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Federal Prisons in Tennessee

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

Federal prisons in Tennessee at a glance

Tennessee has one federal prison, FCI Memphis, a low-security institution for men that held 1,069 people as of September 2026. The Bureau’s roster puts it in the South Central Region, although the Bureau’s own Offices page files Tennessee under Mid-Atlantic; both readings are set out below.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
FCI MemphisFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen1,069—MemphisWestern District of Tennessee
Total1 institution1,069—
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

Two Bureau records about this one prison do not line up. The region is the first, and it has its own section below. The second is the camp: the Bureau still prints a satellite-camp mailing address for FCI Memphis at Millington, north of the city, but the roster snapshot behind this page, taken September 18, 2026, records no camp and the population report of September 10, 2026 gives no camp row. The table above shows none, and a family should ask the unit team in writing where the person is before posting to Millington.

How many federal prisons are in Tennessee?

One, counting institutions on the Bureau of Prisons roster. FCI Memphis is a low-security federal correctional institution for men, and the facility page describes a detention unit on the same grounds, which is why someone in Memphis can be in federal custody without having been sentenced. Tennessee has no penitentiary, no medical center and no prison or camp for women, so a woman sentenced here is designated out of the state. Nothing in Tennessee was named in the closure announcement of July 1, 2026, and no former federal prison in the state has a page on this site. Security grades are set out in our guide to security levels, and every state’s institutions are listed in the Bureau of Prisons directory.

The prison stands on John A. Denie Road in northeast Memphis, in Shelby County. The roster grades it low, and the grade changed: a Bureau news release of January 15, 2021 still called it a medium security facility. Its judicial district is the Western District of Tennessee, and the division its own record prints, the Western Division, is the one holding Shelby County under 28 U.S.C. § 123. See FCI Memphis.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees Tennessee?

Two Bureau records answer differently, and this page prints both rather than picking one. The roster snapshot behind this page, taken September 18, 2026, records FCI Memphis in the South Central Region, run from Grand Prairie, Texas. The Bureau’s Offices page, read on September 18, 2026, lists Tennessee under the Mid-Atlantic Region, run from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office at Annapolis Junction, Maryland, and RRM Nashville, the reentry office for the whole state, is a Mid-Atlantic Region office too. The same Offices page gives the South Central Region’s states as Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, without Tennessee.

Which office receives an appeal is a practical question, not a bibliographic one. 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.” Ask the unit team in writing which office takes a BP-10 from FCI Memphis, and keep the reply. Time lost is not always fatal: at p. 5 the same statement provides that “Where the inmate demonstrates a valid reason for delay, an extension in filing time may be allowed.” The step before is our guide to filing a BP-9.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from Tennessee?

RRM Nashville, and it is the only one. Tennessee is divided by 28 U.S.C. § 123 into “the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Tennessee”, and that office’s bop.gov page prints all three, with Eastern and Western Kentucky. No Tennessee district is claimed by a second office or left out. RRM Nashville is itself listed as a Mid-Atlantic Region office, the third place the region question surfaces.

What settles the office is the district a person is released into, not the one where the prison stands. Program Statement 7310.04 at p. 12 tells the Warden, where there is significant doubt about a referral, to consider “contacting the Chief USPO in the release district.” Someone coming back to Chattanooga from a prison in another state is an RRM Nashville matter. Our page on federal halfway houses sets out when the referral is made.

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

Finding someone is a federal search rather than a Tennessee one. The inmate locator takes a register number or a full name, and a surname alone returns an error. Shelby County’s jail is not in it, so someone charged in state court will not appear there.

Mail takes the exact block the Bureau publishes, and here that matters: the institution’s box is in Memphis, while the camp block the Bureau still prints goes to Millington, twenty miles north. See writing to someone inside.

Visiting runs on the institution’s own supplement. FCI Memphis reissued its supplement in June 2026, while the Bureau was still serving a Spanish-language visiting rulebook from February 2013 beside it, so a Spanish-speaking family can be reading rules that no longer apply. See visitation.

Money is handled nationally, by lockbox or through 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, if it was initiated between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. EST.” See sending money.

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

One. FCI Memphis is a low-security federal correctional institution for men, with a detention unit on the same grounds for people whose cases are still pending. It is the only Bureau of Prisons institution in the state: no penitentiary, no medical center, no camp with a population row and no prison for women.

What is the largest federal prison in Tennessee by population?

FCI Memphis, which is the only one. It held 1,069 people as of September 2026, and because the population report gives it no camp or satellite row, that figure is the whole federal prison population the Bureau reported for Tennessee that month. Nothing has to be added to it.

Which regional office covers the federal prison in Tennessee?

The Bureau answers this two ways. Its roster records FCI Memphis in the South Central Region, run from Grand Prairie, Texas, while its Offices page lists Tennessee under Mid-Atlantic, at Annapolis Junction, Maryland. Both readings were current on September 18, 2026, so ask the unit team which office takes an appeal.

Is there a federal prison camp at Memphis?

The records disagree. The Bureau still publishes a satellite-camp mailing address at Millington, north of Memphis, but the roster snapshot behind this page records no camp for FCI Memphis and the September 2026 population report gives it no camp row. Ask the unit team in writing before sending mail there.

Does Tennessee have a high-security federal penitentiary or a prison for women?

Neither. The state’s one institution is graded low security and the roster records it as holding men. A woman sentenced in a Tennessee federal court is designated to an institution elsewhere, and so is a man whose security scoring puts him above the low level.

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

Use the Bureau’s locator, which searches federal custody across the country rather than one state. Search by register number where you have one; a name search will not run without both names. Someone held by Shelby County or the State of Tennessee is in a different system altogether.

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

RRM Nashville, the Bureau’s Residential Reentry Management office for the state. Its bop.gov page prints the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Tennessee, as well as Eastern and Western Kentucky. No Tennessee district is shared with another office, and the district a person returns to decides the referral.

Can someone ask to be designated to the federal prison in Tennessee?

The court can recommend a prison and the person can ask for one, but the designation belongs to the Bureau. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) it “shall designate the place of the prisoner’s imprisonment” and place a person “in a facility as close as practicable to the prisoner’s primary residence”, subject to bed space, security designation and the statute’s other factors.

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

Three problems recur at Tennessee’s one institution, and each is a paperwork problem before it is anything else. The region: an appeal has to reach the right Regional Director inside twenty calendar days, and the Bureau’s own records name two offices. The labels: the institution, the detention unit and the camp address the Bureau still prints are treated differently for mail, visiting and First Step Act time credit. Movement: with nothing above low security in the state, a rise in security level means a transfer out of Tennessee, which is where problems we work on inside and early release questions start.

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

  • 28 U.S.C. § 123, Office of the Law Revision Counsel. The three Tennessee districts; Shelby County in the Western Division of the Western District.
  • 18 U.S.C. § 3621, Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Designation at § 3621(b).

Sources reviewed September 2026.

Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026

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