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Federal Prisons in Arizona

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

Federal prisons in Arizona at a glance

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates 4 institutions in Arizona, two of them with a satellite camp, holding 3,298 people as of September 2026. All four are in the Bureau’s Western Region, run from Stockton, California.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
USP TucsonU.S. Penitentiary · HighMen972Camp: 120TucsonDistrict of Arizona
FCI PhoenixFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen and women873Camp: 198PhoenixDistrict of Arizona
FCI TucsonFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen and women475—TucsonDistrict of Arizona
FCI SaffordFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen660—SaffordDistrict of Arizona
Total4 institutions2,980318
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

How many federal prisons are in Arizona?

Four, counting institutions on the Bureau of Prisons roster: one high security, USP Tucson; two medium, FCI Phoenix and FCI Tucson; one low, FCI Safford. There is no medical center, no stand-alone camp and no separate detention center, though FCI Tucson holds people for the federal courts inside the institution. Two of the four carry a minimum-security satellite camp, counted inside that institution’s row, and the Tucson pair share one address as the Federal Correctional Complex at Tucson. Our guide explains security levels. The Bureau of Prisons directory covers the country.

What is each federal prison in Arizona like?

Each of the four, in the table’s order.

USP Tucson

The state’s only high-security penitentiary, holding men, with a minimum-security camp beside it on South Wilmot Road. It is a Sex Offender Management Program institution: of the nine federal prisons that deliver the Bureau’s non-residential sex offender treatment program, it is the only penitentiary and the only high-security one. It shares the Federal Correctional Complex at Tucson with FCI Tucson, a mile up the same road. See USP Tucson.

FCI Phoenix

Medium security for men about 30 miles north of downtown Phoenix, off Interstate 17, with a minimum-security camp that holds women rather than men. The camp runs one of the five Female Integrated Treatment programs in the system, which the Bureau’s August 2026 programs guide records as carrying its own drug treatment. See FCI Phoenix.

FCI Tucson

Medium security at the southeastern edge of the city, holding sentenced men beside a detention operation for men and women waiting on the federal courts. With the penitentiary a mile south it is one of only two federal prisons whose laser tattoo-removal program for former gang members the August 2026 guide approves. See FCI Tucson.

FCI Safford

Low security for men in Graham County, outside the town of Safford, and the only Arizona institution the roster rates low security. It has no camp. Its own visiting rules warn that no public or commercial transportation runs from the town to the prison, so a visit means a car. See FCI Safford.

Which federal prisons in Arizona hold women?

Two of the four, and neither is a women’s prison. At FCI Phoenix the women are in the camp beside the men’s institution, which runs the Female Integrated Treatment program; at FCI Tucson they are in detention, held for the courts. A camp holding women shows under a men’s prison because the roster records sex per institution. See women’s federal prisons.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees Arizona?

The Western Regional Office, at Stockton, California. All four carry the Western Region on the roster, and the Bureau’s Offices page agrees. It is where a complaint first leaves the prison: 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.” Before that comes filing a BP-9, under the Administrative Remedy Program.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from Arizona?

One office covers the whole state. Arizona is a single federal judicial district under 28 U.S.C. § 82, and the Bureau’s page for RRM Phoenix prints the state name without qualification: no second office claims part of Arizona, and no part of it is missing from the reentry pages. The same page also prints “Southern Nevada”. That is the Bureau’s own split of a state that 28 U.S.C. § 108 makes a single judicial district: an internal label, not a second district on the map. Northern Nevada addresses are printed under RRM Sacramento instead.

The office follows the district a person goes home to, not the state where the sentence is served. Program Statement 7310.04 tells the Warden at p. 12, on significant doubt about a referral, to consider “contacting the Chief USPO in the release district.” An Arizona release address reaches RRM Phoenix from any prison. Timing is on our federal halfway houses page. The placement procedures hold the policy.

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

Start with the national search. The inmate locator takes a register number or a name; a result reading Phoenix may be the reentry office, not a prison.

Post carries the exact block the institution publishes: the penitentiary at Tucson and its camp use different boxes, and FCI Tucson a third. See writing to someone inside.

Visiting runs on each institution’s own supplement: USP Tucson alone opens on a Friday evening, FCI Tucson keeps separate evening hours for the people it holds before trial, and FCI Safford asks visitors in well before its afternoon close. See visitation.

Money moves on the Bureau’s national channels, none of them particular to Arizona: the lockbox by mail, Western Union Quick Collect and MoneyGram. Program Statement 4500.13 states at p. 79 that “Fund transfers after 9:00 p.m. EST are posted by 7:00 a.m. the following day.” See sending money.

Which federal prisons in Arizona are closing or have closed?

None of the four. The Bureau’s closure announcement of July 1, 2026 named six institutions in four other states, and all four Arizona records stand on the roster snapshot of September 18, 2026. No former Arizona facility has a page here. See major federal prison closures.

How many federal prisons does the Bureau run in Arizona?

Four institutions on the roster snapshot behind this page: one high-security penitentiary, two medium-security institutions and one low-security institution. Two carry a minimum-security satellite camp, which the Bureau counts inside its parent institution, not as a prison of its own.

What is the largest federal prison in Arizona?

USP Tucson, which held 972 men as of September 2026. That is the penitentiary alone; the camp beside it is a separate line in the population report and holds 120 more, so 1,092 are on the site. FCI Phoenix comes next, at 873.

Does Arizona have a high-security federal penitentiary?

One. USP Tucson is the only United States Penitentiary in the state and the only Arizona institution the Bureau rates high security. It holds men, has a minimum-security camp, and shares the Federal Correctional Complex at Tucson with FCI Tucson.

Where are women held in federal custody in Arizona?

At two of the four, and neither is a women’s prison. The camp at FCI Phoenix holds women and runs one of the five Female Integrated Treatment programs in the system. FCI Tucson holds women in detention, waiting on a federal court.

Where are federal detainees held before trial in Arizona?

The Bureau runs no separate detention center in the state, and FCI Tucson takes that work. Alongside sentenced men it holds men and women for the federal courts before trial and after sentence while they wait to be moved, on separate visiting hours from the rest of the institution.

How do I look up someone in an Arizona federal prison?

Use the Bureau’s inmate locator, which searches the whole federal system rather than one state, by register number or by name. In custody, the result names the facility and its type; once a release date is recorded it shows that date.

Which regional office covers Arizona’s federal prisons?

The Western Regional Office at Stockton, California, whose other institutions are in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. It is where a BP-10 appeal goes once the Warden has answered a BP-9. It is not an address for mail or money.

Which reentry office covers halfway-house placement from Arizona?

RRM Phoenix. Arizona is a single federal judicial district, and the Bureau’s page for that office prints the state name without qualification, so no corner of it falls elsewhere. Placement turns on where a person goes home, not where the sentence ran.

Can someone ask to be sent to a federal prison in Arizona?

Anyone can ask and a judge can recommend, but the designation is the Bureau’s. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) it must place a prisoner “in a facility as close as practicable to the prisoner’s primary residence”, subject to bed space and other statutory factors.

How can a federal defense firm help an Arizona family?

Three problems recur here. Neither Tucson prison runs a Residential Drug Abuse Program, so a man who wants one must be moved, which is where most First Step Act time credit and early release disputes start. USP Tucson’s Sex Offender Management Program designation settles what programming a man meets. And FCI Safford has no public transport to its gate, so a transfer request there is also a question about whether anyone can visit. All three are ordinary problems we work on inside.

Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. is a federal criminal defense and post-conviction firm based in Columbia, South Carolina, practicing nationwide. Mentions of Arizona 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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