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Federal Prisons in Oregon

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

Federal prisons in Oregon at a glance

The Federal Bureau of Prisons runs one institution in Oregon, FCI Sheridan, which has a satellite camp and holds 1,493 people as of September 2026. It is the Bureau’s only prison in the state and sits in the Western Region, whose office is in Stockton, California.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
FCI SheridanFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen1,214Camp: 279SheridanDistrict of Oregon
Total1 institution1,214279
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

How many federal prisons are in Oregon?

One. The Bureau of Prisons roster lists a single Oregon institution, and the roster is the count this page uses. It is FCI Sheridan, medium security for men, in Yamhill County about fifty miles southwest of Portland, with a minimum-security satellite camp. Sheridan is more than one thing on one site: alongside the medium institution the Bureau operates a detention center, and the institution’s population figure covers both, while the camp is counted in its own row. Our guide to security levels explains the ratings, and the Bureau of Prisons directory gives the national picture.

Two things about Sheridan are worth knowing before you read anything else about it. The Bureau’s national pretrial handbook lists its detention center among the seven Facilities with Pretrial Detention Centers, which is a different list from the ten stand-alone pretrial facilities; and it is one of five institutions in the whole federal system approved to run the residential Mental Health Step Down Program, an intermediate level of care named in the Bureau’s August 2026 First Step Act programs guide for people with serious mental illness who do not need inpatient treatment. The facility page carries both, with the documents behind them.

The state list is short for two further reasons. The roster records Sheridan as holding men, so no federal prison in Oregon holds women, and our guide to women’s federal prisons explains where they are sent instead. And no Oregon institution is named in the Bureau’s closure announcement of July 1, 2026, so there is no closures section on this page.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees Oregon?

The Western Regional Office, which is not in Oregon. Sheridan reports through the Bureau’s Western Region, run from an office in Stockton, California, so the desk that reviews an appeal from this prison is in another state and several hundred miles away.

That matters because the region is the second stage of the administrative remedy process, and the clock is short. Program Statement 1330.18 sets it out at pp. 6–7: “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.” Start with our page on filing a BP-9, which is the step the Warden answers.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from Oregon?

RRM Seattle, and it is in Washington rather than Oregon. Oregon is a single federal judicial district — 28 U.S.C. § 117 makes the state one district, with court sitting at Portland, Eugene or Springfield, Medford, Pendleton, Klamath Falls and Coquille — so there is nothing to divide between offices. The Bureau’s page for RRM Seattle prints five judicial districts, Alaska, Eastern Washington, Western Washington, Idaho and Oregon, so the District of Oregon falls to that one office. No other reentry office lists any part of the state, so there is no overlap here and no district the Bureau leaves unassigned.

The office that handles a case is fixed by the district a person is releasing to, which is not necessarily the district that sentenced him or the one the prison stands in. 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). Someone at Sheridan who is going home to Boise is an RRM Seattle matter as well, because that office prints Idaho. Preparation starts earlier than most families expect: 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 an Oregon federal prison?

The inmate locator is national, not state by state, so it will find someone whether he is at Sheridan or three states away. Search by register number, or by name with both a first and a last name. Do not assume a person told he is “at Sheridan” is in Oregon at all: an Illinois state prison of the same name catches families out regularly.

Mail has to carry the address block the institution publishes, and at Sheridan the institution, the detention center and the camp are not interchangeable. Take the block from the facility page rather than from an old letter, and include the register number. See writing to someone inside.

Visiting is governed by Sheridan’s own institution supplement, which sets the days, the hours, the visitor limit and the dress code, and which the Bureau revises without much notice. Check the current one on the facility page before booking a flight into Portland; our page on visitation covers approval.

Deposits travel on three national routes, none of them particular to Oregon: the lockbox by mail, Western Union Quick Collect and MoneyGram. Program Statement 4500.13 says 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 Oregon?

One. FCI Sheridan is the only Bureau institution in the state: a medium-security prison for men, with a detention center on the same site and a minimum-security satellite camp. The camp is counted in its own population row but not as a separate prison. Oregon has no penitentiary and no medical center.

What is the largest federal prison in Oregon by population?

FCI Sheridan, since it is the only one. The Bureau counted 1,214 at the institution and its detention center together and 279 at the satellite camp as of September 2026, which is 1,493 across the site. There is no second Oregon institution to compare it with.

Does Oregon have a federal prison camp?

Yes, but not a free-standing one. The camp at Sheridan is a satellite of the main institution, minimum security, and the Bureau reports its population as a separate row rather than as a separate prison. Oregon has no United States Penitentiary; the state’s only institution is rated medium.

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

Use the Bureau’s inmate locator, which searches every federal institution rather than one state. A register number is the surest key; a name search needs a first and a last name and misses compound surnames. Once a release date is recorded, the locator prints that date rather than a facility name.

Which regional office covers Oregon’s federal prisons?

The Western Regional Office, which the Bureau runs from Stockton, California, and which also covers Arizona, California, Hawaii and Washington. For a family it matters as the second stage of the administrative 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 Oregon?

RRM Seattle, in Washington. Its Bureau page prints five judicial districts — Alaska, Eastern Washington, Western Washington, Idaho and Oregon — so the District of Oregon belongs to that office alone. Placement follows the district a person is releasing to, not the one the prison sits in.

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

With a single institution in the state, an Oregon designation request is in practice a request for Sheridan. Anyone may ask and the sentencing court may recommend, but under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) the Bureau designates the place of imprisonment and, subject to bed availability and security designation, 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 an Oregon federal prison?

The problems that recur at Sheridan are documented, which means they can be raised with specifics. Medical and dental care ordered and not delivered: the Inspector General’s unannounced inspection, published as Report 24-070 on May 22, 2024, found backlogged laboratory orders, x-ray machines out of service and outside appointments canceled for want of an escort — the kind of problems we work on inside. Mental health care, including access to the Step Down program at one of the five institutions approved to run it, usually turns on a transfer request. And program access at a prison this isolated drives First Step Act time credit disputes, 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 Oregon 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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