cruces points to for interstate air service, a 45-minute drive from its downtown. El Paso’s Sun Metro lists 915-212-3333 and Las Cruces RoadRunner Transit lists (575) 541-2500; the transit numbers printed in the 2025 handbook are out of date.

Plan on Mountain time. El Paso County lies west of the zone line the federal rules run along the east edge of Hudspeth County (49 C.F.R. § 71.7(e), § 71.8). At the FCI, bus passengers wait at the shelter on the entrance road, and drivers wait in a building above the visitor lot, where an intercom call to the officer gets them a number for the front lobby.

How do phone calls and email work at FCI La Tuna?

Through the Bureau’s TRUFONE and TRULINCS systems, under the Bureau’s telephone regulations, Program Statement 5264.09, issued September 3, 2026, which allows 510 minutes a month: 300 free for prisoners eligible for First Step Act telephone incentives, and 210 more that any man who has used his 300 may buy (PS 5264.09, at 6–7). La Tuna’s February 2025 handbook still describes the old limit of 300 minutes a month plus 100 “[o]rdinarily” allowed in November and December; that holiday supplement no longer exists.

Calls are generally limited to 15 minutes, with at least 30 minutes between them. Each man keeps up to 30 approved numbers, dials with a nine-digit access code after registering his voice, and pays for his calls. Phones are in every housing unit, on the FCI’s south patio and near the camp commissary. They run from 6:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., but on non-holiday weekdays the handbook says use is normally limited from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. and from 12:30 p.m. until after the 4:00 p.m. count, when men are expected at work.

For an unmonitored call with a lawyer, the handbook says a man must show the unit team the need, such as an imminent court deadline, and pay for the call; national policy promises an occasional unmonitored attorney call and asks for that showing only for frequent ones (PS 5264.09, at 8). TRULINCS messages are text only, with no attachments or internet, charged by the minute and capped at 13,000 characters, and a contact must first accept the invitation through CorrLinks. The same terminals carry a mailbox for reporting sexual abuse to the Inspector General. See our guides to federal prison phone calls and to CorrLinks and TRULINCS.

What can people buy at the FCI La Tuna commissary?

Food, hygiene products, clothing, shoes, electronics and stamps, up to a national ceiling of $460 a month set by the Bureau’s trust fund rules, Program Statement 4500.13, issued May 7, 2026, which raised the limit from $360 and adds $50 in November and December for one validation period. La Tuna’s February 2025 handbook is behind on every figure: it allows $100 a week and $320 a month, calls $320 the “National Spending Limit,” and says “Stamps and telephone credits do not count against your spending limit.” Under PS 4500.13 stamps are still excluded but telephone credit is not, because “the only items excluded from the spending limitation” are stamps, nicotine-replacement products, over-the-counter medicines and vitamins, certain kosher and halal entrées, copy cards and paper, footwear, mattresses and a secured media device. No current La Tuna document says whether a weekly cap survives.

A man’s spending month renews on a date the handbook works out from his register number: the fifth digit before the hyphen, times three, plus one, so 12345-180 renews on the 16th. The FCI commissary, on the South Patio, opens Monday through Thursday from 6:15 to 7:15 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with shopping days set by register number and rotated quarterly; the camp store, by the laundry, opens the same four days from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The newest price list the Bureau links is a two-page “FCI / SCP La Tuna Commissary Sheet” dated October 23, 2018, and it reads like a border-town grocery list: barbacoa de res, carnitas, chorizo beans, Tapatío, jalapeño wheels, corn and flour tortillas and tostada chips, beside halal beef sausage and kosher items. Its printed limits run from 24 for soups to five for chips and two six-packs of soda, with stamps capped at $10 and one each of controlled items such as a radio ($40.25) or an MP3 player ($88.40); laundry detergent is sold at the camp only. The prices are eight years old, so read the sheet for what is stocked, not what it costs. Our commissary guide and trust fund policy summary cover the national rules.

What programs are available at FCI La Tuna?

Drug treatment, education, vocational training and a UNICOR vehicle factory, among others. The August 2026 First Step Act Approved Programs Guide names FCI La Tuna in its own program descriptions for two programs, the Residential Drug Abuse Program and Federal Prison Industries. Its by-institution table marks La Tuna for 50 programs in all, but that table is the weaker half of the guide, and many of those programs “[m]ay be offered at all BOP institutions,” which is permission, not proof that a class meets. Ask the unit team in writing which ones run.

RDAP and drug treatment

La Tuna’s RDAP is an FCI program. The guide’s list, “Updated 6/4/2026” and totaling “57 RDAPS at 50 Locations,” includes “FCI La Tuna (TX)” without its Spanish-language mark and does not list the camp. The handbook houses RDAP in Unit 5, where participants must live, and tells men to apply by Request to Staff to the program’s psychologist; the program is half-day, lasts at least nine months, and ordinarily interviews men 42 to 24 months from release. The handbook’s “62 BOP institutions” figure is out of date.

For a man convicted of a nonviolent offense, 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e)(2)(B) lets the Bureau cut up to a year from his time in custody after he completes the program; the handbook says the Designation and Sentence Computation Center in Grand Prairie decides eligibility, and the program’s community transition component must be finished too. Our guides to RDAP and RDAP and early release explain the rules. The Drug Abuse Education course is required when the presentence report shows, among other things, a prolonged drug history or drug use that contributed to the offense; a man who skips it loses eligibility for pay above maintenance level and for UNICOR. A non-residential drug program is also offered.

Education and vocational training

A man without a high school diploma or GED must attend literacy classes, 240 hours under the handbook. English as a Second Language, quarterly adult continuing education, ACT WorkKeys testing and a career resource center round out the academic side. Automotive Technical Training and Microsoft Office Technology are taught by an El Paso Community College instructor; an HVAC course gives priority to earlier release dates; the handbook lists Labor Department-registered apprenticeships; and college courses are possible by correspondence at the student’s expense. Education is open weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., plus FCI hours on Monday-through-Thursday evenings and on Sundays. Books can come by interlibrary loan from the El Paso Public Library, and the electronic law library reaches the Special Housing Unit. See our guides to prison education, vocational training and the prison law library.

Work: a UNICOR vehicle factory

La Tuna’s UNICOR operation is a vehicle factory, and UNICOR’s own map, dated November 2025, lists La Tuna under its Fleet business. At the FCI, prisoners install “up fit packages” on vehicles for the Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Forest Service, the handbook says, and at the camp a warehouse receives materials and ships finished goods. Jobs include vehicle wiring, body and paint, quality assurance, welding and business-office work, on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Pay runs from $0.23 an hour at grade 5 to $1.15 at grade 1 and $1.35 at premium grade, and a man without a diploma or GED cannot rise above grade 4. The handbook’s waiting-list categories cover men 24 months from their projected release date, former UNICOR workers and men owing more than $1,000 in restitution, and an incident report at the job site is grounds for removal.

Faith and reentry

La Tuna’s handbook sets a rule that matters at a border prison: a religious service in a language other than English needs the warden’s authorization, and without it only formulaic prayers may be said in another language. Case managers notarize documents, and a pre-release savings account is available. See our guides to religious programs, halfway houses and home confinement.

What is daily life like at FCI La Tuna?

Regimented, and built around counts. Here is a weekday as the February 12, 2025 handbook lays it out; weekends add a 10:00 a.m. stand-up count and later common-area hours.

Time	What happens
6:00 a.m.	Wake-up and breakfast; FCI pill line until 6:30
Before 6:30 a.m.	Sick-call sign-up on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
7:30–7:40 a.m.	Beds made and areas clean; work call at 7:40
About 11:00 a.m.	Noon meal
4:00 p.m.	Stand-up count, then the evening meal at about 4:30
9:00 p.m.	Stand-up count; common-area lights off afterward
11:00 p.m.	Lights out in the living quarters; telephones off at 11:30
12:00, 3:00 and 5:00 a.m.	Overnight counts

The handbook contradicts itself on two times: breakfast is 6:00 a.m. on one page and 6:30 a.m. on weekdays on another, and its national section puts the evening stand-up count at 10:00 p.m.

The FCI has six numbered housing units, with Unit 5 upstairs reserved for RDAP, plus a “C and D Block” used only for overcrowding or special needs; the camp has two units. On weekends, units with a day room (1, 2, 4, 5 and both camp units) allow quiet games, television and reading until midnight.

The FCI yard, behind the UNICOR building, has handball, racquetball, basketball and volleyball courts, a soccer and softball field and a quarter-mile track, open in three weekday blocks between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. Hobby craft covers leather, ceramics, drawing and painting, and guitars and accordions are available for general use at both the FCI and the camp, the handbook says. No one may walk or sit on the yellow sidewalk by the perimeter fence. See our guide to prison recreation.

Health Services answers emergencies around the clock, with clinical staff on site from 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily and community emergency services otherwise; dental care, pharmacy, X-rays and lab work are on site. A visit a man requests costs $2, waived for men whose accounts have not reached $6 in the prior 30 days. The handbook says eyeglasses take four to six weeks and a CPAP machine needs a sleep study from the past five years. Our medical care guide covers sick call and outside referrals.

What do inspectors say about conditions at FCI La Tuna?

Little that is recent. The DOJ Office of the Inspector General has not conducted an on-site inspection of this facility. Its staff have come to La Tuna on other business at least twice: for the treaty-transfer review published in December 2011, and for a June 2014 audit of the Bureau’s 2011 purchase of 65 pallet-size warehouse X-ray machines. In the La Tuna demonstration for that audit, the image of one pallet load “only showed black space,” meaning the machine could not see through it; La Tuna’s machine had been delivered on April 9, 2012 and was installed 245 days later.

The 2023 PREA audit

Lynni O’Haver, an independent auditor subcontracted by PREA Auditors of America, audited FCI La Tuna under the Prison Rape Elimination Act on site June 6–8, 2023, in a report finalized July 28, 2023. She found two standards exceeded, inmate education (115.33) and inmate reporting (115.51), 43 met and none unmet. In June 2023 the audit recorded a designed capacity of 943, 862 men on the first day on site and 289 employees with inmate contact. In the prior 12 months there had been one allegation of prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse, found unsubstantiated after an administrative investigation, and none against staff. Forensic examinations are done at University Medical Center in El Paso, and the handbook lists the hotline of the Center Against Sexual and Family Violence, (915) 593-7300.

Federal rules require an audit at least once in each three-year cycle, and the current cycle runs from August 20, 2025 to August 19, 2028 (28 C.F.R. § 115.401(a)), so La Tuna’s next audit was not yet overdue when the closure was announced.

Sexual abuse allegations counted by GAO

GAO’s May 2026 report on sexual abuse in federal prisons counts reported allegations at “La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution” in two tables that must not be added together. By year of the incident (Table 7, Truintel data as of August 2025), allegations against other prisoners numbered 1, 2, 1, 5 and 0 for 2020 through 2024, nine in all. By year of the report (Table 8, Case File Manager data as of March 2025), allegations against staff numbered 1, 1, 0, 2 and 4, eight in all. These are allegations, not findings: nationally, most of those GAO reviewed from 2014 through 2022 ended as unsubstantiated, meaning the evidence could not show whether the abuse happened, which is not the same as showing it did not. GAO did not adjust for population, so the counts cannot rank La Tuna against other prisons.

What La Tuna prisoners have taken to court

Recent decisions of the federal court in El Paso show what La Tuna prisoners raise, and how often their cases end before the merits: four of these six turned at least partly on a failure to use the Bureau’s remedy process first.

• Chavez v. Warden, FCI La Tuna Camp, No. EP-24-CV-249-KC (W.D. Tex. Oct. 31, 2024): a camp prisoner sought “Unlimited Home Confinement / Halfway House time” and complained of the water and heat. He admitted he had not exhausted, which the court said alone warranted dismissal, and it rejected his reading of the First Step Act.
• Carrasco v. Warden, FCI La Tuna-Camp, No. 3:24-cv-00250 (W.D. Tex. Mar. 18, 2025): the petitioner said chlorine made the water undrinkable and heat made exercise unsafe. Conditions claims do not belong in habeas, the court held; dismissed without prejudice for failure to exhaust.
• Gerrans v. Warden, FCI La Tuna-Camp, No. 3:24-cv-00284 (W.D. Tex. Mar. 31, 2025): “high chlorine and arsenic content” in the water. Bureau records showed no remedy requests on those issues; dismissed without prejudice, the court noting it cannot order halfway-house or home-confinement placement.
• Fears v. FCI La Tuna, No. EP-25-CV-18-KC (W.D. Tex. Sept. 25, 2025): a prisoner said a final release audit had recoded his offense and cost him more than 400 days of credits. The court held that 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(D) bars credits for anyone convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 844(h); dismissed with prejudice.
• Chavez v. Edge, No. 3:25-cv-00424 (W.D. Tex. Apr. 24, 2026): a credit and placement dispute dismissed because the prisoner had filed no administrative remedies at all.
• Peters v. Edge, No. EP-26-CV-1594-DCG (W.D. Tex. June 23, 2026): a man who self-surrendered on February 23, 2026 could not have earned credits before reaching La Tuna, where his risk and needs assessment was done, and his second assessment, the gateway to the higher earning rate, normally comes about 208 days after arrival. Denied with prejudice. The court read the arrival clause in 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(a) as clarifying when a prisoner may begin earning; an interim final rule published August 31, 2026 strikes that clause with effect from September 30, 2026 (91 Fed. Reg. 55740).

Damages claims have limits too: in Morales, the Fifth Circuit held that decisions on where to house and when to segregate a La Tuna prisoner were discretionary, so the Federal Tort Claims Act’s discretionary-function exception barred his claims. The lesson is procedural. A formal request (BP-9) goes to the warden within 20 days of the event, an appeal (BP-10) to the regional director within 20 days of the response, and a final appeal (BP-11) to the Central Office within 30 days (the Bureau’s administrative remedy program, Program Statement 1330.18); La Tuna’s handbook still cites the superseded PS 1330.16. Our page on the administrative remedy program walks through each step.

Staffing and pandemic deaths

Three staffing counts are on the record and do not agree: 289 employees with inmate contact in the June 2023 PREA audit, 160 to 170 by the union’s estimate in July 2026, and more than 250 by Escobar’s in August 2026. The Bureau announced two deaths of La Tuna prisoners who had tested positive for COVID-19: a 41-year-old man who tested positive on November 10, 2020 was pronounced deceased by hospital staff on November 21, when the Bureau said La Tuna housed 601 men, and a 74-year-old man who tested positive on November 13 was pronounced deceased by hospital staff on December 12, 2020, when it said La Tuna housed 575.

FCI La Tuna in the news

Recent news about FCI La Tuna is about the closure the Bureau announced in July 2026 and the questions it has left open; older items concern walkaways from the camp, the arrival of a well-known prisoner, an immigration contract and a smuggling arrest.

• August 13, 2026: After an oversight visit, Rep. Veronica Escobar said La Tuna was “slated to be shut down next year.”
• July 18, 2026: KFOX14 reported that the Bureau had set no closure date and had not said which prisons would receive La Tuna’s prisoners.
• July 9, 2026: Escobar sent the Bureau 18 questions, including whether La Tuna’s prisoners would stay in Bureau custody or go to private prisons.
• July 1, 2026: The Bureau announced the closure of La Tuna’s FCI, FSL and camp.
• December 15, 2022: A 33-year-old man serving 168 months for a drug conspiracy was reported missing from the camp, which KFOX14 said then housed 224 men.
• November to December 2020: the Bureau posted two news releases reporting the deaths of people held at FCI La Tuna; the Bureau’s releases are listed on its press release page.
• February 4, 2020: Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca arrived at La Tuna.
• June 8, 2018: The El Paso Times reported that La Tuna would make 230 beds available to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
• September 30, 2016: Two men walked away from the camp within ten hours, local outlets reported.
• June 2010: A La Tuna correctional officer was arrested on a federal complaint accusing him of agreeing, in an undercover operation, to smuggle heroin to a prisoner for $5,000. A complaint is only a charge. He pleaded guilty to one of the three counts on October 13, 2010, and on March 11, 2011 the court dismissed the other two and sentenced him to 24 months in prison and three years of supervised release (No. 3:10-cr-01936 (W.D. Tex.)).

Frequently asked questions about FCI La Tuna

Problems at FCI La Tuna: where we can help

La Tuna’s own record points to a short list of problems that keep coming up here, most with a deadline attached:

• A closure transfer that moves a man far from his family. The designation cannot be challenged in court, so what matters is what the Bureau has in front of it before it decides: the home address, medical needs and program status, in writing, through the unit team.
• First Step Act credits and release dates. La Tuna’s recent cases include a man who said a release audit cost him more than 400 days of credits and another who got none for the weeks before he arrived. The arrival clause that the second court cited is struck from September 30, 2026 (91 Fed. Reg. 55740). A sentence computation is worth checking before a transfer, while the records are at hand.
• Remedies filed late or not at all. Four of the six recent La Tuna cases above turned at least partly on exhaustion, and the remedy program runs on 20-, 20- and 30-day clocks.
• Water, heat and other conditions. The El Paso court has held that habeas is the wrong vehicle; an injury may support a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which has its own form, deadlines and exceptions. See our guide to tort claims.
• RDAP and the § 3621(e) reduction, and disciplinary proceedings that can put either at risk.
• Compassionate release requests to the La Tuna warden under the Bureau’s revised policy, PS 5050.51 (September 3, 2026); see our pages on compassionate release, compassionate release in Texas and the request to the warden.
• Treaty-transfer questions, a mission La Tuna’s handbook calls distinct, and immigration-hearing questions for non-citizens.

Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. handles federal criminal defense, appeals and post-conviction matters nationwide, and advises families on Bureau of Prisons issues at institutions across the system. Call (843) 620-1100 or contact us to talk through a specific situation.

Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, the firm’s Managing Director, writes and maintains the federal prison policy material on this site. He is not counsel of record; legal representation is provided by Elizabeth Franklin-Best.

Sources and currency

Bureau of Prisons documents

• FCI La Tuna, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. The Bureau’s facility page, with address, contact details, population and resource links.
• Federal Bureau of Prisons Announces Facility Closures and Operational Changes, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. Names La Tuna’s FCI, Federal Satellite Low and camp among six institutions the Bureau will close.
• FCI La Tuna Inmate Admission and Orientation Handbook, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FCI La Tuna, 2025. Mail, visiting, telephone, commissary, the daily schedule, housing, programs, UNICOR and health services.
• Institution Supplement LAT 5267.09, Visiting Regulations, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FCI La Tuna, 2018. Visiting days, points, dress, screening and directions.
• Institution Supplement LAT 5267.09, Regulaciones de Visitas, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FCI La Tuna, 2018. The Spanish edition of the visiting supplement.
• FCI / SCP La Tuna Commissary Sheet, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FCI La Tuna, 2018.
• Administrative Remedy Program, Program Statement 1330.18, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2014. The BP-9, BP-10 and BP-11 deadlines; the handbook still cites the superseded Program Statement 1330.16.
• Trust Fund/Deposit Fund Manual, Program Statement 4500.13, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. Sets the $460 monthly commissary spending limit and the exclusion list.
• Compassionate Release/Reduction in Sentence Procedures, Program Statement 5050.51, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026.
• Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification, Program Statement 5100.08, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. Security points, custody levels and Public Safety Factors.
• Institution Hearing Program, Program Statement 5111.04, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2017. Removal proceedings for sentenced non-citizens; La Tuna is a hearing and release site.
• Inmate Telephone Regulations, Program Statement 5264.09, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. Replaced Program Statement 5264.08 (2008).
• Visiting Regulations, Program Statement 5267.09, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2023. The national visiting rules, including what happens to a visiting list on transfer.
• Financial Responsibility Program, Inmate, Program Statement 5380.08, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2005. The $25 monthly commissary cap for a man who refuses the program.
• First Step Act Approved Programs Guide, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Reentry Services Division, 2026. Program availability by institution, including the RDAP list.
• Institution Care Levels for Medical Assignment and Institutional Mental Health Care Levels, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2024. Released under Freedom of Information Act request 2024-03455 and published by the Washington Lawyers’ Committee.
• Population Statistics, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. The weekly population report for every institution.
• About Our Facilities: Federal Prisons, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026.
• Royal C. Cline, Fallen Hero, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. The Bureau’s history of the officer who began his career at the U.S. Detention Farm, La Tuna.
• Press Releases, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2020. The Bureau’s list of news releases, including its notices of deaths in custody.

Audits and inspections

• Federal Prisons: Improvements Needed to Prevent, Detect, and Address Sexual Abuse, U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2026. Report GAO-26-107343, with allegation counts by institution.
• PREA Facility Audit Report: FCI La Tuna, PREA Auditors of America, 2023. On-site audit of June 6–8, 2023 by Lynni O’Haver; capacity, population, staffing and allegation data.
• Audit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ September 2011 Procurement of X-Ray Equipment, Report 14-27, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2014. Includes the La Tuna demonstration of a pallet-size machine.
• Review of the Department of Justice’s International Prisoner Transfer Program, Report I-2012-002, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2011. Records a consent verification hearing observed at La Tuna.
• The Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Efforts to Manage Inmate Health Care, Report 08-08, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2008. Records La Tuna’s medical care level and the Federal Satellite Low’s population as of November 29, 2007.

Court records

• Peters v. Edge, No. EP-26-CV-1594-DCG (W.D. Tex. June 23, 2026), U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, 2026. First Step Act credits and the arrival clause.
• Chavez v. Edge, No. 3:25-cv-00424 (W.D. Tex. Apr. 24, 2026), U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, 2026. A credit and placement dispute dismissed for filing no administrative remedies.
• Fears v. FCI La Tuna, No. EP-25-CV-18-KC (W.D. Tex. Sept. 25, 2025), U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, 2025. Credits barred for a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 844(h).
• Gerrans v. Warden, FCI La Tuna-Camp, No. 3:24-cv-00284 (W.D. Tex. Mar. 31, 2025), U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, 2025. Water quality; dismissed without prejudice for failure to exhaust.
• Carrasco v. Warden, FCI La Tuna-Camp, No. 3:24-cv-00250 (W.D. Tex. Mar. 18, 2025), U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, 2025. Conditions claims do not belong in habeas.
• Chavez v. Warden, FCI La Tuna Camp, No. EP-24-CV-249-KC (W.D. Tex. Oct. 31, 2024), U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, 2024. Home confinement and halfway-house time; dismissed for failure to exhaust.
• Morales v. United States, 371 F. App’x 528 (5th Cir. 2010), U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2010. Housing and segregation decisions at La Tuna are discretionary under the Federal Tort Claims Act; unpublished, and the Fifth Circuit serves no public copy.
• Alexis v. Hijar, No. 21-cv-158 (D.N.M. Feb. 25, 2021), U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, 2021. La Tuna’s legal address is in Texas; the petition belongs in El Paso.
• Archuleta v. United States, No. 2:19-cv-00711 (D.N.M. Aug. 14, 2019), U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, 2019. An RDAP petition dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
• Correctional Officer Arrested and Charged with Attempting to Smuggle Heroin into Federal Facility, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2010. The 2010 complaint against a La Tuna officer.
• Correctional Officer Arrested and Charged With Attempting to Smuggle Heroin into Federal Facility, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Texas, 2010.

News and other sources

• Congresswoman Escobar Visits FCI La Tuna, Office of Representative Veronica Escobar, 2026.
• Congresswoman Escobar Demands More Information on La Tuna Closure from BOP, Office of Representative Veronica Escobar, 2026. The letter of July 9, 2026 and its eighteen questions.
• Congresswoman Questions Closure of Anthony, TX Prison La Tuna, David Ibave, KFOX14, 2026.
• Rep. Escobar to Tour La Tuna Facility Ahead of Potential Privatization, Eliya Alvidrez, KTSM 9 News, 2026.
• La Tuna Federal Prison Closure Leaves Questions About Inmate Transfers, Employee Futures, Destiny Venecia, KFOX14, 2026.
• Bureau of Prisons to Close Six Institutions, Citing ‘Extreme Staffing Challenges’, Federal News Network, 2026.
• Historic La Tuna Federal Prison Slated for Closure as Bureau of Prisons Restructures, Robert Moore, El Paso Matters, 2026.
• About UNICOR: All Factory Locations, UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries), 2025. Lists La Tuna under the Fleet business.
• Law Enforcement Search for Inmate Who Walked Away from La Tuna Prison, KFOX14, 2022.
• Pardons Granted by President Donald J. Trump (2017–2021), U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Pardon Attorney, 2021.
• Mexico President Visits ‘El Chapo’s’ Home Turf, Shakes Hands with His Mother, Jesus Bustamante, Reuters, 2020.
• Duncan Hunter to Serve Prison Sentence at West Texas Camp, Chris Marquette, Roll Call, 2020.
• Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca Is Now a Prison Inmate in Texas, Los Angeles Times, 2020.
• ICE to Send 1,600 Immigration Violators to Federal Prisons, Including La Tuna Near El Paso, Alan Gomez, El Paso Times, 2018.
• Men Who Escaped Prison Sought by Marshals, El Paso Times, 2016.
• KVIA report on the two La Tuna camp walkaways, KVIA-TV, El Paso, 2016.
• Convicted Drug Smuggler George Jung Released from Federal Prison, Christian Schiavone, The Enterprise (Brockton, Massachusetts), 2014.
• Adult Director Max Hardcore Released from Prison, Susannah Breslin, Forbes, 2011.
• The Region; Crime Figure Ends Prison Term, The New York Times, 1984.
• The Jailing of Reputed Organized Crime Boss Nicodemo Scarfo, United Press International, 1982.
• Joseph M. Valachi, Informer, Dies at 67, The New York Times, 1971.
• Federal Correctional Institution, Martin Donell Kohout, Handbook of Texas Online (Texas State Historical Association), 1995.
• Foreign Relations of the United States, 1933, volume II, document 62, U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, 1933.
• Sun Metro, City of El Paso, 2026.
• RoadRunner Transit, City of Las Cruces, 2026.
• Airport, City of Las Cruces, 2026.
• First Step Act Time Credits—Revisions, 91 Fed. Reg. 55740, Federal Register, 2026. Interim final rule, effective September 30, 2026, amending 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(a).
• 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b), (e), Imprisonment of a convicted person, U.S. Code (Legal Information Institute).
• 18 U.S.C. § 3632(d)(4)(D), Development of risk and needs assessment system, U.S. Code (Legal Information Institute).
• 18 U.S.C. § 844(h), Penalties, U.S. Code (Legal Information Institute).
• 28 U.S.C. § 124(d)(3), Texas, U.S. Code (Legal Information Institute).
• 28 C.F.R. § 115.401(a), Frequency and scope of audits, Code of Federal Regulations (Legal Information Institute).
• 28 C.F.R. § 523.42(a), Earning First Step Act Time Credits, Code of Federal Regulations (Legal Information Institute).
• 49 C.F.R. § 71.7, Mountain zone, Code of Federal Regulations (Legal Information Institute).
• 49 C.F.R. § 71.8, Central zone, Code of Federal Regulations (Legal Information Institute).

Sources reviewed September 2026.

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