FCI Florence: Inmates, Visiting Hours, Camp, Programs

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

FCI Florence at a glance

FCI Florence is a medium-security federal prison for men in Florence, Colorado, with a minimum-security satellite camp that it runs. It shares the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence with two penitentiaries, USP Florence – High and ADX Florence. As of September 2026 it held 1,437 people: 1,007 at the institution and 430 at the camp.

Official name	Federal Correctional Institution, Florence
BOP code	FLF · complex FLX
Security level	Medium; men
Population	1,437 (as of September 2026) · 1,007 at the institution, 430 at the camp
Visiting	Saturday, Sunday and federal holidays, 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. · same hours at the camp
Inmate mail	FCI: Inmate Name & Register Number · FCI Florence · Federal Correctional Institution · P.O. Box 6000 · Florence, CO 81226 Camp: Inmate Name & Register Number · FCI Florence Camp · Satellite Prison Camp · P.O. Box 5000 · Florence, CO 81226
Send money	Lockbox · Western Union (code city FBOP, DC) · MoneyGram (receive code 7932)
Phone	719-784-9100 · press 1 for visiting status · Fax 719-784-9504
Street address	5880 State Highway 67 South, Florence, CO 81226 · Fremont County
Judicial district	District of Colorado
BOP region	North Central
Designated capacity	1,018 at the institution · 508 at the camp
Housing	Cells at the institution · dormitories at the camp
Special Housing Unit	Yes · visits by non-contact video
Medical care level	Level 2
Mental health care level	Level 2
RDAP	Yes
UNICOR	See the note on the programs guide
Camp	Minimum-security satellite camp for men, run by FCI Florence

It opened in 1993, stands on State Highway 67 in Fremont County, and falls under the Bureau’s North Central Region; it is one of the federal prisons in Colorado. Turnover sets it apart from the two penitentiaries at the same address: the May 2026 Prison Rape Elimination Act audit of the complex recorded 1,773 admissions here in the preceding twelve months, against a designated capacity of 1,018, with an average stay of 362 days. It is a prison people pass through.

Four federal facilities share this address, and only one of them is this prison

Four federal facilities operate at this address: FCI Florence, the satellite camp it runs, USP Florence – High and ADX Florence. The June 2026 indictment of a lieutenant here states that the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence “was a United States correctional complex composed of four correctional facilities located in Florence, Colorado,” and that it “includes the Federal Correctional Institution – Florence (FCI-Florence), which was a medium security facility that oversees the security and administration of the included Federal Prison Camp – Florence (FPC-Florence).” That makes three prisons and a camp, with the camp run from FCI Florence.

Facility	Code	Security level	Phone
FCI Florence (this page)	FLF	Medium	719-784-9100
FPC Florence, the satellite camp (also this page)	Recorded under FLF	Minimum	719-784-9100
USP Florence – High	FLP	High	719-784-9454
ADX Florence (USP Florence ADMAX)	FLM	Administrative	719-784-9464
FCC Florence, the complex itself	FLX	Not a housing designation	—

Two other names are sometimes attached to this prison. “Florence Correctional Center” and “Florence County Detention Center” appear nowhere on the Bureau’s roster, which carries exactly four Florence entries: FLF, FLP, FLM and the complex code FLX. Neither is a federal prison, and the federal Inmate Locator will not find anyone in them. A large privately run prison complex at Florence, Arizona, is unconnected to this one.

What is the security level at FCI Florence?

FCI Florence is a medium-security institution on the Bureau’s roster, with a minimum-security camp beside it. That means a secured perimeter, cell housing rather than dormitories, and movement controlled by the clock. Inspectors who walked the compound in April 2023 described “a large circular complex with buildings arranged on the perimeter of an open courtyard,” with residents “allowed to transfer between buildings every hour during designated moving periods.” The handbook allows ten minutes to get from one point to another once the move is announced over the public address system; miss the move and you wait for the next one.

The housing units carry Bureau phonetic names rather than numbers: federal prosecutors describing a killing here in 2008 named the Pueblo Alpha and Pueblo Bravo units, and the assailants walked from one to the other. The May 2026 audit counted 84 buildings, 29 housing units and 207 segregation cells across all four facilities — nine single-cell units, ten multiple-occupancy cell units and two open-bay dormitories. Those are complex-wide figures; the Bureau does not break them down by institution.

How a man ends up at the institution rather than the camp

The Designation and Sentence Computation Center in Grand Prairie, Texas scores every newly sentenced person under the Bureau’s security designation rules, Program Statement 5100.08, and the score sets the security level. Two written overrides can change the result. A Public Safety Factor is a fact about the case — a sex offense, deportable-alien status, a lengthy sentence — that sets a floor no point total can go under; it is what keeps a low-scoring man out of a camp. A Management Variable is the Bureau’s written override in either direction (Greater Security or Lesser Security, among others), and only some, such as Greater Security, carry an expiration date. Both sit on the classification paperwork, both are revisited at each program review, and both can be argued. See federal prison transfers.

The camp, and who is designated to it

In the Justice Department’s description, minimum security institutions “have dormitory housing, a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio, and are work and program-oriented,” and are “generally located adjacent to larger institutions, where inmates help serve the labor needs of the larger institution.” The camp at Florence follows that pattern. It held 430 men as of September 2026, against a designated capacity of 508; the average stay was 325 days, and ages ran from 21 to 78.

Almost everything a family deals with is separate at the camp: its own post office box, its own visiting room, its own commissary order form, and a different uniform — olive drab at the camp, khaki at the institution — which is why the two dress codes ban different colors on visitors. The camp has no fence; the 2008 and 2020 walkaways described below were both from the camp.

Who are the notable inmates at FCI Florence?

The best-known man the Bureau records at FCI Florence is Monzer Al Kassar, the Syrian-born arms dealer sentenced to 30 years.

Name	Register	Case	Bureau record
Monzer Al Kassar	61111-054	The Syrian-born arms dealer extradited from Spain in June 2008 and convicted by a Manhattan jury on November 20, 2008, after a three-week trial, of conspiring to murder United States nationals and officers and to sell weapons to the FARC. Sentenced in February 2009 to 30 years	Recorded here, aged 81; projected release December 28, 2032

Names sometimes linked to this prison

Three men often listed as notable inmates of FCI Florence are not recorded here.

Name	What the Bureau’s records show
Francisco Duran	The man who fired a rifle at the White House in October 1994 and was sentenced to 40 years. The locator returns eight men of that name and none is at FCI Florence; the only one whose age and projected release date fit that sentence is recorded at FCI Three Rivers, Texas, register 19588-016, release February 3, 2029
William King	No William King is recorded at FCI Florence. Five have no release recorded: one each at FCI Yazoo City Low II, USP Tucson and FMC Butner, and two whose records read IN TRANSIT with release UNKNOWN (the screen shows those two as “NOT IN BOP CUSTODY”)
“Frant Beckley”	No person of that name, or of the obvious variants, appears in the Bureau’s records at any institution

Eric G. King, register 27090-045, is a former resident whose case produced the only published federal opinion about conditions inside this institution; it is discussed under what the courts have said, below. He was released from Bureau custody on February 23, 2024, and his last Bureau record is the residential reentry office at Phoenix.

How do I find someone at FCI Florence?

To find someone at FCI Florence, search the Bureau’s free public Inmate Locator, which covers everyone in federal custody since 1982. Search on the eight-digit register number where you have one, because the locator matches the committed name on the judgment rather than the name a family uses.

Three results at this address look alike. “Located at: Florence FCI” is this prison and its camp (code FLF in the locator’s record); “Florence – High USP” is the penitentiary next door (FLP); “Florence ADMAX USP” is the supermax (FLM). Mail, visiting days, phone allowances and commissary differ at each. See how federal register numbers work for what the digits mean. A blank result usually points to one of three things: state rather than federal custody, pretrial detention held by the U.S. Marshals Service, or a judgment spelling the name differently from the family.

How do I write to someone at FCI Florence?

Write to someone at FCI Florence at P.O. Box 6000, Florence, CO 81226, or at P.O. Box 5000 for the satellite camp, with the committed name and the eight-digit register number on the first line. The handbook warns that without them “they will be returned to you,” and mail sent to the wrong box has to find its way across the complex.

For someone at the institution	For someone at the satellite camp
Inmate Name & Register Number FCI Florence Federal Correctional Institution P.O. Box 6000 Florence, CO 81226	Inmate Name & Register Number FCI Florence Camp Satellite Prison Camp P.O. Box 5000 Florence, CO 81226

The Bureau’s own address record lists box 6000 as “Inmate Mail/Parcels” and box 5000 as “Inmate Mail/Parcels — Camp.” The handbook addresses the institution two ways — “Federal Correctional Complex (Medium)” on one page and “FCI Florence” on another — so the second line of the address matters less than the register number and the right box, which are what route the envelope.

General correspondence is opened, inspected and may be read. Legal mail is opened only in front of the person it is addressed to and is not read, but only if the sender is clearly identified on the envelope and the front is marked “Special Mail — Open only in the presence of the inmate”; an attorney letter without that marking is handled as ordinary mail. See the Bureau’s correspondence rules, our guide to attorney-client communication in the Bureau of Prisons and our guide to writing to someone in federal prison.

• Mail is delivered by the unit officer after the 4:00 p.m. count, Monday through Friday. There is none on Saturdays, Sundays or federal holidays, so a letter arriving on Friday afternoon sits until Monday.
• Legal mail is dropped off Monday through Friday, 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. The mail room holds open house on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:00 a.m., the records office — sentence computation, detainers — on Tuesdays.
• Hardcover books need a hardcover removal form first and must come from a publisher, bookstore or book club; newspapers are by subscription only; and postage stamps have to be bought through the commissary rather than sent in.

Never put money in a letter. Funds enclosed in correspondence are rejected.

How do I send money to someone at FCI Florence?

Money for someone at FCI Florence goes to the Bureau’s national lockbox in Iowa or through Western Union or MoneyGram, never to the prison’s own address or to either post office box. All three routes need the committed name and the eight-digit register number; see how to send money to a federal inmate.

Route	Where it goes	How fast it posts
Postal money order	Federal Bureau of Prisons Committed Name Eight-Digit Register Number Post Office Box 474701 Des Moines, Iowa 50947-0001	Processed the day it arrives except on federal holidays, and available to the account the following day
Western Union Quick Collect	Code city FBOP, DC	Posted within 2 to 4 hours of a transfer sent between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Eastern, according to the Bureau’s Send Money page (Program Statement 4500.13 § 9.7 still says two hours); anything later posts by 7:00 a.m. the next day
MoneyGram ExpressPayment	Receive code 7932, company name Federal Bureau of Prisons, Washington, DC	Same as Western Union

The handbook a man is given on arrival tells him “the only way an inmate can receive money is through the mail and through Western Union.” MoneyGram appears nowhere in it. The Bureau has taken MoneyGram deposits for years, so that 2022 list was already incomplete when it was printed.

No cash and no personal checks. Visitors cannot hand money to staff or leave it in the lobby for an account, and men here may not handle currency or enter the vending area of the visiting room at all. What money buys once it lands is capped; the commissary section below sets out the limits.

What are the visiting hours at FCI Florence?

Visiting at FCI Florence is on Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays, 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at the institution and the camp alike; there is no weekday or evening visiting. The hours come from institution supplement FLF 5267.09b, Visiting Regulations, approved by Warden C. R. Goetz on June 26, 2018, which replaced the 2017 version. See also the Bureau’s national visiting rules and our guide to visiting a federal prison.

Arrival times matter as much as the hours. Visitors may not enter the lobby before 7:45 a.m. and will not be processed into the visiting room after 2:00 p.m. — and visitor traffic is stopped at the front gate of the complex at 9:30 a.m. and held until the 10:00 a.m. count clears. A family arriving at a quarter to ten waits at the gate, and one arriving at 2:05 p.m. is not let in.

Men in the Special Housing Unit visit on the same days and hours by non-contact video, ordinarily for two hours, two adults and two children at a time; their visitors are processed into the A Building, while the general population visiting room is in the B Building. See video visiting.

Who can visit, and how many

• The approved list holds 20 people, and that is a combined figure — immediate family, friends and associates all come out of the same 20, rather than friends being capped separately. Children aged 15 and under do not count against it, and neither does an attorney or a minister of record.
• Five visitors at a time, adults included; children 15 and under are again not counted. More than five needs advance approval from the Associate Warden for the institution or the Camp Administrator for the camp.
• If more than five arrive together a split visit may be arranged at the duty officer’s discretion — but a visitor who leaves to make room may not come back into the room and must leave the complex.
• Friends and associates ordinarily need a relationship that predates the sentence; the exception needs the warden’s approval, requested through the unit manager.
• Visiting rooms hold 140 at the institution and 145 at the camp. If a room fills, visits are cut to two hours; staff ask for volunteers first, then start with visitors living within fifty miles and work outward in fifty-mile increments, and if that is not enough the people who visit most often are ended first.
• Neither facility is a holdover facility. If someone is here in holdover status awaiting transfer, only verified immediate family may visit, on a request to the unit team a day ahead. A special visit by anyone not on the list needs three days’ notice and the unit manager’s approval.

What visitors can wear and bring

Color rules differ between the two facilities, and for the same reason: khaki is banned on visitors to the institution and olive drab on visitors to the camp, because those are the uniforms the men wear. Camouflage is banned at both.

Also prohibited at both: shorts more than three inches above the knee, anything low-cut, see-through, mesh or skin-tight, tube, tank, halter and crop tops, sleeveless and backless clothing, sweat suits, open-toe shoes and sundresses. A dress may not be shorter than the natural break at the back of the knee, slit included, and hats and scarves are out except religious headgear. Wrist watches, timepieces and electronic sports bands of any kind are barred — leave the fitness tracker in the car.

What you may carry in is short and exact: a clear change purse no more than eight inches in height and width; up to $30.00 per adult visitor per day in bills no larger than fives; prescription medication, which stays at the officer’s station; jewelry other than a watch; and a clear diaper bag holding up to six each of sealed baby food or formula, empty bottles and diapers, plus one blanket. The institution’s handbook gives the money limit as $25 rather than $30. The supplement is the governing directive and the handbook is the newer document, so carry the smaller figure or call before you set out.

No food or drink may be brought in. Vending items are handed over sealed, then every wrapper is opened and laid flat with the food visible and every bottle label removed. Kissing, embracing and handshaking are permitted at the start and end of the visit and not in between. A visitor who steps out of the visiting area is finished for the day.

Visiting at the camp

The camp runs the same days and hours in its own room, with several differences. There is no limit on how many times a camp resident may be visited in a month — the supplement says so expressly. Coats and headgear go on hooks inside the room rather than into lobby lockers. Attorney visits at the camp happen in the visiting room itself, because the camp has no attorney-client rooms; at the institution they are held in the attorney-client rooms off the visiting room, and if those are all occupied the visit may move into the main room at the attorney’s and the client’s election. Every man at the institution is visually searched going in and out; at the camp the searches are random.

Getting there

The complex sits about two miles south of the town of Florence on the east side of Highway 67. This institution’s own supplement puts it 40 miles south of Colorado Springs, 35 miles west of Pueblo and 13 miles southeast of Cañon City; the supplements the Bureau publishes for the two penitentiaries at the same address give 45 miles from Colorado Springs. From Colorado Springs, take Highway 115 south to Florence, then Highway 67 south to the complex. From Pueblo, take Highway 50 west toward Cañon City, pick up Highway 115 south at Penrose, and follow it to Highway 67 south in Florence.

There is no public transportation to the gate. Whatever ride you arrange has to collect you before the visit ends, because everyone not on a visiting list has to leave complex property.

Before you drive, call 719-784-9100 and press 1. The complex maintains a recorded message giving the current visiting status of all four of its facilities, and the supplement tells staff to update it immediately when anything changes. It mattered in July 2026, when the Aspen Acres fire burned to within about 9.5 miles of the complex and evacuation orders reached the ground around it. That recording is the fastest way to find out whether a weekend visit is happening.

How do phone calls and email work at FCI Florence?

Phone calls at FCI Florence go one way: the person inside calls out from an approved list, using a personal access code the unit team issues, ordinarily within a business day of arrival. Under the Bureau’s telephone regulations, Program Statement 5264.09, issued September 3, 2026, the national allowance is 510 minutes a calendar month. Anyone eligible for First Step Act telephone incentives gets 300 of those minutes free, and anyone who uses up 300 minutes, eligible or not, may buy the other 210. A single call should generally not exceed 15 minutes, at least 30 minutes must pass between completed calls, and the monthly limit does not apply to unmonitored legal calls. Telephone access at this institution runs in set windows.

Weekday telephone access	6:00–7:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m., and 4:30–8:30 p.m.
One phone per housing unit	Stays on 6:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on weekdays
Weekends and holidays	6:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Call length	15 minutes, with a 30-minute break required before the next call

Two fees apply: replacing a compromised access code costs $5.00, and an account statement $3.00. The telephone account is capped at $400, and money can be moved back out of it only twice a day and only if the person is not on phone restriction — unless they are being released, are restricted for more than 60 days, or the warden decides otherwise. See federal inmate phone calls.

Email runs through TRULINCS inside and CorrLinks outside. Messages carry no attachments, sit for at least an hour before release, and are monitored. The handbook prices TRU-Units at five cents each: one unit a minute for messaging and three a printed page, with five mailing labels a day printed free. See CorrLinks and TRULINCS.

Legal calls take planning. An unmonitored call on a staff telephone has to be arranged in advance through the unit team, and the person inside “must provide documentation of an imminent court deadline or justify why written correspondence is not sufficient.” Anything dialed on the ordinary inmate telephone system is recorded, and the handbook states that placing a legal call that way authorizes the Bureau to monitor it. Email with an attorney is not privileged either: privileged writing goes by marked special mail, privileged talking through the case manager first.

What can people buy at the FCI Florence commissary?

The commissary at FCI Florence sells from separate order forms at the institution and the camp, under a national monthly spending limit of $460. The Bureau’s trust fund rules, Program Statement 4500.13, issued May 7, 2026, raised that limit from $360. This institution’s own 2022 handbook sets out a local structure instead: “the spending limit at FCI Florence has been set on a weekly validation of $90.00 for a total of $360.00 per month.”

The “$90 a week” figure often quoted for the whole Florence complex comes from that handbook: it is real, it is local, and it belongs to this institution — not to the penitentiaries next door, whose documents give different numbers again. The handbook predates the May 2026 increase, and no current Florence document says whether the weekly validation has risen with the ceiling or the institution still caps spending at $360. Ask the unit team in writing before assuming either.

Two reduced tiers are printed on both order forms: a $15.00 monthly ceiling while a man is on commissary restriction as a disciplinary sanction, and $10.00 where he has refused to sign a financial responsibility plan. Stamps and over-the-counter medications sit outside the limit at every tier, and copy cards are marked local use only.

Most of the ways shopping goes wrong are administrative. The schedule runs on a quarterly housing-unit rotation, sales are Monday through Thursday after the morning census count clears, and each man shops once a week.

• The order form goes into a collection box on the sidewalk in front of the commissary lobby by 6:00 a.m. on the Friday before the unit’s shopping day.
• No folded lists are accepted, with no exceptions, and any blank left in the heading — name, register number, housing unit — forfeits that week’s shopping.
• Shoppers are called by a number posted in the unit, not by name; miss the display and the week is gone. If staff detain you, the handbook tells you to ask them to call the commissary immediately.
• No additions, substitutions or exchanges at the window except for items on display, and every sale is final once you leave it.
• Commissary bought at another institution counts as contraband here if this one does not stock it — which matters on the day someone transfers in.

Both the institution’s list and the camp’s list stock typewriter ribbon and correction ribbon — $6.00 and $4.85 at the institution, a Nakijima ribbon at $4.25 and correction at 75 cents at the camp — a sign that legal work is still typed here. The camp form asks a man to circle a morning or noon shopping session and to write in his work assignment; the institution’s does not. The camp also prints possession-frequency limits the institution’s form leaves out: one radio, one set of headphones, one watch and one pair of boots every twelve months, and one pair of shoes a quarter. See the federal prison commissary.

What programs are available at FCI Florence?

FCI Florence offers a Residential Drug Abuse Program, GED classes, post-secondary courses through Pueblo Community College, religious programs for each faith group, and recreation, music and art programs; whether it has a UNICOR factory is unclear from the Bureau’s own programs guide.

Drug treatment and RDAP

This institution runs a Residential Drug Abuse Program. FCI Florence is named on the Bureau’s own list of RDAP locations inside the August 2026 First Step Act Approved Programs Guide, which counts 57 programs at 50 locations, and USP Florence – High is named separately on it, so this complex runs two. For someone convicted of a non-violent offense, completing RDAP can mean up to a year off the sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e).

The program’s length is described two ways. The Bureau’s own material puts it at a minimum of nine months and 500 hours, run as a half-day program with the rest of the day given to work and school. Staff here told District of Columbia inspectors in April 2023 that “RDAP takes two years to complete.” Ask the drug abuse program coordinator what the current cycle is before planning a release date around it. The institution’s 2022 handbook says interviews are ordinarily held 42 to 24 months from release, depending on the security level and the waiting list; the Bureau’s psychology treatment programs manual, Program Statement 5330.11, says only that they are ordinarily held no less than 24 months out. Either way the referral has to go in early.

The unit is also the only housing at this prison an outside inspector has been inside. The Corrections Information Council was given the RDAP unit in April 2023 and no other, and recorded a program built on cognitive behavioral therapy with journaling, processing groups, anger management, Alcoholics Anonymous, grief counseling and self-help circles. Drug Abuse Education and the non-residential program run here too.

Education and vocational training

The education department opens 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and runs GED classes three times a day — 7:30 to 9:00, 9:00 to 11:00, and 1:00 to 3:00. Twenty-seven men earned a GED in the seven months to April 2023. It is state accredited by the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges, and post-secondary courses are contracted through Pueblo Community College, which the Bureau confirmed in its response to the 2023 inspection. Greenville College is not the partner.

The law library sits inside the education department, with electric typewriters for legal use on a first-come basis and a photocopier that runs on a funded vending card. Copies and prints cost 15 cents a page and 30 cents double-sided, three items a week; a man with no balance of $6.00 for thirty days and a verified imminent court deadline gets up to 20 pages a week, and an imminent deadline is defined as a response due in 30 days or less. Legal material in a cell is capped at three cubic feet. See the prison law library, prison education and vocational training.

Those figures come from institution supplement FLM 1315.07F (2010), the document the Bureau links from FCI Florence’s own facility page as its inmate legal activities supplement. It is signed by the warden of the ADX and governs the ADX and the camp; it does not describe this institution’s law library at all.

The programming problem inspectors found here

Access, not availability, is what District of Columbia residents complained about in April 2023. Staff told inspectors the waitlist “differs based on class length but could last six to nine months,” and that men earn First Step Act credit while they wait. Residents went further: they said FCI Florence prioritizes enrollment for people eligible for First Step Act time credits, and one man said he had been on a waitlist for three years. The Bureau’s published response is that District of Columbia inmates could take part in First Step Act programming, were not then eligible for federal time credits for it, and should be encouraged to participate anyway.

Inspectors also reported that staff here “was unable to provide clear answers on how they conduct and track First Step Act Needs Assessments and reassessments.” The Bureau answered by describing the process — assessment on entry, reassessment every 90 or 180 days depending on release date, a standing committee of department heads — and recorded that two more treatment program specialists had been hired since the visit and that a deputy chief psychologist post had been approved. One staff member said the First Step Act turned the place from a “warehouse” into somewhere focused on programming.

Faith, recreation and reentry

Religious programs run twice weekly for each faith group, and where a group has no staff or volunteer leader the men are allowed to lead prayer in the housing units. The facility maintains sweat lodges for Native American ceremonies — a dry lodge with a fire pit and a wet lodge where steam is made by pouring water over hot rocks. Prayer oil and religious headwear are bought through the chaplain on a special purpose order, only by men with a religious preference recorded in the Bureau’s system, and only one bottle of oil may be held at a time. See religious programs in prison.

Recreation is the part of the compound inspectors described in most detail. They counted a basketball court, a bocce court, a soccer field, a volleyball court, a softball field and gym equipment outside, and yoga, leatherworking, instruments and art inside, with a music room holding a drum kit and several guitars including bass and classical. Resident bands play at graduations, and men can send home what they make in the leather and art classes. Psychology Services runs a dog-training program. On halfway houses, the Bureau’s 2023 written response to the inspectors says everyone is reviewed for placement “within 17-19 months from release, in accordance with Program Statement 7310.04” — but that 1998 program statement on halfway-house referrals has the unit team decide on a referral “[n]ormally 11 to 13 months before” release, and no current program statement sets the longer window.

A caution on the programs guide. It records what an institution is approved to offer, not what is running this month, and on one point it disagrees with itself about this prison. Its written entry for Federal Prison Industries lists 55 institutions by code, and no Florence facility is among them; its programs-by-institution table marks FLF, and both penitentiaries, for Federal Prison Industries. Ask the unit team, in writing, whether a UNICOR job exists.

What is daily life like at FCI Florence?

Daily life at FCI Florence runs on five official counts, a ten-minute movement window and a mainline that opens early.

Meals, Monday through Friday	Breakfast 6:00 a.m., lunch 10:30 a.m., dinner 4:30 p.m., each until completion
Meals, weekends and holidays	Coffee hour 7:00 a.m., brunch 10:30 a.m., dinner 4:30 p.m.
Official counts	12:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m., 5:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.; a sixth at 10:00 a.m. on weekends and holidays
Stand-up counts	4:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m. with cell lights on, and 10:00 a.m. on weekends
Uniform	Khaki shirt and pants with work shoes, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; shirts tucked in, belts buckled
Recreation	Weekdays 6:15–7:30 a.m., 8:00–10:15 a.m., about 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m., 1:00–3:45 p.m. and 4:30–8:00 p.m.; weekends 6:15–9:45 a.m. and then to 8:00 p.m. The yard is open dawn to dusk
Clothing and supplies	Exchange and repair 6:15–7:15 a.m.; linen on Fridays one for one; khakis and whites once a year; hygiene and stationery issued the first Wednesday of each month

Medical access is a half-hour window four mornings a week. Sick call screening runs 6:30 to 7:00 a.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, dental screening at 6:30 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, and if one of those days is a federal holiday sick call moves to the Wednesday of that week. No one is admitted to health services without a sick call slip, an appointment or a place on the call-out roster. The copay is $2.00 for a visit the person requested and is not charged for staff referrals, chronic care, preventive care, emergencies, mental health care or substance abuse treatment. The pill line runs at breakfast and dinner. See medical care in federal prison.

Every room has an emergency duress button. Head scarves and wave caps are allowed in the housing unit and nowhere else, headphones have to carry an engraved register number, and shoes are tracked and can only be bought every six months. Callout rosters for the next day go up in the units daily, and it is the incarcerated person’s job to read them: missing a callout, including a medical one a family may be waiting on, is a disciplinary matter.

What do inspectors say about conditions at FCI Florence?

Two outside reviews describe conditions at FCI Florence: a two-day District of Columbia inspection in April 2023 and a May 2026 Prison Rape Elimination Act audit of the whole complex. The DOJ Office of the Inspector General has not conducted an on-site inspection of this facility. Its July 2017 review of restrictive housing for people with mental illness came to this complex, but the site visit inside it was to the ADX and the report makes no finding about conditions here. What the Inspector General has done at FCI Florence is bring criminal cases — three against its own staff since 2023, and one against the woman who drove two men out of its camp — and that record is below.

The District of Columbia inspection is the only independent look at how men actually live here: it lasted two days, was carried out by the government of a city 1,682 miles away, and rested on a sample of three.

The 2023 inspection

The District of Columbia Corrections Information Council inspected FCI Florence on April 19 and 20, 2023 and published its report on October 2, 2023. It has statutory authority to inspect wherever District residents are held, and on the days it came there were three District residents in general population and two in the Special Housing Unit. It surveyed and interviewed all three of the men in general population. Every percentage and every count below is out of three, and the conditions belong to April 2023, not to the publication date.

• The prison was over its rated capacity: 1,258 rated against a population of 1,299.
• Inspectors were given one housing unit, the RDAP unit. The Council’s memorandum of understanding with the Bureau bars it from the Special Housing Unit entirely, so it interviewed the two men there without seeing where they were held.
• Two of the three men surveyed reported physical abuse by staff. All three reported that staff made racist remarks toward them. All three said they had suffered no physical abuse from other prisoners. The Bureau’s written response is that all staff misconduct is taken seriously and would be investigated if specific information were provided.
• All three had used the grievance process, mostly about medical care and staff conduct. One received a response, and it was not timely. The Bureau answered that entries are monitored weekly by an executive staff member and discussed with management every two weeks.
• The two men in the Special Housing Unit said they had been given paper suits as punishment for not keeping their cells clean and were given no cleaning supplies, and that medical staff took two months to answer a sick call. The Bureau replied that alternative clothing follows an incident report for altering or destroying clothing or bedding, is approved by the warden, reviewed after three days and lasts up to six; that sanitation supplies go out weekly; and that sick call requests are collected each morning on the pill line.
• Health services at the time: physicians seeing six to eight patients a day and mid-level providers 15 to 20; one dentist, one assistant and one hygienist; three full-time psychologists and four drug treatment specialists, with a therapy waitlist staff said could be expedited.

The 2026 PREA audit

FCC Florence was audited under the Prison Rape Elimination Act on May 19–21, 2026 by an independent auditor, Matthew Taylor of Corrections Consulting Services, LLC. The audit report is dated July 3, 2026, and the complex passed: 45 standards met, none exceeded, none unmet. See the Bureau’s sexual abuse prevention rules.

The audit covers all four facilities as one, so a clean finding here is a clean finding for the ADX, the penitentiary, this institution and the camp together. Where it does break figures out, this institution is the largest piece of the complex by a wide margin: a designated capacity of 1,018 against the ADX’s 560, an average daily population of 1,052, ages from 19 to 80, and 1,773 admissions, of which 1,632 stayed longer than 72 hours and 1,505 longer than 30 days. The average stay was 362.1 days at the institution and 325.3 at the camp. Complex-wide the audit records 793 staff who may have contact with people in custody, accreditation by the American Correctional Association but not by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, and that the complex was over capacity at some point in the year. Sexual assault forensic examinations are done at a local hospital rather than on site.

The staff prosecutions

Four Inspector General cases name this institution since 2021, and two of them concern the camp.

• June 2026 — the SIS lieutenant. A federal grand jury in Denver returned an indictment on June 2, 2026 charging Michael Popma, a Special Investigative Service lieutenant whose job was “supervising all FCI-Florence SIS staff members and overseeing the investigation, mitigation, and elimination of illicit BOP inmate activities,” with conspiracy, bribery, providing contraband in prison and unlawful interception of an oral communication. The indictment alleges that between September and December 2024 he took about $15,500 and six bottles of alcohol from a prisoner’s family member, that approximately 123 cellular telephones, 415 electronic nicotine vaporizers and 274 bottles of alcohol went into the camp with his assistance, and that on December 13, 2024 he handed back a duffel bag of contraband that had already been seized. He was arrested on June 4, 2026 and released on bond, and the Bureau confirmed that he was hired at Florence in 2014 and promoted to lieutenant in 2021. A five-day jury trial was set for August 10, 2026 in Denver; no outcome had been publicly reported as of September 2026. These are allegations and he is presumed innocent.
• April 2025 — the material handler supervisor. Nicholaus Valentine, a former material handler supervisor here, was sentenced in the District of Colorado to time served and six months of supervised release for one count of introduction of contraband, having taken payments from prisoners to smuggle cigarettes between December 2021 and March 2022.
• April 2024 — the correctional officer. Gage Zupancic, a former correctional officer here, was sentenced to 12 months and a day, two years of supervised release and forfeiture of $35,000 for bribery, having taken electronic payments from people directed by prisoners to bring tobacco in between July 2021 and April 2022.
• November 2022 — the camp escape. Lady Budden was sentenced to three years of probation for aiding and abetting the escape of two men from FPC Florence. On May 27, 2020 the two walked out of the camp and got into her car, with her eleven-year-old daughter inside it, and she drove toward the Mexican border before Border Patrol agents stopped them in Arizona.

What the courts have said about this institution

The one published federal decision about conditions at FCI Florence ended in dismissal without reaching the merits. In King v. United States, No. 1:21-cv-01421-CNS-KAS (D. Colo. Jan. 30, 2025), a man who had been held here sued the United States, the Bureau and a long list of officials including three named wardens of this institution, over an assault he said happened in 2018, denial of medical care, a second assault in 2020, and retaliation for his religious and political beliefs. The court granted the motion to dismiss and closed the case.

The Federal Tort Claims Act counts went out for lack of jurisdiction because the administrative claim was not exhausted: for the 2018 assault the court found no evidence a claim had ever been filed, and for the 2020 assault the claim was received on March 1, 2021, the agency’s six months ran to August 23, 2021, and the lawsuit was filed on May 25, 2021 — a defect the court held “cannot be cured by amendment.” It also held that the “availability” doctrine excusing exhaustion under the Prison Litigation Reform Act does not apply to tort claims. The Eighth Amendment Bivens claims were dismissed because the Bureau’s own administrative remedy program is an adequate alternative remedy.

For anyone with a claim arising here, the order matters: file the administrative claim, put a sum certain in it, and wait out the agency’s six months before going to court. The institution’s own handbook says how to start one — Standard Form 95, or a letter saying a tort claim is being filed, sent to the North Central Regional Office in Kansas City — and lists the seven things that letter has to contain. See the Bureau’s tort claim rules and Federal Tort Claims Act claims.

FCI Florence in the news

Recent news about FCI Florence centers on the July 2026 Aspen Acres fire, the June 2026 indictment of a lieutenant and two staff smuggling sentences; older items concern the 2023 inspection report, Bureau death notices posted from 2020 to 2023, a 2020 camp escape, a 2008 killing and a 2008 walkaway.

• July 2026 — the Aspen Acres fire burned to within about 9.5 miles of the complex, with evacuation orders reaching the ground around it and more than 11,000 people evacuated across Fremont, Pueblo, Custer and Huerfano counties. There is no public record of the complex being evacuated.
• June 2026 — a Special Investigative Service lieutenant at this institution was indicted in Denver on charges of taking bribes to move cell phones, vapes and alcohol into the camp, and of illegally intercepting an oral communication. The charges have not been proven.
• April 2025 and April 2024 — two former staff members of this institution were sentenced in the District of Colorado for smuggling tobacco and cigarettes in exchange for payments from prisoners.
• October 2023 — the District of Columbia Corrections Information Council published its inspection report, recording the prison over its rated capacity and every one of its three survey respondents reporting racist remarks by staff.
• December 2020 to January 2023 — the Bureau posted four news releases reporting the deaths of people held at FCI Florence and its satellite camp; the Bureau’s releases are listed on its press release page.
• November 2022 — a woman was sentenced to three years of probation for driving two men away from the camp in May 2020; they were stopped by Border Patrol in Arizona.
• June 2011 — four men were convicted of second degree murder and conspiracy, after a three-week trial before Judge John L. Kane, for the killing of Pablo Zuniga-Garcia in the Pueblo Bravo housing unit on December 29, 2008. Prosecutors described a fifteen-minute beating with padlocks attached to belts, and lookouts posted at the unit.
• July 2008 — Edward “Eddie” Davidson, serving 21 months for sending spam email, walked away from the camp on July 20 and left the complex in a car with his wife. He was found dead four days later in Bennett, Colorado, having killed his wife and their three-year-old child.

Frequently asked questions about FCI Florence

Problems at FCI Florence: where we can help

The firm can help with the problems that recur in FCI Florence’s own record, most of which turn on paperwork: a program waitlist a man is told he is on, a grievance that never came back, and an administrative claim never filed, or filed and then overtaken by a lawsuit brought too early.

• Administrative remedies that go unanswered. One of the three men surveyed here in April 2023 got a response, and it was late. An unanswered remedy has its own deadline for moving up a level, and missing it can end a case before anyone reads it. See the administrative remedy program and how to file a BP-9.
• Tort claims filed too early or not at all. The only published federal decision about this prison turned entirely on it: no administrative claim for one incident, and for the other a lawsuit filed three months before the agency’s six months ran out.
• Medical care that is not happening. Sick call here is a thirty-minute window four mornings a week, and men in the Special Housing Unit told inspectors a response took two months. The route is a written request, then the remedy process, then — where negligence caused injury — a Federal Tort Claims Act claim.
• Programming access. Men here reported being passed over because First Step Act credits went to others first, and staff themselves describe waitlists of six to nine months. Whether a needs assessment was done, and reassessed on schedule, is checkable and arguable; see First Step Act time credits.
• RDAP timing, and camp designation. This institution runs an RDAP, and its own handbook says interviews are ordinarily held 42 to 24 months from release, so the referral has to go in early. Whether a man goes behind the fence or to the camp turns on a Public Safety Factor and a Management Variable rather than the point score alone — both written down, both arguable at a program review. See federal prison early release.
• Disciplinary proceedings that threaten good conduct time, and SHU placements that outlast their reason.
• Compassionate release under the Bureau’s reduction-in-sentence rules, a § 2255 motion, a direct appeal, and sentence computation errors — the work of shortening a sentence already imposed.

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 Florence, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. Address, contact details, mailing addresses, population and posted documents.
• Visiting Regulations, Institution Supplement FLF 5267.09b, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FCI Florence, 2018. Visiting hours and gate times, visitor limits, dress code, permitted items, camp procedures, directions and the visiting-status recording; replaced FLF 5267.09a (2017).
• FCI Florence Admission and Orientation Handbook, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FCI Florence, 2022. Daily schedule, counts, sick call, mail, commissary procedure and local spending limit, telephone and email rules, education, RDAP interviews, religious services, tort claims and the law library.
• FCI Florence Commissary List, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FCI Florence. Restriction tiers, category limits and prices.
• FCI Florence Camp Commissary List, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FCI Florence. Restriction tiers, possession limits and prices at the camp.
• Legal Activities, Inmate, Institution Supplement FLM 1315.07F, Federal Bureau of Prisons, FCC Florence, 2010. Linked from this facility’s page; it governs ADX Florence and the camp (copying charges, the indigence threshold, the imminent-deadline definition and the three-cubic-foot limit).
• Press Releases, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2023. Includes the four releases, posted from December 2020 to January 2023, reporting deaths at FCI Florence and its satellite camp.
• Trust Fund/Deposit Fund Manual, Program Statement 4500.13, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. The $460 monthly spending limit and the wire-transfer posting rule.
• Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification, Program Statement 5100.08, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2006. Amended through 2026.
• Inmate Telephone Regulations, Program Statement 5264.09, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. The 510-minute monthly allowance, call length and the gap between calls; replaced Program Statement 5264.08 (2008).
• Psychology Treatment Programs, Program Statement 5330.11, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2009. Amended in 2016. RDAP interview timing.
• Community Corrections Center (CCC) Utilization and Transfer Procedure, Program Statement 7310.04, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 1998. The timing of halfway-house referrals.
• First Step Act Approved Programs Guide, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Reentry Services Division, 2026. The August 2026 edition: the RDAP locations list, the Federal Prison Industries entry and the programs-by-institution table.
• Community Ties: Sending Money, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2026. Deposit routes and wire posting times.

Audits and inspections

• PREA Audit Report: FCC Florence, Colorado, Matthew Taylor, Corrections Consulting Services, LLC, 2026. Onsite visit May 19–21, 2026: capacity, population, admissions, length of stay, age range, physical plant, staffing and accreditation.
• FCI Florence: Report on Findings and Recommendations, District of Columbia Corrections Information Council, 2023. Inspection of April 19–20, 2023, with the Bureau of Prisons’ written responses.
• Evaluation of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Efforts to Address Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Committed by Inmates Toward Staff (Report 23-034), U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2023.
• Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Use of Restrictive Housing for Inmates with Mental Illness (Report 17-05), U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2017. Its site visit at this complex was to ADX Florence.

Court records

• Indictment, United States v. Popma, No. 1:26-cr-00130-WJM, U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, 2026. The composition of the complex, the camp’s administration by FCI Florence, and the alleged scheme, amounts and dates.
• BOP SIS Lieutenant Indicted and Arrested for Bribery, Conspiracy to Introduce Contraband and Illegal Wiretapping, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2026. Michael Popma’s indictment and arrest.
• Former BOP Material Handler Supervisor Sentenced for Introduction of Contraband, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2025. Nicholaus Valentine’s sentence.
• King v. United States, No. 1:21-cv-01421-CNS-KAS, U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, 2025. Dismissal of the Federal Tort Claims Act and Bivens claims.
• BOP Materials Handler Supervisor Indicted and Arrested for Bribery, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2024. Nicholaus Valentine’s indictment and arrest.
• Former BOP Correctional Officer Sentenced for Bribery, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2024. Gage Zupancic’s sentence.
• Former BOP Correctional Officer Pleaded Guilty to Bribery, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2023. Gage Zupancic’s guilty plea.
• Non-DOJ Individual Sentenced for Aiding and Abetting the Escape of Two BOP Inmates, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2022. Lady Budden’s sentence.
• Non-DOJ Individual Indicted and Arrested for Aiding and Abetting Escape of Two BOP Inmates, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2021. Lady Budden’s indictment and arrest.
• Four Bureau of Prison Inmates Found Guilty of Second Degree Murder and Conspiracy, U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, 2011. The convictions for the killing of Pablo Zuniga-Garcia.
• Monzer Al Kassar Sentenced, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, 2009. Monzer Al Kassar’s thirty-year sentence.

News and other sources

• How close is Aspen Acres fire to ADX Florence Supermax prison?, Colorado Politics, 2026.
• Court documents say Colorado prison supervisor accused of being bribed by inmate, CBS News Colorado, 2026.
• Internet “Spam King” Found Dead, U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, 2008. Edward Davidson’s walkaway from the camp and death.
• 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e), Imprisonment of a convicted person, U.S. Code (Legal Information Institute).

Sources reviewed September 2026.

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