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Federal Prisons in Texas

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

Federal prisons in Texas at a glance

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates 13 institutions in Texas, eight of them with a satellite camp, holding 14,605 people as of September 2026. All 13 sit in the Bureau’s South Central Region, which is run from Grand Prairie, Texas.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
USP BeaumontU.S. Penitentiary · HighMen1,227—BeaumontEastern District of Texas
FCI Beaumont MediumFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen1,111—BeaumontEastern District of Texas
FCI Three RiversFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen897Camp: 260Three RiversSouthern District of Texas
FCI BastropFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen1,044Camp: 125BastropWestern District of Texas
FCI Beaumont LowFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen1,317Camp: 517BeaumontEastern District of Texas
FCI Big SpringFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen413Camp: 93Big SpringNorthern District of Texas
FCI La TunaFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen437Camp: 121AnthonyWestern District of Texas
FCI SeagovilleFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen1,320Camp: 117SeagovilleNorthern District of Texas
FCI TexarkanaFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen1,081Camp: 229TexarkanaEastern District of Texas
FPC BryanFederal Prison Camp · MinimumWomen618—BryanSouthern District of Texas
FDC HoustonFederal Detention Center · AdministrativeMen and women840—HoustonSouthern District of Texas
FMC CarswellFederal Medical Center · AdministrativeWomen1,026Camp: 245Fort WorthNorthern District of Texas
FMC Fort WorthFederal Medical Center · AdministrativeMen1,567—Fort WorthNorthern District of Texas
Total13 institutions12,8981,707
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

Three of the 13 are on an announced closure list. On July 1, 2026 the Bureau of Prisons published a list of institutions it “will close” naming three in Texas: “Beaumont FCI Low,” “Big Spring FCI and Satellite Camp” and “La Tuna FCI, FSL (Federal Satellite Low), and Satellite Camp.” No closing date was given, and the announcement said La Tuna’s Federal Satellite Low was already “currently non-operational.” All three are still on the roster snapshot behind this page, taken September 18, 2026, with populations.

How many federal prisons are in Texas?

Thirteen, counting institutions on the Bureau of Prisons roster, which is what this page counts. One is high security, USP Beaumont; two are medium and six are low. FPC Bryan is the only minimum-security camp with a row of its own. Three are administrative: FDC Houston and the two medical centers, FMC Carswell and FMC Fort Worth. Eight of the 13 carry a satellite camp, counted inside that institution’s row rather than as a prison of its own, and three share one campus on Knauth Road outside Beaumont, which the Bureau lists as FCC Beaumont, the only federal correctional complex in the state. Texas has an institution at every security level the Bureau runs; the national picture is in the Bureau of Prisons directory. Three former Texas facilities keep pages here too, in the closures section below.

What is each federal prison in Texas like?

Each of the 13, in the table’s order.

USP Beaumont

The state’s only high-security United States Penitentiary, holding men, and the only penitentiary on the Beaumont complex. It has no camp. One thing is true here and almost nowhere else in the federal system: men whose federal death sentences were commuted on December 23, 2024 had been condemned for murders committed inside it. See USP Beaumont.

FCI Beaumont Medium

Medium security for men on the same Knauth Road campus, and the only Texas medium with no camp. It publishes almost nothing of its own: the documents on its Bureau facility page are complex-wide, and its own visiting supplement was rescinded in 2008 and never replaced. See FCI Beaumont Medium.

FCI Three Rivers

Medium security for men in Live Oak County, between San Antonio and Corpus Christi, with a satellite camp. The location catches families out: Texas runs state prisons a short drive away at Beeville and Kenedy. If the sentence came from a state court, the person is not at FCI Three Rivers.

FCI Bastrop

Low security for men on Highway 95 north of Bastrop, half an hour southeast of Austin, with a satellite camp. It rewrote its visiting rules on December 31, 2025, and the Monday visiting day that older listings still print no longer exists. Check the current supplement on our FCI Bastrop page.

FCI Beaumont Low

The low-security institution on the Beaumont complex, for men, with the complex’s satellite camp attached, and named in the July 1, 2026 closure announcement. The camp belongs to the Low on paper, but the Bureau publishes its mailing address under the penitentiary next door. The blocks are on our FCI Beaumont Low page.

FCI Big Spring

Low security for men at Big Spring, with a satellite camp, also named in the July 1, 2026 announcement. The town had a second federal prison, a privately owned contract facility now standing idle, which is routinely confused with this one. Ours is FCI Big Spring, on the west side of town.

FCI La Tuna

Low security for men at Anthony, a mile south of the New Mexico line and north of El Paso, with a satellite camp, and also on the July 1, 2026 list. La Tuna carries a mission its own handbook calls distinct: it is where prisoners gather for the treaty transfers between the United States and Mexico. See FCI La Tuna.

FCI Seagoville

Low security for men southeast of Dallas, with a satellite camp and a detention unit on the same grounds. It is a Sex Offender Management Program institution, and the management half of that program is not voluntary: it shapes housing, work and correspondence whatever a man decides about treatment. See FCI Seagoville.

FCI Texarkana

Low security for men in Bowie County, a quarter of a mile from Interstate 30 and about a mile from the line into Arkansas, with a satellite camp. Its Residential Drug Abuse Program runs at the camp only, so a man held at the institution who wants that program has to be transferred out of Texarkana. See FCI Texarkana.

FPC Bryan

A minimum-security prison camp for women in Brazos County, northwest of Houston, and a stand-alone institution rather than a satellite camp outside a larger prison’s fence. Most of the women arrive through the front door on a date set by a federal judge, so self-surrender is the longest section of our FPC Bryan page.

FDC Houston

The Bureau’s detention center on Texas Avenue in downtown Houston, the only Bureau facility in the city and the only Texas institution holding both men and women. Most people inside have not been sentenced: they are awaiting trial or sentencing in the Southern District of Texas, or held for the U.S. Marshals Service. See FDC Houston.

FMC Carswell

The Bureau’s only medical center for women, on the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base at Fort Worth, with a satellite camp. It is where the Bureau sends a woman who is seriously ill, pregnant with complications, on dialysis, in psychiatric crisis or classified high security. See FMC Carswell.

FMC Fort Worth

An administrative-security prison hospital for men in southeast Fort Worth, and the only Bureau medical referral center with a federal detention center on the same grounds, so a man awaiting trial and a man on a nursing ward are inside one fence under different visiting rules. See FMC Fort Worth.

Which federal prisons in Texas hold women?

Three of the 13. FPC Bryan is a minimum-security camp for women. FMC Carswell is the Bureau’s only medical center for women and has a satellite camp. FDC Houston holds men and women. The roster records sex at institution level, so where an institution has a camp, that facility’s own page states who the camp holds. Our guide to women’s federal prisons covers programs and placement.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees Texas?

The South Central Regional Office, which is itself in Texas. All 13 institutions are in the Bureau’s South Central Region, whose office sits in the US Armed Forces Reserve Complex on Marine Forces Drive at Grand Prairie. The region matters to a family at the second step of the administrative remedy process. 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.” The step before it is our guide to filing a BP-9.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from Texas?

Two offices, split by judicial district. Texas is divided into four federal judicial districts, the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas, under 28 U.S.C. § 124. The Bureau’s page for RRM San Antonio prints Eastern Texas, Western Texas and Southern Texas; its page for RRM Dallas prints Northern Texas. Every Texas district is listed once: none is claimed by both offices and none is left out.

Which office handles a case turns on the release district, not on the district where the prison stands. The Bureau’s halfway-house placement procedures say so: 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 serving a sentence at FCI Texarkana who is going home to El Paso is an RRM San Antonio matter. Our page on federal halfway houses covers the timing.

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

Finding someone is a national search, not a state one. The inmate locator takes a name or a register number, and a name search needs both a first and a last name. While the person is in custody the screen shows the facility’s name and type; once a release date is recorded it shows that instead.

Mail takes the exact address block the institution publishes, and the blocks differ between prisons in the same city and between a prison and its camp; the Beaumont camp is the clearest Texas example, published under the penitentiary next door. See writing to someone inside.

Visiting runs on each institution’s own supplement rather than on a state-wide rule. Days, hours and the approval wait differ at every Texas institution and change without much notice, so read the facility page before traveling. See visitation.

Money moves through national channels: the lockbox by mail, 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.

Which federal prisons in Texas are closing or have closed?

Three are on an announced closure list and none has closed. The July 1, 2026 announcement named FCI Beaumont Low, FCI Big Spring with its satellite camp, and FCI La Tuna with its Federal Satellite Low and satellite camp. The same announcement said a reduction-in-force would take effect at Big Spring and La Tuna, while staff at Beaumont FCI Low would move to other units on site or nearby.

Three privately operated Texas facilities that once held federal prisoners under contract keep pages on this site: Big Spring Correctional Center, a former contract facility, the former Giles W. Dalby Correctional Facility and the former Reeves County Detention Center. None was a Bureau institution and none is counted in the 13. Our explainer on major federal prison closures sets out the pattern.

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

Thirteen institutions, on the roster snapshot behind this page: one high-security penitentiary, two medium, six low, one minimum-security camp, one detention center and two medical centers. Eight of the 13 also carry a satellite camp, which the Bureau counts inside that institution rather than as a prison of its own.

What is the largest federal prison in Texas by population?

FMC Fort Worth, at 1,567 people as of September 2026, is the largest Texas institution counted on its own, and it has no satellite camp, so that figure covers everyone held there. Counting a camp together with its institution changes the answer: FCI Beaumont Low and its camp hold more between them. The Bureau’s population report prints the two rows separately.

Does Texas have a high-security federal penitentiary?

One. USP Beaumont is the only United States Penitentiary in the state and the only Texas institution the Bureau rates high security; it holds men. It shares the Knauth Road campus with FCI Beaumont Medium and FCI Beaumont Low, which the Bureau lists together as FCC Beaumont.

Where are women held in federal custody in Texas?

At three of the 13 institutions. FPC Bryan is a minimum-security camp for women and a stand-alone prison rather than a satellite. FMC Carswell, at Fort Worth, is the Bureau’s only medical center for women and has a satellite camp. FDC Houston holds men and women, most of them awaiting trial or sentencing.

Where are pretrial federal detainees held in Texas?

FDC Houston is the Bureau’s detention center in Texas, and most of the people inside it have not been sentenced. FMC Fort Worth has a federal detention center on its grounds as well, and FCI Seagoville a detention unit on its. Where a particular person is held is shown by the Bureau’s inmate locator.

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

Use the Bureau’s inmate locator, which covers the whole system rather than one state, and search by name or register number. A name search needs both a first and a last name. While the person is in custody the screen shows the facility’s name and type; once a release date is recorded, it shows that instead.

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

One of two, depending on the judicial district the person is going home to. The Bureau’s page for RRM San Antonio lists Eastern, Western and Southern Texas; its page for RRM Dallas lists Northern Texas. Placement turns on the release district rather than on where the prison stands, whatever state the sentence is served in.

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

A request can be made, and the sentencing court can recommend one, but the Bureau decides. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b) the Bureau “shall designate the place of the prisoner’s imprisonment” and, subject to bed availability, security designation and the other factors the statute lists, place the prisoner “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 a Texas federal prison?

Three problems recur at Texas institutions, each of them evidenced on the facility pages. Movement: three of the 13 are on an announced closure list with no date attached, and a closure without a date is a transfer question for everyone inside, with the next designation decided by the Bureau rather than asked for. Medical: Texas holds two of the Bureau’s medical centers, so care-level designations, delayed treatment and medical transfers are ordinary problems here, and among the problems we work on inside. Programs: at FCI Texarkana the Residential Drug Abuse Program runs at the camp only, and at FCI Seagoville the Sex Offender Management Program shapes housing and correspondence, so program access and First Step Act time credit disputes 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 Texas 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

  • 18 U.S.C. § 3621, Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Designation at § 3621(b).
  • 28 U.S.C. § 124, Office of the Law Revision Counsel. The four Texas judicial districts.

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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