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Federal Prisons in Washington

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

Federal prisons in Washington at a glance

The Federal Bureau of Prisons runs one institution in Washington, FDC SeaTac, a detention center holding 673 men and women as of September 2026. It has no camp, it is the Bureau’s only facility in the state, and it belongs to the Western Region, whose office is in Stockton, California.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
FDC SeaTacFederal Detention Center · AdministrativeMen and women673—SeattleWestern District of Washington
Total1 institution673—
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

How many federal prisons are in Washington?

One, and it is not a prison in the sense most people mean. The Bureau of Prisons roster carries a single Washington entry, FDC SeaTac, a Federal Detention Center rated administrative security — the Bureau’s rating for an institution with a special mission, designed to hold people at every security level. There is no penitentiary, correctional institution, camp or medical center in the state; the nearest other Bureau institution is in Oregon. What an administrative rating means is in our guide to security levels, and the Bureau of Prisons directory sets Washington beside the rest.

Most of the people inside have not been sentenced. SeaTac is one of the ten facilities the Bureau lists as its Pretrial Detention Facilities in the national handbook it publishes for people awaiting trial, and it also holds people in holdover status between institutions, with a smaller number assigned permanently. The count therefore moves week to week in a way a sentenced population does not.

Two practical notes. The building stands in the city of SeaTac, but the Bureau addresses it to Seattle, and an envelope should follow the Bureau rather than the map. And no Washington facility appears in the Bureau’s closure announcement of July 1, 2026, so this page has no closures section.

Which federal prisons in Washington hold women?

FDC SeaTac, the only federal facility in the state that holds anyone. The roster records its population as men and women, so a woman awaiting trial in the Western District of Washington is held in the same building as the men, in separate housing under one institution supplement. The state has no federal prison for sentenced women, so a custodial sentence means designation out of state. Our guide to women’s federal prisons sets out where.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees Washington?

The Western Regional Office, in Stockton, California. SeaTac reports through the Bureau’s Western Region, which also covers Arizona, California, Hawaii and Oregon, so the reviewing desk for a Washington complaint is a long way down the coast.

The region enters a family’s life at the appeal stage, and at a detention center the clock can outrun the case, because a person transferred out mid-appeal still has to meet it. 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.” The step the Warden answers is filing a BP-9.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from Washington?

RRM Seattle, for both of the state’s judicial districts. 28 U.S.C. § 128 divides Washington into the Eastern and Western Districts, and the Bureau’s page for RRM Seattle prints both, alongside Alaska, Idaho and Oregon. Neither district is claimed by a second office and neither is missing from the Bureau’s lists, so there is no overlap and no gap. The Bureau gives that reentry office a street address at the detention center itself.

Placement is decided by the district a person is releasing to, not the one that held him before sentencing — which matters here, because SeaTac holds people charged in Idaho and Alaska too. Program Statement 7310.04 tells the Warden, where there is significant doubt about a referral, to consider “contacting the Chief USPO in the release district” (at p. 12). Planning begins earlier: Program Statement 5325.09 provides at p. 8 that “Inmates will be enrolled in the RPP between 18 and 24 months prior to their institution departure date to the community.” See federal halfway houses.

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

The inmate locator searches the whole federal system, which matters in Washington because a person held here on Monday can be at another institution by Friday. Search by register number where you have one; a name search needs a first and a last name. The screen names the facility and its type.

Mail must carry the address block the Bureau publishes for this facility, which gives Seattle rather than SeaTac, together with the register number. Legal mail is marked and handled differently from ordinary correspondence, and at a pretrial facility that distinction does real work. See writing to someone inside.

Visiting follows SeaTac’s own institution supplement, and a detention center’s rules are not a prison’s: lists are tighter, and a person awaiting trial may be approved for immediate family first. Attorney visits run on a separate footing. Read the facility page, then our page on visitation.

Deposits use the same national channels wherever someone is held: the lockbox by mail, Western Union Quick Collect and 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,” while the Bureau’s own guidance on sending money gives two to four hours for the same window. See sending money.

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

One. FDC SeaTac, a Federal Detention Center rated administrative security, is the only Bureau facility in the state, and it has no satellite camp. Washington has no penitentiary, correctional institution or medical center; the nearest other Bureau institution is in Oregon.

What is the largest federal prison in Washington by population?

FDC SeaTac, because it is the only one. The Bureau counted 673 people there as of September 2026, and the facility has no satellite camp, so that figure covers everyone held in it. Washington has one federal facility rather than a ranking.

Does Washington have a federal prison camp or a penitentiary?

Neither. The state’s only Bureau facility is a detention center, and the roster records no camp attached to it and no Federal Satellite Low. Anyone expecting a minimum-security camp placement in Washington is designated elsewhere; the Bureau runs no camp in the state.

Where are women held in federal custody in Washington?

At FDC SeaTac, the only Bureau facility in the state. The roster records it as holding men and women, in separate housing under one institution supplement, most of them awaiting trial or sentencing. Washington has no federal prison for sentenced women, so a custodial sentence means designation out of state.

Where are pretrial federal detainees held in Washington?

At FDC SeaTac, which the Bureau lists among the ten Pretrial Detention Facilities in its national handbook. A July 2023 Justice Department report found dedicated legal telephones at eight of those ten, and named SeaTac one of only three whose phones reach every federal defender office with clients there.

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

Use the Bureau’s inmate locator, which covers the whole system rather than one state — useful here, because people move through a detention center quickly. A register number is the surest search; a name search needs a first and a last name.

Which regional office covers Washington’s federal prisons?

The Western Regional Office, which the Bureau runs from Stockton, California, and which also covers Arizona, California, Hawaii and Oregon. To a family it matters as the appeal stage of the remedy process: an appeal from the Warden’s answer goes on a BP-10 form to the Regional Director.

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

RRM Seattle, which the Bureau lists for both the Eastern and Western Districts of Washington, and for Alaska, Idaho and Oregon besides. No second office claims either district. Placement turns on where a person is going home to, not where the case was charged.

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

There is no sentenced designation in Washington to ask for: the state’s only Bureau facility is a detention center. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) the Bureau designates the place of imprisonment and places the person “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 Washington federal prison?

SeaTac’s own record points to three recurring problems. Medical delay: the Inspector General’s unannounced inspection of December 2024, published as Report 25-081 on September 10, 2025, found sick-call requests unseen for months and health-services leaders describing their staffing as a crisis — the kind of problems we work on inside. Access to counsel: approving investigators, getting panel attorneys’ numbers onto the unit telephones and finding a room for sensitive discovery all have to be asked for in writing. And custody credit and First Step Act time credit start dates move release dates, which is 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 Washington 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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