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Federal Prisons in Georgia

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

Federal prisons in Georgia at a glance

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates 2 institutions in Georgia, one of them carrying both a satellite camp and a Federal Satellite Low, holding 3,551 people as of September 2026. Both are recorded in the Bureau’s Southeast Region, run from an office on the same Atlanta street as one of them.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
FCI JesupFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen1,049Camp: 130 · FSL: 494JesupSouthern District of Georgia
FCI AtlantaFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen1,878—AtlantaNorthern District of Georgia
Total2 institutions2,927624
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

One of the two answers to a name much of the internet has not caught up with. On April 4, 2024 the penitentiary at Atlanta became FCI Atlanta, one of seven renamings the Bureau said matched missions and security levels that “had been previously changed but for a variety of reasons the names of the facilities were not.” No USP Atlanta record survives on the roster, so the table prints it as FCI Atlanta.

How many federal prisons are in Georgia?

Two, counting institutions on the Bureau of Prisons roster, which is what this page counts. FCI Atlanta is low security and FCI Jesup is medium; the state has no United States Penitentiary and no federal correctional complex. Jesup is the unusual one: the Bureau runs a Federal Satellite Low and a satellite camp on the same ground there, and the table itemizes those rows inside Jesup’s line rather than counting them as prisons. Neither holds women. Levels are explained under security levels and the system in the Bureau of Prisons directory; two former contract prisons keep pages in the closures section.

What is each federal prison in Georgia like?

FCI Jesup

Medium security for men in Wayne County, in the Southern District of Georgia, and the only institution in the Bureau of Prisons running a Federal Satellite Low and a satellite camp on the same ground. All three share one facility code, one telephone number and one visiting room, so a relative said to be “at the satellite” may be in either of two prisons with different rules. FCI Jesup separates them.

FCI Atlanta

Low security for men on the south side of the city, in the Northern District of Georgia, and the only Georgia institution with a detention center on its grounds, which the Bureau’s own facility page names. There is no camp. Sentenced men and people held before trial share the site, and since February 2025 it has also held people for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. See FCI Atlanta.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees Georgia?

The Southeast Regional Office, in Atlanta itself, on the same boulevard as the city’s prison. Both Georgia institutions are recorded in the Southeast Region. To a family the region is the second rung of the administrative remedy program, and every rung runs on a clock: Program Statement 1330.18 provides at p. 9 that, once filed, “response shall be made by the Warden or CCM within 20 calendar days; by the Regional Director within 30 calendar days; and by the General Counsel within 40 calendar days.” The rung before it is filing a BP-9.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from Georgia?

One office, covering the state whole. Under 28 U.S.C. § 90, “Georgia is divided into three judicial districts to be known as the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Georgia,” and the Bureau’s page for RRM Atlanta prints all three by name. No second reentry office claims any part of Georgia, and no district is left out.

The office is fixed by where a person is going home, not where the sentence was served, so a man leaving Jesup for an address out of state is another office’s matter. Program Statement 7310.04 tells the Warden at p. 12, where there is significant doubt about a referral, to consider “contacting the Chief USPO in the release district.” Timing is under federal halfway houses.

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

Searching is national, not state by state. The inmate locator answers to a register number or to a first and last name together. In Georgia its answer is rarely ambiguous, except at Jesup, where one facility name covers three prisons.

Mail is what Georgia families get wrong most often. Jesup publishes three blocks under two street numbers on one highway; Atlanta takes prisoner mail at a post office box, not at its street address. See writing to someone inside.

Visiting is set institution by institution, and the two do not resemble each other. Jesup’s supplement of May 15, 2025 gives the medium institution Sundays and Mondays while the low and the camp visit Fridays and Saturdays; for Atlanta the Bureau publishes no schedule at all. Telephone first, and see visitation.

Money never travels to a Georgia prison; it goes through national channels. Program Statement 4500.13 states at p. 79 that “Ordinarily, funds sent to an inmate via the Western Union Quick Collect/MoneyGram Program are posted to the inmate’s account within two hours of the transfer, if it was initiated between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. EST.” See sending money.

Which federal prisons in Georgia are closing or have closed?

Neither is closing and neither has closed. The Bureau’s announcement of July 1, 2026 named six institutions to close and two camps to convert; no Georgia facility appears on it.

What Georgia has instead is two privately operated prisons that once held federal prisoners under contract and keep pages here; neither was a Bureau institution or is counted above. GEO Group’s Form 10-K for 2021 records that the contract for the former D. Ray James Correctional Facility, at Folkston, expired on January 31, 2021. The former McRae Correctional Facility outlasted every other one in the country. Announcing on December 1, 2022 that it “has ended all contracts with privately-managed prisons,” the Bureau recorded that “the contract with the last private prison, McRae Correctional Facility, located in McRae, Georgia, ended on November 30, 2022.” See major federal prison closures.

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

Two institutions, on the roster snapshot behind this page: FCI Atlanta at low security and FCI Jesup at medium, both holding men. Jesup also runs a Federal Satellite Low and a satellite camp, which the population report prints as separate rows but counts inside that institution rather than as prisons.

What is the largest federal prison in Georgia by population?

FCI Atlanta, holding 1,878 people as of September 2026. It has neither camp nor satellite, so that one figure covers everyone held there. Counting Jesup’s camp and its Federal Satellite Low with the medium institution does not change the answer, and the Bureau prints those rows apart.

Does Georgia have a high-security federal penitentiary?

No. The Bureau runs no United States Penitentiary in Georgia today. Atlanta was one until April 4, 2024, when its name was brought into line with a mission and security level already changed; the roster now records it as low. Medium, at FCI Jesup, is the state’s highest.

Where are pretrial federal detainees held in Georgia?

At FCI Atlanta, the only Georgia institution with a detention center on its grounds, as the Bureau’s own facility page for it records. Georgia has no stand-alone federal detention center, and where a particular person sits is answered by the Bureau’s locator rather than by the district.

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

RRM Atlanta. The Bureau’s page for that office names the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Georgia, so it covers the state whole and no second office claims part of it. Which one applies turns on the release address, not on where a Georgia sentence was served.

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

A request can be made, and a sentencing court can recommend a facility, but the Bureau decides. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) it “shall designate the place of the prisoner’s imprisonment” and, subject to the factors the statute lists, place the prisoner “in a facility as close as practicable to the prisoner’s primary residence.”

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

Three problems recur at Georgia’s two institutions, on their own records. Placement: at Jesup the line between camp, low and medium is drawn by security points and a Public Safety Factor, which can rest on a presentence-report fact that is wrong — one of the problems we work on inside. Care: Atlanta is one of five institutions approved to run the Bureau’s residential mental health step-down program, and reaching it, or getting care without it, recurs in a building that keeps failing. Programs: drug treatment at Jesup cannot be reached from all three of its prisons, so a place can mean a redesignation first, and First Step Act time credit disputes are early release work.

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

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

Sources and currency

Bureau of Prisons documents

Court records and statutes

News and other sources

Sources reviewed September 2026.

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

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