Women’s Federal Prisons

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

Six federal prisons house only women — FPC Alderson, FCI Aliceville, FPC Bryan, FMC Carswell, FCI Estill and FCI Waseca — and 21 more hold women alongside men, for 27 federal facilities in total where a woman can be designated. FCI Dublin, which appears on almost every list still published, is no longer on the Bureau’s facility roster; its published population is zero.

Two things about women’s federal prisons are almost never explained anywhere, and both change outcomes: women are scored on a completely different security-point scale than men, and there is no medium-security designation for women at all. This page carries the current roster, the female scoring tables reproduced from the Bureau’s own policy, and the pregnancy, parenting and hygiene protections that are statutory rather than discretionary.

Women’s federal prisons at a glance

Federal prisons housing only women	6 — Alderson, Aliceville, Bryan, Carswell, Estill, Waseca
Federal prisons housing women and men	21
Total facilities where a woman can be housed	27
Combined published population, female-only facilities	4,288 (BOP facility records, June 2026 capture; roster reconciled 5 September 2026)
Off the roster	FCI Dublin (California) — deactivated, population 0
Female security levels that exist	Minimum, Low, High, Administrative — there is no medium (PS 5100.08 at p. 15)
Female security point ranges	0–15 Minimum · 16–30 Low · 31+ High — against 0–11 / 12–15 / 16–23 / 24+ for men (PS 5100.08 at p. 14)
Only federal medical center for women	FMC Carswell, Fort Worth, Texas
The high-security option	The administrative unit at FMC Carswell (PS 5200.09 at p. 9)
Governing policy	PS 5200.09, Female Offender Manual — 19 February 2025, Change Notice 1 dated 31 July 2025
Restraints on pregnant women	Prohibited by statute — 18 U.S.C. § 4322
Free menstrual products	Required by statute — First Step Act § 611, note to 18 U.S.C. § 4042

Current as of 7 September 2026. Facility data is BOP’s own, from records captured 11 June 2026 and reconciled field-by-field against BOP’s live roster on 5 September 2026.

Every federal prison that houses women

This is the list. Populations are BOP’s published totals; where the Bureau publishes a breakdown between the main institution and a satellite camp, it is shown.

The six facilities that hold only women

Facility	State	Security	BOP population	Satellite camp	Judicial district	BOP region
FPC Alderson	West Virginia	Minimum — federal prison camp	474	— (is a camp)	Southern West Virginia	Mid-Atlantic
FCI Aliceville	Alabama	Low	973 (892 FCI, 81 camp)	Yes	Northern Alabama	Southeast
FPC Bryan	Texas	Minimum — federal prison camp	621	— (is a camp)	Southern Texas	South Central
FMC Carswell	Texas	Administrative — federal medical center	1,237 (1,005 FMC, 232 camp)	Yes	Northern Texas	South Central
FCI Estill	South Carolina	Low	145	Yes	South Carolina	Southeast
FCI Waseca	Minnesota	Low	838	No	Minnesota	North Central

Two of these are the answer to the most-asked follow-up question. The minimum-security women’s federal prisons are FPC Alderson and FPC Bryan, plus the adjacent minimum-security satellite camps at FCI Aliceville, FMC Carswell and FCI Estill — all three of which are female-only institutions, so their camps hold women. That is five minimum-security options for women in the entire federal system. See minimum security federal prisons for how camps differ from an FCI.

FMC Carswell is the only federal medical center for women. Every woman in federal custody who needs Care Level 4 medical placement is looking at one facility in Fort Worth, Texas. It is also where the Bureau’s administrative unit for high-security women sits (PS 5200.09 at p. 9). Both facts drive most of what families find hardest about distance and visiting. See Federal Medical Centers.

The 21 facilities that hold women and men

Most are detention centers — administrative-security facilities holding people who are pre-trial, in transit, or serving short sentences — where men and women are housed in separate units of the same building.

Facility	State	Security	BOP population	Judicial district	BOP region
MDC Brooklyn	New York	Administrative — detention	1,290	Eastern New York	Northeast
MCC Chicago	Illinois	Administrative — detention	532	Northern Illinois	North Central
FCI Danbury	Connecticut	Low, with camp	1,230 (1,118 FCI, 112 camp)	Connecticut	Northeast
FCI Greenville	Illinois	Medium, with camp	1,275 (1,160 FCI, 115 camp)	Southern Illinois	North Central
MDC Guaynabo	Puerto Rico	Administrative — detention	1,058	Puerto Rico / U.S. Virgin Islands	Southeast
FCI Hazelton	West Virginia	Medium, with a Secure Female Facility	1,614 (1,105 FCI, 509 SFF)	Northern West Virginia	Mid-Atlantic
FDC Honolulu	Hawaii	Administrative — detention	316	Hawaii	Western
FDC Houston	Texas	Administrative — detention	835	Southern Texas	South Central
FMC Lexington	Kentucky	Administrative — medical, with camp	1,332 (1,101 FMC, 231 camp)	Eastern Kentucky	Mid-Atlantic
MDC Los Angeles	California	Administrative — detention	937	Central California	Western
FCI Marianna	Florida	Medium, with camp	1,118 (877 FCI, 241 camp)	Northern Florida	Southeast
FDC Miami	Florida	Administrative — detention	1,246	Southern Florida	Southeast
FTC Oklahoma City	Oklahoma	Administrative — federal transfer center	1,435	Western Oklahoma	South Central
FCI Pekin	Illinois	Medium, with camp	1,303 (1,062 FCI, 241 camp)	Central Illinois	North Central
FDC Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	Administrative — detention	891	Eastern Pennsylvania	Northeast
FCI Phoenix	Arizona	Medium, with detention center and camp	1,072 (898 FCI & FDC, 174 camp)	Arizona	Western
MCC San Diego	California	Administrative — detention	606	Southern California	Western
FDC SeaTac	Washington	Administrative — detention	691	Western Washington	Western
FCI Tallahassee	Florida	Low, with detention center	1,209	Northern Florida	Southeast
FCI Tucson	Arizona	Medium, with detention center	443	Arizona	Western
FCI Victorville Medium I	California	Medium, with camp	1,580 (1,365 FCI, 215 camp)	Central California	Western

One honest caveat, because no competitor states it. For most of these mixed facilities BOP’s public record says only that the institution houses “male and female offenders.” It does not say which unit the women are in. Where the Bureau does say — FCI Hazelton’s Secure Female Facility, with its own published population of 509 — the page says so. Everywhere else, do not assume that a “medium security FCI” designation for a woman means the medium-security compound; women at these facilities are typically in a separate unit, a satellite camp or a detention wing. The unit team and the Designation and Sentence Computation Center can confirm; the public roster cannot.

FCI Dublin is closed, and any list that includes it is out of date

FCI Dublin in Dublin, California was a low-security women’s prison in the Western Region. It no longer appears on BOP’s facility roster: its published population is zero, its facility page no longer resolves, and the Bureau’s locations index does not list it. It was deactivated in 2024. Anyone with a live federal register number is housed somewhere else — the BOP Inmate Locator will say where.

We state this plainly because it is the most common way a published list of women’s federal prisons goes wrong, and because families searching for a facility that no longer exists lose time they do not have. We are not going to characterize the conduct that preceded the closure; that has been the subject of federal litigation and of criminal prosecutions, and it is not something a marketing page should summarize. What matters operationally is the fact of the closure and where to look instead.

How many federal prisons for women are there?

Six hold women exclusively. Twenty-one hold women and men. Twenty-seven in total. Those counts come from BOP’s own facility records — the inmate_sex field on each institution page — read across all 118 institutions on the Bureau’s live roster and reconciled on 5 September 2026.

Set against roughly 118 federal institutions in total, that is why women are, on average, held much further from home than men. The Bureau says so itself: “Females are incarcerated at much lower rates than males. As a result, there are fewer institutions housing female offenders, meaning females are, on average, housed at greater distances from home than men. Staff will consider location of children and families, not just release destination, and involve the inmates in a discussion of options” (PS 5200.09 at p. 9).

That sentence is worth quoting in a designation request. It is the Bureau’s own instruction that where the children live — not only the release address — is a factor staff are told to consider.

On the national count of women in federal prison: BOP publishes population totals by sex on its statistics pages, which are generated by client-side script and cannot be retrieved or verified from a static source. We are not going to print a number we could not check. What is verifiable from the facility records is that the six female-only institutions have a combined published population of 4,288 — a figure that excludes every woman held at one of the 21 mixed facilities, and therefore understates the total. For the current national figure, BOP’s own statistics page is the source.

Women are scored on a different security scale

This is the section that changes outcomes and that almost nobody covers.

The Bureau runs one classification instrument, but it applies different cut-points to men and women, and it recognizes fewer security levels for women. PS 5100.08 at p. 14 sets out both scales side by side:

Security level	Custody level	Male point range	Female point range
Minimum	Community and Out	0–11 points	0–15 points
Low	Out and In	12–15 points	16–30 points
Medium	Out and In	16–23 points	—
High	In and Maximum	24+ points	31+ points
Administrative	All custody levels	All point totals	All point totals

Reproduced from PS 5100.08 at p. 14. The policy’s own footnote at p. 15 reads: “Female security level institutions are classified as Minimum, Low, High and Administrative.”

Read that table carefully, because two consequences follow.

There is no medium-security designation for women. The scale runs Minimum, Low, then straight to High. A woman scoring 30 points is Low; at 31 she is High. For a man, 16 points is already Medium.

The bands are much wider. A woman can carry up to 15 points and still be minimum-security — the entire male minimum band plus the whole male low band. She can carry up to 30 and still be low-security, a range that on the male scale covers Low, Medium and the bottom of High. The Bureau’s own policy also warns against pushing women up artificially: “Management variables should not be used to over-classify females” (PS 5200.09 at p. 9).

The practical effect: a woman and a man with identical scores can end up in very different places. If a female designation looks wrong, the first thing to check is whether the female scale was actually used. The scoring itself is explained at inmate security designation and custody classification and across our security levels pages.

Public Safety Factors on the female scale

A Public Safety Factor overrides the point score and floors the security level. The female version — Table 5-3, Security Designation Table (Females) — is reproduced from PS 5100.08 at p. 62:

Security point total	Public Safety Factor	Resulting security level
0–15	No Public Safety Factors	Minimum
0–15	Deportable Alien	Low
0–15	Juvenile Violence	Low
0–15	Serious Telephone Abuse	Low
0–15	Sex Offender	Low
0–15	Threat to Government Officials	Low
0–15	Violent Behavior	Low
0–15	Prison Disturbance	High
0–15	Serious Escape	High
16–30	No Public Safety Factors	Low
16–30	Prison Disturbance	High
16–30	Serious Escape	High
31+	—	High

Notice how much work a single Public Safety Factor does on this scale. A woman with a low point score and one of six listed factors goes from Minimum to Low — meaning she loses a camp. A Prison Disturbance or Serious Escape factor takes her to High regardless of score, and High for a woman means the administrative unit.

The female custody variance table

At a woman’s first program review — roughly seven months after arrival — and annually after that, the Bureau scores custody classification on form BP-338 and applies a Custody Variance that adds to or subtracts from the base score. Men and women use different matrices. Table 6-1(F), the Female Custody Variance Table, is reproduced from PS 5100.08 at p. 77:

Base score ↓ / Custody total →	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
0–15	+15	+11	+7	+4	+3	+2	+1	+1	0	0	0	0	−2	−4	−8	−12	−16
16–30	+15	+11	+7	+4	+3	+2	+1	+1	0	0	0	0	0	−4	−8	−12	−16
31+	+15	+11	+7	+4	+3	+2	+1	+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	−1	−5	−8

The policy’s own worked example: “A female inmate has a Base Score of 17 points and a Custody Total of 11 points. By using the Custody Variance Matrix, the intersecting point for these two items is +2” (PS 5100.08 at p. 77). The identical example on the male table produces +3.

Two rules govern the arithmetic. If the variance is zero, the security total equals the base score. If applying the variance produces a negative number, use zero (PS 5100.08 at p. 78). And note where the negative numbers sit: on the female table a high custody total can pull as much as 16 points off the base score — a swing that can move a woman down a full security level. That is what good institutional adjustment is worth on this scale, and it is why program participation and a clean disciplinary record matter more than most people realize. See inmate discipline proceedings.

The Female Offender Manual: the policy nobody cites

Most of what is specific to women in federal prison lives in one document that almost no published guide mentions: Program Statement 5200.09, Female Offender Manual, dated 19 February 2025, with Change Notice 1 dated 31 July 2025. It rescinded PS 5200.07 CN-1 (8 July 2022).

Its stated purpose is “to ensure the Bureau provides programs, services, and policies that are trauma-informed and address the unique needs of incarcerated females,” while stating explicitly that it “is not intended to provide preferential treatment based solely on sex” (PS 5200.09 at p. 3).

The manual creates real, checkable obligations:

• A Women and Special Populations Branch in Central Office, “led by a licensed clinical psychologist,” which issues an annual report on the state of female offenders in the Bureau and obtains feedback from incarcerated women annually (p. 5).
• A Regional Female Offender Coordinator in each region, allotted “twenty percent of his/her duty time” to the role, meeting quarterly with the Branch (p. 6).
• Mandatory training for all staff at institutions housing women, including a trauma-informed correctional care module, with annual refreshers; Wardens must attend quarterly videoconferences with the Branch (p. 7).
• Programming minimums. Each minimum, low, administrative or pretrial facility housing women must offer at least one female-specific program from the First Step Act Approved Programs Guide each quarter; holdover facilities at least one annually; and female-specific programming “must also be available to females in restrictive housing and in FMC Carswell’s Administrative Unit” (pp. 11–12).
• Standardized female-specific commissary lists at every institution housing women (p. 13).
• A Children’s Center in every visiting room, and child-friendly materials in the waiting area (p. 13).

Our explainer is at the Female Offender Manual.

Applied Insight — Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, Managing Director: When a woman tells us there is no programming at her facility, the useful move is rarely a general complaint. It is to name the quarterly requirement, name the Regional Female Offender Coordinator role, and ask, in writing, which First Step Act Approved Programs Guide program designed for females was offered this quarter and where the participation was recorded. PS 5200.09 requires institutions to compile a list of female-specific programs and post it at the facility, with a copy to the regional coordinator quarterly. A request that asks for the posted list is answerable. A request that asks for “more programs” is not.

Programs built for women

Female Integrated Treatment (FIT)

FIT is the Bureau’s flagship residential program for women, governed by PS 5240.01, Female Integrated Treatment, dated 11 August 2022. It is a joint program of the Women and Special Populations Branch and Psychology Services, run as a modified therapeutic community on a unit separate from general population.

The structure is specific and measurable:

• At least 15 contact hours a week of face-to-face treatment, excluding holidays and weekends (PS 5240.01 at p. 5).
• Staffing ratios written into policy: treatment specialists carry a caseload of 1:24, and no more than 40 women may be assigned to a psychologist (p. 3).
• A psychosocial interview within 30 days of admission to formal programming, and a documented treatment plan within 30 working days (pp. 5–6).
• A dedicated staff complement: FIT Coordinator, Drug Abuse Program Coordinator, FIT psychologists, FIT treatment specialists, and — added at implementation — an additional vocational instructor (p. 3).
• A daily community meeting, generally 30 to 60 minutes, that all treatment staff attend (p. 7).
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as the primary intervention, integrated across mental illness, substance use and trauma rather than treated separately (p. 6).

FIT contains a Residential Drug Abuse Program component, overseen by the Drug Abuse Program Coordinator (p. 4), which matters because RDAP completion can carry a sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e). See the Residential Drug Abuse Program.

Two access facts worth knowing. Female institutions without FIT must tell women about it — “that information must include, at a minimum, where the program is located, qualifications specific to the mission at each site, and how to request transfer.” And a written refusal is final for transfer purposes: “Any inmate submitting a written request of intent to refuse the program will not be submitted for transfer” (PS 5240.01 at p. 5). Removal from the program is not supposed to be summary — treatment interventions ordinarily come first, with the meeting, the assigned intervention, the warning and the documentation all required before removal is considered (p. 8). Our explainer is at Female Integrated Treatment.

Resolve, Foundation, and the female versions of national programs

Beyond FIT, PS 5200.09 names two programs by name and one structural commitment.

Resolve is the Bureau’s trauma-treatment program. “Ordinarily, all minimum and low security facilities housing female offenders have a Resolve Program.” Administrative facilities holding mainly pretrial women are not required to run the full program but “ordinarily provide the Trauma in Life Workshop quarterly” (PS 5200.09 at p. 11).

Foundation is “a program designed to assist women in assessing their individual needs and translating that information into attainable goals while building a supportive community.” It must be offered at least once annually at minimum, low, administrative and pretrial facilities, is intended for women at the start of a sentence, and is ordinarily delivered by the Social Worker or Special Populations Coordinator (p. 12).

And where a national program needs adapting, Central Office builds a female version: the manual names female versions of the Residential Drug Abuse Program, Skills, and Sex Offender Treatment Programs (p. 11). On vocational training, the policy directs that “job skill or training opportunities are provided to females in male-dominated fields as well as more traditional career paths” (p. 13). See inmate work assignments and sex offender treatment programs.

Parenting and family programs

PS 5355.04, Parenting, Children, and Families (14 April 2022) applies to everyone but bears hardest on women. It runs a two-phase model: a standardized four-session National Parenting Program, which must be offered quarterly (at least every six months for pretrial), and then phase-two specialty programs for particular groups — parents of adolescents, grandparents raising grandchildren — drawn from the First Step Act Approved Programs Guide (at p. 6). People who complete phase one get priority for phase two.

Every institution must hold at least one children-and-family event annually (p. 7), and every institution must have a designated Children’s Center in the visiting room accommodating children from infancy to age 12, with toys, board games, books and building blocks; a facility that physically cannot build one must apply for a waiver through the Regional Director (pp. 9–10).

The manual also flags a hard legal deadline that catches families off guard: federal child welfare law requires child welfare agencies to initiate termination of parental rights if a child has been in foster care for 15 of the most recent 22 months, and agencies may move sooner — including where they cannot reach the parent. “Demonstration of contact with the child can be very important,” and staff are directed to help a parent who produces documentation of TPR proceedings coordinate participation, including arranging a call or obtaining institution records (PS 5355.04 at p. 9). This is the single most time-sensitive family issue in a woman’s federal sentence. See parenting and family programs and inmate visitation.

Pregnancy in federal custody

Restraints: a statutory prohibition, not a policy

Section 301 of the First Step Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 4322, prohibits placing a pregnant prisoner in restraints “beginning on the date on which pregnancy is confirmed by a healthcare professional, and ending at the conclusion of postpartum recovery.” Postpartum recovery is defined as the 12-week period after delivery, or longer if the responsible healthcare professional says so, and it includes the entire hospital or infirmary stay. The prohibition binds both the Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshals Service (reproduced in full at PS 5200.09 at pp. 16–18).

The exceptions are narrow and the limits on them are absolute:

• Restraints are permitted only where a corrections official determines the woman is “an immediate and credible flight risk that cannot reasonably be prevented by other means,” or “poses an immediate and serious threat of harm to herself or others that cannot reasonably be prevented by other means,” or where a healthcare professional determines restraints are appropriate for her medical safety.
• Even then, only the least restrictive restraints necessary may be used, and the statute forbids restraints around the ankles, legs or waist, restraining hands behind the back, 4-point restraints, or attaching one prisoner to another.
• A healthcare professional’s request overrides. “Upon the request of a healthcare professional … a corrections official or United States marshal, as applicable, shall refrain from using restraints on the prisoner or shall remove restraints.”
• A written report is mandatory within 30 days of any use, to the Director and to the healthcare professional, describing the reasoning, the type and duration of restraints, and any observed physical effects.
• Notice within 48 hours. A woman must be told of these restrictions, and how to report a violation, no later than 48 hours after pregnancy is confirmed.

The Bureau’s implementation adds internal reporting: use of restraints on a pregnant woman “must be reported by the Warden to the Assistant Directors of Correctional Programs Division and Health Services Division as well as the Administrator of the Women and Special Populations Branch, Central Office” (PS 5200.09 at p. 19). A PRE-NATAL Medical Duty Status code must be loaded within one calendar day, replaced by a POSTPARTUM code for the 12-week recovery period.

Restrictive housing. PS 5200.09 quotes the Department of Justice’s Report and Recommendations Concerning The Use of Restrictive Housing: women who are pregnant, postpartum, or who recently had a miscarriage or terminated pregnancy “should not be placed in restrictive housing,” and in the rare case where it happens as a temporary response to behavior posing serious and immediate risk of physical harm, the decision “must be approved by the agency’s senior official overseeing women’s programs and services, in consultation with senior officials in health services, and must be reviewed every 24 hours.” Bureau policy requires the Warden to contact the Women and Special Populations Branch Administrator, the Bureau Medical Director and the Correctional Services Administrator before any such placement (PS 5200.09 at pp. 24–25). See solitary confinement and Special Housing Units.

Prenatal and postpartum medical care

PS 6031.06, Patient Care, reissued 22 June 2026, sets the clinical side. Pregnancy is screened for at intake, “as soon as practical upon arrival,” before the initial physical (at p. 19). Once confirmed, the woman is referred to a physician within 14 days and to an obstetrician-gynecologist within eight weeks of pregnancy, and Psychology Services is notified for counseling (p. 26).

Every pregnant woman gets: screening for HIV, hepatitis, diabetes and hypertension unless she opts out; a Medical Duty Status restriction prohibiting restraints; restrictions authorizing a lower bunk, housing closer to the medical unit, and work or recreation limits where clinically indicated; prenatal vitamins if indicated; and a nutritional evaluation (p. 26). Childbirth takes place at a community hospital outside the institution (PS 5200.09 at p. 16).

Breast milk. “Female offenders are allowed to pump their breast milk and store it upon request. The breast pump is considered DME” — durable medical equipment — “and should be documented on the MDS” (PS 6031.06 at p. 26). The Female Offender Manual is more detailed and slightly different: women who have given birth “have the option to pump breast milk with a pump provided by the institution for as long as desired,” ordinarily disposing of the milk under staff supervision, with storage at the facility possible only where the Warden requests approval from the Health Services Division. Nursing infants is permitted in the visiting room (PS 5200.09 at p. 25).

Also in the manual: pregnant women are issued different uniforms on notification of pregnancy, tailored for comfort; medical staff may authorize additional nutritional or commissary items; and unit staff “may consider giving additional family visits or telephone calls, consistent with national guidance, as the time of delivery nears, and after the birth” (PS 5200.09 at pp. 24–25). A psychologist meets with every woman who gives birth in Bureau custody to screen for postpartum depression (PS 5355.04 at p. 8).

Contraception. Prescription birth control is limited by the Bureau National Formulary. “Sterilization, intrauterine devices (IUDs), or other implanted contraceptive devices will not be made available to female offenders while housed in a Bureau facility, excluding RRCs, when prescribed for birth control.” Existing IUDs and implants are removed by a credentialed clinician per manufacturer directions and on request (PS 6031.06 at pp. 25–26). Full medical detail is at medical care in federal prison and the Patient Care policy.

MINT and the Residential Parenting Program

The Bureau runs two residential programs for pregnant women, and their names are frequently reported wrongly.

Mothers and Infants Together (MINT) — not “Nurturing” — “is a residential program promoting bonding skills for designated pregnant inmates housed in RRC Facilities. The inmate resides with the child at all times inside a contract Residential Reentry Center” (PS 5200.09 at p. 22). Women ordinarily enter during their last two months of pregnancy, and after birth get at least three additional months to bond with the child, “although a minimum of six months is recommended,” before returning to an institution to finish the sentence if necessary. The Chief Executive Officer may approve early or extended placement on the treating obstetrician’s recommendation with the Clinical Director’s concurrence; placement beyond 180 days needs the Regional Director’s approval.

To qualify, a woman must be pregnant on commitment with an expected delivery before release, and she or a guardian must assume financial responsibility for the child’s care while at the RRC. Three disqualifiers are stated flatly: a woman “who becomes pregnant while on furlough, has more than five years remaining to serve on her sentence(s), or plans to place her baby up for adoption must not be referred for MINT placement” (p. 23). Referrals should name a placement date roughly two months before the expected delivery.

The Residential Parenting Program (RPP) is different and far less known. The Bureau has an inter-governmental agreement with the Washington Department of Corrections placing qualified pregnant women at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor, where a woman may live with her child for up to 30 months after delivery. After 30 months she is released home if the sentence is complete, or moved to home confinement if it is not and she meets the statutory requirements. Participants transfer to Washington state custody, care for the child in a supervised environment, and have childcare provided while they attend programming (PS 5200.09 at p. 23).

RPP eligibility is a checklist (p. 24): pregnant on commitment with expected delivery before release; scored minimum security with Out or Community custody; release date or home-detention eligibility date within 30 months of the expected delivery; no 200-series or higher incident reports in the last six months; satisfactory or better work evaluations; clear of serious disciplinary violations of an aggressive or assaultive nature; no current no-contact orders with minor children, no sex offense convictions, no crimes against a child, no domestic violence or other violent convictions, and no founded or inconclusive CPS referrals; physically and mentally capable of caring for a child as determined by medical and mental health staff; and a volunteer. Furloughs into RPP are accepted only Tuesday through Thursday, and the release residence can be any state.

Nothing on this page is a statement that any particular person qualifies for either program. Both are discretionary, both are capacity-limited, and eligibility is decided by the Bureau on the record in front of it.

Newborn medical costs. The Bureau covers the child’s medical expenses for the first three days after a routine vaginal birth or up to seven days for a cesarean section, extendable by the Regional Director for an additional seven days in extenuating circumstances. Before the birth the mother must arrange a custodian, who is asked to sign a Statement of Responsibility accepting medical costs beyond that window (PS 5200.09 at pp. 21–22). Child placement itself is the mother’s responsibility, with counseling by institution staff and community agencies (28 C.F.R. § 551.24, reproduced at PS 5200.09 at p. 21).

Menstrual products are free, by statute

This is federal law, not Bureau discretion. Section 611 of the First Step Act of 2018 — Pub. L. 115-391, title VI, § 611, 132 Stat. 5247, set out as a note to 18 U.S.C. § 4042 — provides:

(a) Availability.— The Director of the Bureau of Prisons shall make the healthcare products described in subsection (c) available to prisoners for free, in a quantity that is appropriate to the healthcare needs of each prisoner. (b) Quality Products.— The Director shall ensure that the healthcare products provided under this section conform with applicable industry standards. (c) Products.— The healthcare products described in this subsection are tampons and sanitary napkins.

The Bureau’s implementation goes further and is unusually specific. Wardens must ensure women are provided, at no cost: tampons in regular and super size; maxi pads with wings in regular and super size; and regular panty liners — five products. Hair styling irons and hair dryers “must also be made available.” And the rules on how they are issued are the operative part (PS 5200.09 at p. 14):

• “In issuing feminine hygiene products, staff may not ration these items.”
• For general population, “all products must be made available in common areas, either a bathroom or accessible area of the housing unit. Women must have access to these items at all times of the day and may keep them in their cell.”
• “Monthly issuance of these items is strictly prohibited, and unit replenishment of supplies must be done with 24 hours of notification that a particular product is lacking.”
• “For women in restrictive housing, all five products must be available for issuance on a daily basis.”
• “Misuse of items for other than intended purposes is not cause for withholding access, but is managed via routine disciplinary procedures.”

Rationing, monthly-only issuance, and withholding as a disciplinary measure are each expressly prohibited. If any of those is happening, the policy language above is what a written request or an administrative remedy should quote. See prison grievances and the Administrative Remedy Program.

Note also that the Health Services Unit does not manage these products: “Feminine hygiene products are not considered to be medical supplies or equipment and are not managed by HSUs unless there are specific related comorbidities” (PS 6031.06 at p. 27). A request routed to Health Services will go nowhere; it belongs with the unit team or the Warden.

Medical care for women

Women’s health requirements are built into the general patient-care policy rather than a separate one. At the comprehensive medical evaluation, female-specific assessments must include a gynecological and obstetrical history “including sexual activity and any recent rape history”; a pelvic examination; a Pap smear and cultures for chlamydia, gonorrhea or other infections where clinically indicated; and a clinical breast exam where applicable (PS 6031.06 at pp. 21–22). Chaperones must be made available “anytime a female inmate is in a state of undress as part of a medical evaluation,” with the person’s sex taken into account when requesting one (p. 57).

Mammography is offered to sentenced women at high risk of breast cancer and at the intervals set in the Medical Director’s preventive health guidance; pre-sentenced and holdover women should be scheduled where feasible. A refusal is recorded on form BP-A0358 (PS 6031.06 at p. 34). Where a mastectomy is performed to treat cancer, breast reconstruction is categorized as “Medically Necessary, Not Emergent” and goes through the institution’s Utilization Review Committee (p. 35). That classification is worth knowing: it is not elective.

The Bureau also states, in its own policy, that “women utilize health services at greater rates than men” (PS 6031.06 at p. 25). Everything else about how care works inside — the $2 co-pay and its eight exemptions, sick call, chronic care clinics, dental — is at medical care in federal prison.

PREA, safety, and reporting sexual abuse

The Prison Rape Elimination Act standards at 28 C.F.R. part 115 bind BOP, and the Bureau implements them through PS 5333.01, Sexually Abusive Behavior Prevention and Intervention Program Manual, reissued 19 March 2026, which rescinded PS 5324.12 CN-1 (18 February 2025).

The administrative remedy system carries a PREA-specific fast track that most people do not know exists. For a remedy alleging a substantial risk of imminent sexual abuse, “an expedited BP-9 response shall be provided within 48 hours,” and best efforts should be made to provide BP-10 and BP-11 responses within five calendar days (PS 1330.18 at p. 16). A grievance alleging sexual abuse is also treated as sensitive, meaning that where the person reasonably believes their safety or well-being would be endangered if the request became known at the institution, it may be submitted directly to the Regional Director rather than through the Warden (PS 1330.18 at p. 6; 28 C.F.R. § 542.14(d)(1)).

Recent PREA history at a facility is screened for at medical intake (PS 6031.06 at p. 19). Every BOP institution publishes a PREA audit report on its own facility page. See our PREA explainer and violence and sexual assault in prison.

There is also a route out of custody that specifically contemplates abuse in custody: compassionate release for victims of abuse.

What changed recently in women’s federal prisons

Policy or fact	Date	What changed
FCI Dublin off BOP’s roster	Confirmed 5 September 2026	The facility no longer appears in BOP’s locations index and its page no longer resolves. Population 0. Any list of women’s federal prisons that includes it as operating is wrong.
PS 5200.09, Female Offender Manual	19 February 2025; CN-1 31 July 2025	Rescinded PS 5200.07 CN-1 (8 July 2022). The Change Notice amended the abortion provisions at 28 C.F.R. § 551.23 to conform to a January 2025 Executive Order on the Hyde Amendment (PS 5200.09 at pp. 1–2).
PS 5333.01, Sexually Abusive Behavior	19 March 2026	Rescinded PS 5324.12 CN-1 and retitled the policy a “Program Manual.”
PS 6031.06, Patient Care	22 June 2026	Rescinded PS 6031.05 CN-2. Merged the separate history-and-physical and 14/30-day evaluations into one comprehensive medical evaluation; removed the Utilization Review and Radiology sections (at p. 1). Female-specific assessment requirements survive intact.
FMC Lexington satellite camp	Announced 1 July 2026	On the Bureau’s closure list. Lexington holds both men and women. The FMC itself was not announced for closure (BOP press release). See federal prison closures.
PS 5100.08 definitions	CN-3	The manual’s Chapter 2 definitions of “female,” “male,” “sex,” “man” and “woman” were added by change notice (PS 5100.08 at p. 3). The female security point ranges and Tables 5-3 and 6-1(F) are unchanged.

Working with our team on a women’s designation or transfer

Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. is a nationwide federal practice with more than 20 years of federal and appellate criminal defense experience, run on an intentionally small caseload from offices in Columbia and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. On the women’s side, the work is usually one of four things: checking that a designation was actually scored on the female scale and that a management variable was not used to over-classify; making a proximity case that names where the children live, as PS 5200.09 directs staff to consider; documenting a programming or hygiene-access failure against the policy language that creates the obligation; or building the administrative record when medical or pregnancy-related care has not arrived. Where the destination is a court — a compassionate release motion, a habeas petition, or litigation about conditions — the legal work is handled by Elizabeth Franklin-Best and the firm’s attorneys.

We do not promise transfers, program placements or release; all of those are discretionary. What we can do is make sure the request in front of the decision-maker is the one the policy actually contemplates. To talk it through, contact our office at (843) 620-1100.

For the rest of the system, see federal prison security levels, medical care in federal prison, how to prepare for prison, and the full Bureau of Prisons facility directory.

Frequently Asked Questions About Women’s Federal Prisons

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