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Federal Prisons in Arkansas

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

Federal prisons in Arkansas at a glance

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates 2 institutions in Arkansas, one of them with a satellite camp, holding 3,520 people as of September 2026. Both stand on one campus outside Forrest City, in the Bureau’s South Central Region, which is run from Grand Prairie, Texas.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
FCI Forrest City MediumFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen1,638—Forrest CityEastern District of Arkansas
FCI Forrest City LowFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen1,615Camp: 267Forrest CityEastern District of Arkansas
Total2 institutions3,253267
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

One roster detail catches Arkansas families out. The Bureau’s public roster prints a single Dale Bumpers Road address against the medium, the low and the camp, while the complex visiting supplement gives the three their own street numbers and each takes its own post office box.

How many federal prisons are in Arkansas?

Two, counting institutions on the Bureau of Prisons roster, which is the list this page counts. One is medium security and one is low, and the low runs the campus’s minimum-security satellite camp, counted inside that institution rather than as a prison of its own. The Bureau groups the pair under the code FOX as the Federal Correctional Complex at Forrest City, and the state has no penitentiary, no detention center and no medical center. Nothing here was named in the closure announcement of July 1, 2026. Our guide to security levels explains the ratings, and the Bureau of Prisons directory has the national picture.

What is each federal prison in Arkansas like?

Both Forrest City institutions, in the order the table lists them.

FCI Forrest City Medium

Medium security for men, the higher-security half of the Forrest City complex, and with no camp of its own. Nearly everything the Bureau publishes here is written for the whole campus, which is how the visiting rules linked from its bop.gov page came to be a 2017 edition while the supplement in force is filed under the low’s name. Its incoming mail rules are tighter than next door: books and magazines must arrive from a publisher, a bookstore or a book club. See FCI Forrest City Medium.

FCI Forrest City Low

Low security for men, with the campus’s minimum-security satellite camp attached and counted under its code. The Residential Drug Abuse Program runs at the institution, and the Bureau’s 2026 programs guide, which names satellite camps separately wherever one runs its own course, does not name this camp. See FCI Forrest City Low.

Which federal prisons in Arkansas hold women?

None of them. The roster records both institutions and the Forrest City camp as holding men, so the state has no federal prison for women. A woman sentenced in an Arkansas federal court is designated out of state, which makes distance from home an argument worth making early. Our guide to women’s federal prisons sets out where she may go.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees Arkansas?

Both Forrest City institutions belong to the Bureau’s South Central Region, and its regional office sits at Grand Prairie, Texas. That office answers a BP-10 appeal once the Warden has replied, and the rung above it matters before the first form goes in. Program Statement 1330.18 provides at p. 7 that “An inmate who is not satisfied with the Regional Director’s response may submit an Appeal on the appropriate form (BP-11) to the General Counsel within 30 calendar days of the date the Regional Director signed the response.” Many courts require that final appeal first. Start at our guide to filing a BP-9.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from Arkansas?

One office covers the whole state. Arkansas is divided into two federal judicial districts, the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, under 28 U.S.C. § 83, and the Bureau’s page for RRM Dallas prints both, with no second office claiming either.

The office that acts follows the district a person is going home to, not the district the prison stands in. Drug-program graduates take an extra step, and Forrest City runs that program: Program Statement 7310.04 directs at p. 13 that “A separate packet with appropriate copies shall be forwarded to the Transitional Services Manager (TSM) in the receiving region where the inmate is being released for graduates of Residential Drug Abuse Programs.” Timing sits on our federal halfway houses page and in the placement rules.

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

Start with the inmate locator, which searches the whole federal system rather than one state. Its screen is the reliable way to tell the two prisons apart: it names Forrest City Medium or Forrest City Low, and the camp is reported under the low.

Mail needs the exact block the institution publishes. The medium, the low and the camp each take a different post office box in Forrest City, and a letter addressed to the wrong one goes back to the sender. See writing to someone inside.

Visiting runs on the complex’s own supplement, and the edition bop.gov links from the medium’s page is not the one in force, so read the current days on the facility page before driving to St. Francis County. See visitation.

Three national channels carry money in: the lockbox by mail, Western Union Quick Collect and MoneyGram. Program Statement 4500.13 records at p. 79 that “Fund transfers after 9:00 p.m. EST are posted by 7:00 a.m. the following day,” so a late evening transfer will not reach the account that night. See sending money.

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

Two institutions on the roster snapshot behind this page, FCI Forrest City Medium and FCI Forrest City Low, plus the minimum-security satellite camp the low administers. All three sit on one campus in St. Francis County, and the state has no penitentiary, no detention center and no federal medical center.

What is the largest federal prison in Arkansas by population?

FCI Forrest City Medium, at 1,638 people as of September 2026, is the largest Arkansas institution counted on its own, and it has no camp, so that figure covers everyone held there. Counting a camp together with its institution changes the answer: FCI Forrest City Low and its satellite camp hold more between them. The Bureau reports the two as separate rows.

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

No penitentiary, and one camp. Neither institution is rated high security: the medium is the higher of the two. The minimum-security satellite camp at Forrest City is administered under FCI Forrest City Low and holds 267 men. Whether a man goes there rather than to the low turns on his security points and any Public Safety Factor.

How do I look up someone held in an Arkansas federal prison?

Use the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator and search by register number or by the committed name on the judgment. Because both Arkansas prisons carry the words Forrest City, read the whole facility name the screen returns: the medium and the low take different mail addresses, and the camp is reported under the low.

Which regional office covers the federal prisons in Arkansas?

The South Central Region, whose office is at Grand Prairie, Texas. Both Forrest City institutions belong to it, so a regional appeal from either one is decided there. That office is the second rung of the administrative remedy process, answering a BP-10 form after the Warden has replied.

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

RRM Dallas. Its Bureau page prints Eastern Arkansas and Western Arkansas, which between them are the whole state, and no other office lists either district. Placement follows the district a person is going home to, so an Arkansas release is a Dallas matter wherever the sentence was served.

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

A request can be made and the sentencing court can recommend one, but the Bureau decides, and 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) adds that “a designation of a place of imprisonment under this subsection is not reviewable by any court.” With both institutions on one campus, an Arkansas request is really a request for one complex.

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

Three problems recur at Forrest City, all of them on the institutions’ own records. Staff contraband: the Inspector General’s public case notices record federal bribery and smuggling prosecutions at this complex across three presidential administrations, and a relative who pays a staff member for anything commits that offense too. Classification: the federal court in this district keeps holding that a Public Safety Factor keeping a man out of the camp cannot be undone in habeas, so the work sits in the classification record, the unit team and the administrative remedy program — among the problems we work on inside under our prison consulting services. Release timing: after Osorio-Calderon v. Warden, FCI Sandstone, No. 25-3090 (8th Cir. June 30, 2026), the sharper question here is whether First Step Act time credits are being earned and applied, 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 Arkansas 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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