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Federal Prisons in New Hampshire

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

Federal prisons in New Hampshire at a glance

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates one institution in New Hampshire, FCI Berlin, with a satellite camp beside it; the two held 889 people as of September 2026. Berlin sits in the Bureau’s Northeast Region, which is run from Philadelphia.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
FCI BerlinFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen823Camp: 66BerlinDistrict of New Hampshire
Total1 institution82366
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

One line here will date before the rest. The Justice Department’s Inspector General lists an inspection of FCI Berlin among its ongoing work: a report on this institution is expected but does not yet exist, and nothing here rests on it.

How many federal prisons are in New Hampshire?

One. FCI Berlin is the only institution New Hampshire has on the Bureau of Prisons roster, and roster institutions are what this page counts. It is a medium-security prison for men in Coos County, in the far north of the state, with a minimum-security satellite camp counted inside its row. The roster records both as holding men. There is no penitentiary, medical center or federal detention center here, so medium is the highest security level the Bureau operates in the state. One further thing is true of this address and almost nowhere else: Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds civil immigration detainees inside the prison, under its own visiting hours, telephone line and locator. What the levels mean is under security levels; the rest of the estate is indexed in the Bureau of Prisons directory.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees New Hampshire?

The Northeast Regional Office, in Philadelphia. Berlin answers to the Northeast Region, the second rung of the administrative remedy process: Program Statement 1330.18 provides at pp. 6–7 that an inmate who is not satisfied with the Warden’s response “may submit an Appeal on the appropriate form (BP-10) to the appropriate Regional Director within 20 calendar days of the date the Warden signed the response.” Dated, exhausted complaints matter at an institution under inspection. The first rung is our guide to filing a BP-9.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from New Hampshire?

A single office, and it sits well to the south. New Hampshire constitutes one judicial district under 28 U.S.C. § 109, and the Bureau’s page for RRM New York prints the District of New Hampshire among the districts it lists. No second reentry office prints any part of the state.

The office that matters is the one for the district a person is going home to, which is not necessarily this one. 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.” Berlin holds men sentenced far outside New England, and for them release planning belongs to whichever office prints their home district.

The referral decision comes round earlier than families expect. Program Statement 7310.04 provides at p. 13 that “Normally 11 to 13 months before each inmate’s probable release date, the unit team shall decide whether to refer an inmate to a Community Corrections program.” Distance from home is among the things a team can be asked to weigh there. See federal halfway houses.

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

Which database to search is the first question here, not the second. The inmate locator covers the federal prison system and takes a register number, or a first and a last name together; a surname alone returns an error. It does not cover people held at Berlin for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or anyone in the state prison down the road.

Mail goes to a post office box, not the street address, and the same box serves the camp; an immigration detainee there needs a different addressee line again. The blocks are on our FCI Berlin page, the general rules under writing to someone inside.

Visiting is the trap. The prison’s supplement gives Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays through the afternoon; Immigration and Customs Enforcement allows family visits at the same address only in a short window early on those mornings, so a family driving north on the prison’s hours arrives after the detainee’s window has shut. Confirm which set applies, and see visitation.

Money works identically across the federal system: lockbox, Western Union Quick Collect or MoneyGram. 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 New Hampshire are closing or have closed?

None, on either count. The Bureau’s announcement of July 1, 2026 named six institutions for closure and two camps for conversion, and no New Hampshire facility is among them; both Berlin rows carry populations on the roster snapshot behind this page.

The mix-up here is not a closed prison but a neighboring one. Two prisons stand on East Milan Road, and only one is federal: Northern New Hampshire Correctional Facility is run by the New Hampshire Department of Corrections, and the Bureau’s own driving directions take visitors past it. The national record of Bureau closures is in our explainer on major federal prison closures.

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

One. FCI Berlin, in Coos County, is the state’s only Bureau of Prisons institution: a medium-security prison for men with a minimum-security satellite camp, which the roster folds into the institution’s row instead of listing separately. Nothing else in the state belongs to the Bureau, and no federal complex sits here.

What is the largest federal prison in New Hampshire by population?

New Hampshire has one federal prison rather than several, so there is nothing to rank. FCI Berlin and its satellite camp held 889 people between them as of September 2026, which the Bureau prints as two rows: 823 at the institution and 66 at the camp.

Does New Hampshire have a high-security penitentiary or a federal prison camp?

No penitentiary. The state’s only federal prison is rated medium, the highest level the Bureau operates here. There is a camp, but it is the minimum-security satellite attached to FCI Berlin, sharing that institution’s row, not a free-standing prison camp.

Are any women held in federal custody in New Hampshire?

Not in a Bureau of Prisons institution. The roster records FCI Berlin and its camp as holding men, and there is no other federal prison in the state, so a woman serving a federal sentence is held outside New Hampshire, in another state entirely.

Does FCI Berlin hold immigration detainees?

Yes. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds civil immigration detainees at the same address, under its Boston Field Office, with its own visiting schedule, telephone line, mail format and online locator. A family searching the Bureau’s locator for someone in immigration custody there will not find them.

How do I look up someone held in a New Hampshire federal prison?

Use the Bureau’s inmate locator, which searches the whole federal system by register number or by a first and a last name together. It does not reach immigration detainees at FCI Berlin, or anyone in New Hampshire state custody; those sit in two other systems.

Which regional office covers the federal prison in New Hampshire?

The Northeast Regional Office, in Philadelphia. It is where a warden’s answer is appealed: the BP-10 goes to the Regional Director within twenty calendar days of the date the warden signed the response, and that is the second rung of the administrative remedy program.

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

RRM New York, whose Bureau page prints the District of New Hampshire; no other reentry office prints any part of the state. Which office handles a case depends on the district the person is releasing to, so a man leaving Berlin for another state is elsewhere’s work.

Can someone ask to be designated to a federal prison in New Hampshire?

A request can be made, and a judge can recommend a facility, but the decision belongs to the Bureau. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) it “shall designate the place of the prisoner’s imprisonment” and, subject to the statutory factors, 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 New Hampshire federal prison?

Three problems recur at the state’s one institution, all of them on its own record. Programs: the Bureau’s lists do not place a Residential Drug Abuse Program at Berlin, so for a man whose presentence report documents substance abuse the argument is for a transfer request or a judicial recommendation made early — one of the problems we work on inside. Distance: Berlin is far from every district that sends men here, so visiting, family ties and release planning are arguable on a redesignation request. Custody: a person held here for Immigration and Customs Enforcement is on a different schedule, locator and set of contacts, and weeks can pass before a family finds them. Discipline 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 New Hampshire 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

Audits and inspections

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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