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Federal Prisons in North Carolina

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

Federal prisons in North Carolina at a glance

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates 4 institutions in North Carolina, one of them with a satellite camp, holding 3,870 people as of September 2026. All four stand on one campus outside the town of Butner, and all four belong to the Bureau’s Mid-Atlantic Region, which is run from Annapolis Junction, Maryland.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
FCI Butner Medium IFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen536Camp: 287ButnerEastern District of North Carolina
FCI Butner Medium IIFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen1,304—ButnerEastern District of North Carolina
FCI Butner LowFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen942—ButnerEastern District of North Carolina
FMC ButnerFederal Medical Center · AdministrativeMen801—ButnerEastern District of North Carolina
Total4 institutions3,583287
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

How many federal prisons are in North Carolina?

Four, as the Bureau of Prisons roster counts them. All four sit at one address on Old NC Highway 75 in Granville County, run together as one federal correctional complex the Bureau’s own psychology internship brochure calls “FCC Butner.” Two are medium security, one low, one the administrative-security medical center; only the first has a camp. Our guide to security levels explains them; the Bureau of Prisons directory has the rest.

What is each federal prison in North Carolina like?

FCI Butner Medium I

Medium security for men, and the only one of the four with a satellite camp beside it; the camp’s 287 people are counted in its row above. It is also where the Bureau runs its Commitment and Treatment Program for the men it certifies or civilly commits as sexually dangerous under 18 U.S.C. § 4248 — the statute the Supreme Court upheld in United States v. Comstock (2010), on a case that had come up from the district court sitting over Butner. A referral for a pre-certification evaluation is not itself court-ordered, and a certificate filed before a release date stops that date taking effect, so the program reaches release dates and not only sentences. See FCI Butner Medium I.

FCI Butner Medium II

The largest of the four by population and the largest federal prison in the state. Medium security for men, no camp, and housing that is entirely multiple-occupancy cells: no dormitories and no single cells. It also carries the complex’s whole segregation capacity, 96 cells, so a man moved to special housing from the low or from the hospital serves it here, under a different unit team from the one his family has been writing to. One of the complex’s two residential drug programs is here as well. See FCI Butner Medium II.

FCI Butner Low

Low security for men, and the only Butner institution housed mainly in open dormitories rather than cells: eight of its nine units are open-bay. It has no camp — the complex’s belongs to Medium I — and no residential drug program, because both drug units sit at the two mediums, so acceptance into one means a move across the complex rather than a walk across it. Segregation for men from the low is served next door as well. See FCI Butner Low.

FMC Butner

The Bureau’s hospital on the campus: an administrative-security medical center for men, rated Care Level 4 for medical and for mental health care alike. Its own page describes two groups under one roof, sentenced men who are seriously ill and men federal courts have sent for psychiatric evaluation or commitment. The Bureau’s psychology brochure says “FCC Butner has the largest competency restoration program in the BOP,” and the Fourth Circuit recorded in United States v. Berry (2025) that at the time of the events in that case Butner was “one of only two facilities nationwide that was equipped to conduct § 4246 evaluations.” See FMC Butner.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees North Carolina?

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Office, run from Annapolis Junction, Maryland; every North Carolina institution is recorded in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The region is the middle rung of a three-step ladder. A complaint goes first to the Warden on a BP-9. Program Statement 1330.18 then provides at pp. 6–7 that a prisoner who is not satisfied with that answer “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,” and at p. 7 that a further appeal goes “on the appropriate form (BP-11) to the General Counsel within 30 calendar days.” The same page warns that “These deadlines specify the date of the Appeal’s receipt in the regional office or the Central Office,” so a postmark will not rescue a late one. Start with filing a BP-9 and the administrative remedy program.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from North Carolina?

One office covers the whole state. Under 28 U.S.C. § 113 North Carolina “is divided into three judicial districts to be known as the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina,” and the Bureau’s page for RRM Raleigh prints all three: none left out, none claimed by a second office. Raleigh is the name; the office is at Butner.

Placement follows the release district, not the prison. Program Statement 7310.04 tells the Warden at p. 12 to consider “contacting the Chief USPO in the release district” where a referral is doubtful, so a man held two states away but going home to Greensboro is still RRM Raleigh’s case. See federal halfway houses.

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

Finding someone is a national search. The inmate locator takes a name or a register number, and a name search needs a first and a last name; at Butner what matters is which of the four it names, because the four keep separate records, separate rules and separate mail.

Mail takes the block each institution publishes. The four Butner blocks differ only by post office box, and the camp uses Medium I’s; a wrong box is why a letter comes back. See writing to someone inside.

Visiting runs on each institution’s own supplement, not a complex-wide rule. Medium I publishes Friday afternoon hours for two housing units and a Friday evening for the camp; its other units have none. See visitation.

Money moves on national channels, never the prison’s address. Program Statement 4500.13 records at p. 76 that envelopes “that do not have the inmate’s committed name and eight digit register number are returned to the sender if an address is available.” The Bureau’s instructions page gives two to four hours for a transfer sent between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Eastern; p. 79 says two. See sending money.

Which federal prisons in North Carolina are closing or have closed?

None is closing and none has closed. No North Carolina institution appears in the Bureau’s announcement of July 1, 2026 naming the prisons it “will close.”

One former North Carolina prison keeps a page here: Rivers Correctional Institution, privately operated, which held federal prisoners under contract and was never a Bureau institution. It is not counted among the four. Our explainer on major federal prison closures sets out how those contracts ended.

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

Four, on the roster snapshot behind this page: two medium-security institutions, one low-security institution and one federal medical center, all on one campus outside Butner. One of them carries a minimum-security satellite camp, which the Bureau counts inside that institution rather than apart.

What is the largest federal prison in North Carolina by population?

FCI Butner Medium II, holding 1,304 people as of September 2026. It has no satellite camp, so that figure covers everyone held there, and no other institution in the state comes near it even once a camp is counted with its institution. The complex’s only camp belongs to FCI Butner Medium I, and the Bureau prints the two on separate rows of its population report.

Does North Carolina have a high-security federal penitentiary?

No. The Bureau operates no United States Penitentiary in the state, and medium is the highest security level North Carolina holds. FMC Butner is rated administrative, a level set by the hospital mission rather than by any individual’s security points.

Where are women held in federal custody if they are sentenced in North Carolina?

Not in North Carolina. The roster records all four institutions in the state as holding men, so a woman sentenced by a federal court here is designated to an institution in another state. Our guide to women’s federal prisons sets out which ones hold women.

Does any federal prison in North Carolina hold people who have not been sentenced?

Yes, although the state has none of the Bureau’s named pretrial detention facilities: the Bureau’s pretrial handbook lists ten of those, and seven further institutions with pretrial units, and no North Carolina prison is on either list. FCI Butner Medium I takes people sent by federal courts for competency evaluation, and FMC Butner does the inpatient version. The handbook promises them “the same or similar legal access.”

Can someone ask to be designated to a federal prison in North Carolina?

A request can be made and a court can recommend a place, but the Bureau decides, and for the hospital at Butner it decides centrally. Program Statement 5100.08 provides at p. 29 that “Only the OMDT will make designations for study cases or for cases requiring medical or psychiatric evaluation.”

How can a federal defense firm help a family with someone in a North Carolina federal prison?

Three problems recur at Butner, each on the complex’s own pages. The hospital is a Care Level 4 referral center, so care-level designations, waits for treatment and medical transfers are ordinary problems here, and among the problems we work on inside. Medium I takes § 4248 and court-ordered competency cases, where a certificate filed before a release date stops that date taking effect. Both drug units sit at the two mediums, so First Step Act time credit disputes here begin as transfer questions, and 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 North Carolina 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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