Minimum Security Prisons | Federal Prison Camps

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

A minimum-security federal prison is a Federal Prison Camp — dormitory housing, a low staff-to-inmate ratio, and limited or no perimeter fencing. It is the lowest of the five federal security levels, reserved for men scoring 0–11 security points and women scoring 0–15, and — this is the part that decides most cases — reserved for people carrying no Public Safety Factor at all (PS 5100.08 at pp. 14, 21, 61–62).

That second requirement is why so many low-point defendants still do not go to a camp. A Public Safety Factor is not a penalty added to a score; it is a floor that forbids placement below a stated level, and every one of the eleven Public Safety Factors sets its floor at Low or higher. A man with zero security points and a Deportable Alien factor goes to a Low. So does a man with zero points and more than ten years left to serve.

Staff score the caseOn the Inmate Load and Security Designation Form, BP‑337.

SENTRY totals the pointsSeverity of offense, criminal history, detainers, escapes, violence, age, education, drug use.

A Public Safety Factor is appliedIf one fits, it sets a floor and the point total no longer controls.

A Management Variable may shift itStaff judgment can move the placement one level up or down.

DSCC designates the institutionThe Designation and Sentence Computation Center in Grand Prairie, Texas, makes the call.

The score is the starting point, not the answer. Most people are surprised by step three: a Public Safety Factor keeps someone out of a lower‑security institution no matter how few points they scored, and no more than three may be applied at once. Steps three and four are also where a lawyer’s work actually lands — the point total is arithmetic, but the PSF and the Management Variable turn on judgment and on the record the Bureau is given.

Source: BOP Program Statement 5100.08, Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification (Change Notice CN‑3, May 6, 2026), chs. 1, 2 and 5. Verified against the program statement text; confirm current policy before relying on it in a specific case.

Minimum security at a glance
What BOP calls it	Federal Prison Camp (FPC) when standalone; Satellite Prison Camp (SPC) when attached to a larger institution
Point range	Men 0–11; women 0–15 (PS 5100.08 at p. 14)
Custody levels housed	COMMUNITY and OUT only — never IN, never MAXIMUM (PS 5100.08 at p. 14)
Initial custody on arrival	OUT (PS 5100.08 at Table 4-1, p. 47)
Public Safety Factors permitted	None. Any PSF sets a floor of Low or above (PS 5100.08 at Tables 5-2 and 5-3, pp. 61–62)
Standalone camps on BOP’s roster	6 — Alderson, Bryan, Duluth, Montgomery, Morgantown, Yankton (roster reconciled September 5, 2026)
Institutions with an adjacent satellite camp	68
Announced changes	Big Spring, La Tuna and Petersburg Low camps closing; the Lexington FMC camp closing; Morgantown and Duluth converting from camps to Federal Satellite Lows (BOP press release, July 1, 2026)
Governing policy	Program Statement 5100.08, as amended by CN-3 (May 6, 2026) — agency policy, not law; the binding regulation is 28 C.F.R. part 524

What a federal prison camp physically is

A camp has no wall, no gun towers, and in most cases no fence. What holds people there is the consequence of leaving, not a barrier. That single fact explains everything else about how the Bureau runs a camp and who it will allow into one.

Housing is open-bay dormitory or cubicle — bunks in rows, half-height partitions at best, no cell doors. Movement inside the compound is largely self-directed within a schedule: people walk to work, to the chow hall, to education, to recreation, without being escorted and without a controlled-movement horn every hour. The staffing ratio is the lowest in the system, which is the operational reason the Bureau restricts entry so tightly — there simply are not enough officers on a camp compound to manage anyone who needs managing.

Because a camp has no secure perimeter, everyone housed there must be cleared for activity outside it. That is what the custody level does. Minimum-security institutions house only COMMUNITY and OUT custody (PS 5100.08 at p. 14). OUT custody means a person “may be assigned to less secure housing and may be eligible for work details outside the institution’s secure perimeter with a minimum of two-hour intermittent staff supervision” (PS 5100.08 at p. 21). COMMUNITY custody, the lowest level, permits “the least secure housing, including any which is outside the institution’s perimeter,” work on outside details with minimal supervision, and community-based program activities where the person is otherwise eligible (PS 5100.08 at p. 16). Someone at IN custody cannot be at a camp, by definition — IN custody people “are not eligible for work details or programs outside the institution’s secure perimeter” (PS 5100.08 at p. 17).

That is also why a camp assignment can end abruptly. Custody, not security points, is the thing that gets pulled first.

Types of minimum-security placement

There are three, and they are not equivalent.

Standalone Federal Prison Camps

Full minimum-security institutions with their own warden, their own education department, their own psychology services and their own recreation program. Six remain on BOP’s roster as of the September 5, 2026 reconciliation: FPC Alderson (women, West Virginia), FPC Bryan (women, Texas), FPC Duluth (men, Minnesota), FPC Montgomery (men, Alabama), FPC Morgantown (men, West Virginia) and FPC Yankton (men, South Dakota). FPC Pensacola is no longer on BOP’s roster and should not be treated as an operating institution.

Satellite Prison Camps

A minimum-security camp adjacent to a larger institution — an FCI, a USP, or a medical center — whose residents provide labor to the main compound and to outside work details. 68 institutions carry one. Satellite camps are smaller and their program offerings are thinner: they share the parent institution’s education, psychology and recreation departments rather than running their own, which in practice means waiting lists behind the main-compound population. What a satellite camp offers instead is proximity — many are attached to institutions closer to a given release residence than any standalone camp would be, and PS 5100.08 asks the Designator to consider proximity to the legal residence when picking among appropriate-level facilities (PS 5100.08 at p. 25).

One structural difference matters at the worst moment. At a satellite camp adjacent to a Low or Medium institution, the Camp Administrator may temporarily move someone into the main institution for disciplinary purposes — including disciplinary segregation — while approval is sought from the DSCC for redesignation (PS 5100.08 at p. 91). At a standalone camp there is no main compound next door, so the same incident routes differently. Our page on special housing units covers what that placement looks like.

Work cadre placement

The third and least understood form of minimum-security placement, covered in its own section below.

Who goes to a federal prison camp

Two gates, in this order. The first is the Public Safety Factor gate, and it is absolute. The second is the point total.

Gate one: any Public Safety Factor closes the camp

PS 5100.08 defines Public Safety Factors as applying to “inmates who are not appropriate for placement at an institution which would permit inmate access to the community (i.e., MINIMUM security)” (PS 5100.08 at p. 21). Read Table 5-2 for men and Table 5-3 for women and the mechanism is unmistakable: in the 0–11 male row and the 0–15 female row, “No Public Safety Factors” produces Minimum and every listed factor produces Low or higher (PS 5100.08 at pp. 61–62).

Public Safety Factor	Applies to	Camp closed because the floor is
Sex Offender — enumerated conduct in the current term or prior history; a conviction is not required if the PSR or other official documentation clearly shows it	Men and women	Low
Deportable Alien — not a U.S. citizen; applied to all long-term detainees	Men and women	Low
Greatest Severity Offense — current term in the “Greatest Severity” range of the Offense Severity Scale	Men	Low
Threat to Government Officials — carries the CIM assignment of that name	Men and women	Low
Serious Telephone Abuse — using the phone to further criminal activity or promote illicit organizations	Men and women	Low
Sentence Length — more than 10 years remaining	Men	Low
Sentence Length — more than 20 years remaining	Men	Medium
Sentence Length — more than 30 years remaining, incl. non-parolable LIFE and death-penalty cases	Men	High
Violent Behavior — two convictions or DHO findings for serious violence within five years	Women	Low
Serious Escape — men: escape from secure custody, or from an open facility with threat of violence	Men	Medium
Serious Escape — women: serious escape within the last ten years	Women	Carswell Administrative Unit
Prison Disturbance — guilty of engaging in or encouraging a riot during simultaneous institution disruptions	Men and women	Men: High; women: Carswell Administrative Unit
Disruptive Group — validated member of a CIM-identified disruptive group	Men	High
Juvenile Violence — documented violent behavior while of juvenile age, with conviction, adjudication or finding of guilt	Men and women	Per Tables 5-2 / 5-3

PS 5100.08 at pp. 56–62. A maximum of three factors may be applied; where more than three fit, the Bureau applies the three producing the greatest security (PS 5100.08 at p. 56). Three factors have been discontinued — Firearms, High Drug and Designation Assessment (PS 5100.08 at p. 61).

The Sentence Length factor is the one that most often separates a low-point defendant from a camp, and it is also the one that resolves on its own with time. More than ten years remaining to serve puts a man at a Low; as the remaining term drops below ten years, the factor no longer applies, and a camp becomes possible where nothing else bars it. “Months to release” is calculated as total months remaining less 15% for sentences over 12 months, less jail credit (PS 5100.08 at p. 39) — which is the Bureau’s classification shortcut for good conduct time, not a computation of it. The actual sentence computation is a separate exercise; see challenging a BOP sentence computation and good conduct time.

The Deportable Alien factor is the one most often removable. PS 5100.08 says it “shall not be applied, or shall be removed when the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) have determined that deportation proceedings are unwarranted or there is a finding not to deport,” and it does not apply to a person who has naturalized (PS 5100.08 at p. 58). The Institution Hearing Program is where those determinations get made.

Only the DSCC Administrator may waive a Public Safety Factor, on form 409 with items 1 through 7 completed. A waiver triggers the “PSF Waived” Management Variable and an overriding Management Security Level at least one level below the scored security level (PS 5100.08 at p. 53). Nobody at the institution can grant one; the Unit Team can only forward the request.

Gate two: the point total

Past the PSF gate, the arithmetic decides. Ten items on the BP-337 build a Base Score, and after arrival six in-prison items on the BP-338 produce a Custody Total that is crossed against the Base Score to add or subtract points (PS 5100.08 at pp. 49, 77, 82). Men need 0–11; women need 0–15. The security levels page carries both tables in full, item by item, with every point value.

Three items decide most camp cases. Voluntary surrender is worth −3 points and applies only to post-sentencing self-surrender where nobody escorted the person in (PS 5100.08 at p. 38). Age is worth up to 8 points — 8 for 24 or under, 4 for 25–35, 2 for 36–54, 0 for 55 and over (PS 5100.08 at p. 45) — which is why age alone can add up to eight points to an otherwise clean record. And any detainer scores, on the severity of the offense behind it, with no points for U.S. Parole Commission warrants and none for ICE detainers (PS 5100.08 at pp. 44–45).

“White-collar prison” and “Club Fed” — what those terms actually mean

Neither is a Bureau classification. There is no such thing as a federal white-collar prison, and BOP has never designated a facility by offense type. What people mean by “white-collar prison” is a minimum-security camp, and the reason white-collar defendants are over-represented there is entirely mechanical: fraud, tax and regulatory offenses tend to produce low offense-severity scores under the Offense Severity Scale, low or zero criminal history points, no history of violence, no escape history, an older defendant, a verified high school diploma or better, and — because these defendants are usually on pretrial release — the −3 voluntary surrender credit. Add those up and you frequently land inside 0–11.

“Club Fed” is a media coinage of the same idea, and it is misleading in both directions. A camp has no fence, real work assignments, real counts, and the same disciplinary system as every other institution. It is also, by construction, the least violent part of the federal system — because the classification rules keep people with violence, escape and disruption histories out of it, not because anyone made it comfortable. What “Club Fed” gets right is the absence of a wall. What it gets wrong is nearly everything else.

If you are researching this because a white-collar case is heading toward sentencing, the material that matters is on preparing for prison, what families should know about federal prison and surviving federal prison as a first-time offender.

What minimum security is actually like

Movement inside a federal prison camp

Largely self-directed inside the compound and along an established schedule. There is no controlled-movement horn gating every transition, no strip search after a routine visit at most camps, and no cell door. People walk to work, to education, to the law library, to the yard. That freedom is conditional on custody level, and it is the first thing to disappear after an incident report.

Work assignments at a camp

Every physically and mentally able sentenced person is assigned to a work program at initial classification, and participation is mandatory under 28 C.F.R. § 524.11(d). At a camp the work is frequently outside the perimeter: grounds, warehouse, food service, and at satellite camps, labor for the parent institution and off-site details. Several camps sit adjacent to military installations and provide labor to the base. Institution work assignments and performance pay are governed by the Bureau’s inmate work and performance pay policy; our pages on inmate work assignments and work assignments in federal prison cover what the jobs are and what they pay.

Programs and education at a camp

Standalone camps run their own education, psychology and recreation departments; satellite camps share the parent institution’s. Either way the literacy and GED program is mandatory for anyone without a verified high school diploma or GED — and it is also a classification item, because education level scores 0, 1 or 2 points on the BP-337 and program participation scores 0, 1 or 2 on the BP-338 (PS 5100.08 at pp. 45, 72). RDAP is offered at some camps and not others; the Psychology Treatment Programs policy governs it, and placement in a program available only at limited sites is one of the recognized reasons for a Program Participation Management Variable (PS 5100.08 at p. 52).

Visiting at a camp

Easier at a camp than anywhere else in the system, and the difference is mostly about search procedure and physical layout rather than about rules. The rules themselves are national and are set by the visiting regulations; the local visiting schedule, dress code and processing procedure come from the institution supplement, which varies facility to facility. Our inmate visitation page explains how to get on a visiting list.

Commissary, food and daily life at a camp

Commissary, food, recreation, clothing and bedding, showers and toilets, counts, phone calls and CorrLinks email all follow national policy with local variation set by the institution supplement and the Warden. Where an answer genuinely varies by institution, it varies because of that supplement — not because there is a secret national rule nobody told you.

Applied Insight — Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA, Managing Director: People arriving at a camp from a county jail describe the same disorientation: the absence of a fence reads as freedom for about a day, and then the actual constraint becomes visible, which is that everything you do is scored. Work performance, program participation, disciplinary history and family contact are all custody-scoring items, and they are the only part of the classification file a person can still move after sentencing. What the firm looks for in a camp case is whether the record the Unit Team is scoring actually reflects what the person has done — because on a two-point spread, it frequently does not.

How minimum security differs from every other level

	Minimum (camp)	Low (FCI)	Medium (FCI)	High (USP)
Perimeter	Limited or no fencing	Double fence, electronic detection	Reinforced fence, razor wire, armed patrol	Reinforced fence or wall; most have towers
Housing	Dormitory	Dormitory or cubicle; some cells	Predominantly cells	Cells
Custody levels housed	COMMUNITY, OUT	OUT, IN	OUT, IN	IN, MAXIMUM
Initial custody on arrival	OUT	IN	IN	IN (MAXIMUM at USP Marion and ADX Florence)
Male point range	0–11	12–15	16–23	24+
Female point range	0–15	16–30	none	31+
Any PSF permitted?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Work outside the perimeter	Routine	Limited	No	No

PS 5100.08 at pp. 14, 16–21, 47, 61–62.

The row that matters is the last one but one. A camp is the only security level at which a Public Safety Factor is disqualifying. Every other level tolerates them. That, more than the fence, is what makes minimum security a different kind of place: it is defined by who is absent.

Community confinement: RRCs and home confinement

Residential Reentry Centers — halfway houses, formerly Community Corrections Centers — sit below the camp on the continuum but are not a security level. They are contract facilities serving a reentry mission, and people come to them from every security level as they approach release. Because they are community placements, COMMUNITY custody must be in effect at the time of transfer, effective 12:01 a.m. on the transfer date, and a transfer to an RRC may require a custody drop of more than one level — the only routine exception to the one-level-at-a-time rule (PS 5100.08 at p. 80). Where the reduction to COMMUNITY custody is solely for the RRC transfer, no new BP-338 is required; the Warden’s signature on the Institution Referral for CCC Placement (BP-210) supplies the approval (PS 5100.08 at p. 80).

There is a camp-specific rule here that almost nobody raises with a Unit Team. PS 5100.08 provides that people approved for RRC referral “and are otherwise appropriate for camp placement are to be transferred to a camp for intermediate placement if at all practicable,” with the process completed to allow a minimum of 60 days at the camp before the RRC reporting date, and RRC referrals made 12 to 18 months in advance of the anticipated reporting date (PS 5100.08 at p. 92). If someone is inside a year of release, approved for an RRC, and still sitting at a Low with no PSF, that paragraph is worth putting in front of the Unit Team in writing.

Our pages on halfway houses, home confinement, home confinement eligibility, the RRC release plan and Second Chance Act placement cover the reentry end; the Bureau’s halfway house placement, home confinement and community corrections policies are the governing instructions. First Step Act time credits and the PATTERN risk score drive how much of that time a person may earn.

Minimum-security work cadre

Work cadre is the third form of minimum-security placement, and it is the one people are least prepared for. PS 5100.08 authorizes it in a single paragraph: “At secure facilities without satellite camps, the Regional Director may authorize a certain number of work cadre inmates to perform work outside the perimeter of the institution. The DSCC will apply the [Management Variable] upon request of the institution” (PS 5100.08 at p. 53).

In practice that means minimum-security people housed inside an administrative-security facility — a Federal Detention Center, a Metropolitan Detention Center, a Metropolitan Correctional Center — to keep it running: food service, laundry, maintenance, warehouse. Table 4-1 accounts for them directly: initial custody at an Administrative institution is IN, “unless inmate is Minimum security level and designation was not for security reasons, in which case the initial custody assignment is OUT” (PS 5100.08 at p. 47).

The trade is straightforward and mostly bad. A cadre worker keeps a minimum-security classification but lives in a high-rise urban detention building alongside a pretrial population, typically locked in a cell at night rather than sleeping in an open dormitory, with limited outdoor access, high noise, and the program offerings of a detention facility rather than a prison. What cadre placement can offer is location — these buildings sit in major cities, which for some families is the difference between monthly visits and none. Our page on administrative-security prisons covers the facilities themselves, and the pretrial inmates policy explains the population a cadre worker lives beside.

Cadre placement is applied by the DSCC as a Management Variable at the institution’s request, which means it can be requested away as well. A cop-out to the Unit Team asking for referral for redesignation to a camp, citing the Work Cadre variable, is the starting move.

What gets someone moved out of a camp — and what gets them in

Out. Three routes, in descending order of frequency.

Discipline. An incident report is a classification event as much as a punishment. On the BP-338, the “Type and Number of Most Serious Incident Report” item scores 0 for any Greatest-severity (100-level) finding within the past ten years — no matter how few — and 1 for more than one High-severity (200-level) finding within two years (PS 5100.08 at p. 73). Zero on that item plus zero on Frequency drags the Custody Total down, drives the variance positive, and pushes the Security Total up. Separately, documented misconduct supports a Disciplinary or Close Supervision transfer under codes 309 and 323, “normally of greater security,” and Wardens may recommend same-level transfers only where a higher-security placement is not possible (PS 5100.08 at p. 88). Our page on inmate discipline proceedings explains the hearing; the Inmate Discipline Program sets the code severities.

Walking away. Leaving a camp is an escape, and it converts into a scoring item that lasts. A walkaway from an open institution with no violence is a Minor escape history worth up to 3 points; escape from secure custody, or from an open facility with actual threat of violence, is Serious, worth 3 points and triggering the Serious Escape Public Safety Factor, which sets a floor of Medium for men (PS 5100.08 at pp. 44, 58). One decision, and the camp is closed for the rest of the sentence and any future one.

Refusing a program. This one surprises people. Anyone in “FRP Refuse,” “RPP Refuse,” or refusing mandatory drug education or treatment scores 0 on both Program Participation and Living Skills — regardless of every other program achievement (PS 5100.08 at p. 72). That is four custody points gone at once, which on a tight variance is enough to move the Security Total across the 11-point line. The Financial Responsibility Program is the usual culprit; see inmate restitution and the Financial Responsibility Program policy.

In. Two routes.

The score comes down. At the annual custody review the Percentage of Time Served item rises as the sentence runs (3 points at 0–25% served, 4 at 26–75%, 5 at 76–90%, 6 at 91%+), age drops the Base Score at 25, 36 and 55, and clean conduct maxes the two incident-report items at 5 and 3 (PS 5100.08 at pp. 71, 73–74, 45). When the scored level changes, PS 5100.08 requires the case be referred to the DSCC for either a Lesser Security transfer (code 308) or application of a Management Variable (PS 5100.08 at p. 86).

The Sentence Length factor lapses. A man with more than ten years remaining carries a Low floor. As the remaining term falls below ten years, that factor stops applying, and if nothing else bars him, a camp becomes possible. This is the single most common path from a Low to a camp, and it requires somebody to notice — the Unit Team at the annual review, or a cop-out asking for the BP-338 to be rescored.

There is one movement rule unique to this level. Unescorted transfer — traveling without staff — is available from a Low or Minimum institution to a Minimum institution for a minimum-security person with OUT or COMMUNITY custody, and family on the approved visiting list may provide the transportation, at the family’s expense, but only camp-to-camp and only with the Warden’s approval; the person must travel directly from the sending institution to the receiving one (PS 5100.08 at p. 91). The Bureau’s unescorted transfers and voluntary surrenders page covers the procedure.

Finally, a camp is where the Nearer Release transfer (code 313) most often becomes worth pursuing. It requires 18 consecutive months of clear conduct in general population, and it is not available to people with an order of deportation or removal, an ICE detainer for an unadjudicated offense, or an ICE detainer for a hearing (PS 5100.08 at p. 87). CN-1 rewrote that paragraph in 2019 so that reaching 500 driving miles from the release residence no longer ends the inquiry (PS 5100.08 at pp. 4–5).

What the 2026 closures do to the camp map

On July 1, 2026 the Bureau announced a set of closures and conversions driven by a deferred-maintenance backlog it put at more than $4 billion, and by staffing (BOP press release, July 1, 2026). Each of the following hits minimum security directly:

• FCI Big Spring and its satellite camp — closing, with a reduction in force.
• FCI La Tuna, its Federal Satellite Low and its satellite camp — closing.
• FMC Lexington satellite camp — closing; staff transferred to other units onsite or nearby.
• FCI Beaumont Low and FCI Petersburg Low — closing, each taking its satellite camp with it.
• FPC Morgantown and FPC Duluth — converting from minimum-security camps to Federal Satellite Lows.

That last line is the one to sit with. Morgantown and Duluth are two of the six standalone camps in the system, and both are men’s camps. Converting them to FSLs does not close them, but it changes what they are: a Federal Satellite Low is a low-security facility, which means a fenced perimeter and a population that may carry Public Safety Factors. If the conversions complete as announced, the standalone men’s camp footprint drops to Montgomery and Yankton, and the women’s to Alderson and Bryan.

Caveat, stated plainly. As of a facility-by-facility reconciliation of BOP’s published locations roster on September 5, 2026, the Bureau’s own systems still listed Morgantown and Duluth as Federal Prison Camps and still listed Beaumont Low, Big Spring, La Tuna, Lexington and Petersburg Low as active at their original security levels. Only Taft had dropped off the roster. These are announced changes that had not yet posted. Confirm the current status of any of these facilities before relying on it. Our page on major federal prison closures and deactivations tracks the list as it moves.

List of minimum-security federal prisons by state

Below is every institution on BOP’s published locations roster that is a standalone Federal Prison Camp or carries an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp — 6 standalone camps and 68 satellite camps, as reconciled facility-by-facility against the Bureau’s roster on September 5, 2026.

Two things to read carefully. The “Houses” column states the sex the institution houses per BOP’s own facility record; the attached camp may house a different population than the main compound, and BOP does not publish a separate camp designation for every site. The population figures are the institution total, not the camp — BOP publishes a camp breakout for only a handful of facilities (for example, FCI Fort Dix reports 4,117 total, of which 222 are at the camp). Before writing to anyone at a camp, confirm the mailing address on that facility’s page, because camps often take mail at a different address than the main institution.

State	Institution	Type	Houses	Note
Alabama	FCI Aliceville	Satellite camp	Women
Alabama	FCI Talladega	Satellite camp	Men
Alabama	FPC Montgomery	Standalone FPC	Men
Arizona	FCI Phoenix	Satellite camp	Men and women
Arizona	USP Tucson	Satellite camp	Men
Arkansas	FCI Forrest City Low	Satellite camp	Men
California	FCI Herlong	Satellite camp	Men
California	FCI Lompoc II	Satellite camp	Men
California	FCI Mendota	Satellite camp	Men
California	FCI Victorville Medium I	Satellite camp	Men and women
California	USP Atwater	Satellite camp	Men
Colorado	FCI Englewood	Satellite camp	Men
Colorado	FCI Florence	Satellite camp	Men
Connecticut	FCI Danbury	Satellite camp	Men and women
Florida	FCI Coleman Low	Satellite camp	Men
Florida	FCI Marianna	Satellite camp	Men and women
Florida	FCI Miami	Satellite camp	Men
Georgia	FCI Jesup	Satellite camp	Men
Illinois	FCI Greenville	Satellite camp	Men and women
Illinois	FCI Marion	Satellite camp	Men
Illinois	FCI Pekin	Satellite camp	Men and women
Illinois	FCI Thomson	Satellite camp	Men
Indiana	FCI Terre Haute	Satellite camp	Men
Indiana	USP Terre Haute	Satellite camp	Men
Kansas	FCI Leavenworth	Satellite camp	Men
Kentucky	FCI Ashland	Satellite camp	Men
Kentucky	FCI Manchester	Satellite camp	Men
Kentucky	FMC Lexington	Satellite camp	Men and women	Camp closing (July 1, 2026 announcement)
Kentucky	USP Big Sandy	Satellite camp	Men
Kentucky	USP McCreary	Satellite camp	Men
Louisiana	FCI Oakdale II	Satellite camp	Men
Louisiana	FCI Pollock	Satellite camp	Men
Louisiana	USP Pollock	Satellite camp	Men
Maryland	FCI Cumberland	Satellite camp	Men
Massachusetts	FMC Devens	Satellite camp	Men
Minnesota	FPC Duluth	Standalone FPC	Men	Converting to an FSL (July 1, 2026 announcement)
Mississippi	FCI Yazoo City Low	Satellite camp	Men
New Hampshire	FCI Berlin	Satellite camp	Men
New Jersey	FCI Fairton	Satellite camp	Men
New Jersey	FCI Fort Dix	Satellite camp	Men	222 of 4,117 at the camp
New York	FCI Otisville	Satellite camp	Men
North Carolina	FCI Butner Low	Satellite camp	Men
North Carolina	FCI Butner Medium I	Satellite camp	Men
Oklahoma	FCI El Reno	Satellite camp	Men
Oregon	FCI Sheridan	Satellite camp	Men
Pennsylvania	FCI Lewisburg	Satellite camp	Men
Pennsylvania	FCI Loretto	Satellite camp	Men
Pennsylvania	FCI McKean	Satellite camp	Men
Pennsylvania	FCI Schuylkill	Satellite camp	Men
Pennsylvania	USP Canaan	Satellite camp	Men
South Carolina	FCI Bennettsville	Satellite camp	Men
South Carolina	FCI Edgefield	Satellite camp	Men
South Carolina	FCI Estill	Satellite camp	Women
South Carolina	FCI Williamsburg	Satellite camp	Men
South Dakota	FPC Yankton	Standalone FPC	Men
Texas	FCI Bastrop	Satellite camp	Men
Texas	FCI Beaumont Low	Satellite camp	Men	Closing (July 1, 2026 announcement); 520 of 1,964 at the camp
Texas	FCI Big Spring	Satellite camp	Men	Closing (July 1, 2026 announcement)
Texas	FCI La Tuna	Satellite camp	Men	Closing (July 1, 2026 announcement)
Texas	FCI Seagoville	Satellite camp	Men
Texas	FCI Texarkana	Satellite camp	Men
Texas	FCI Three Rivers	Satellite camp	Men
Texas	FMC Carswell	Satellite camp	Women
Texas	FPC Bryan	Standalone FPC	Women
Texas	USP Beaumont	Satellite camp	Men
Virginia	FCI Petersburg Low	Satellite camp	Men	Closing (July 1, 2026 announcement)
Virginia	USP Lee	Satellite camp	Men
West Virginia	FCI Beckley	Satellite camp	Men
West Virginia	FCI Gilmer	Satellite camp	Men
West Virginia	FCI McDowell	Satellite camp	Men
West Virginia	FPC Alderson	Standalone FPC	Women
West Virginia	FPC Morgantown	Standalone FPC	Men	Converting to an FSL (July 1, 2026 announcement)
West Virginia	USP Hazelton	Satellite camp	Men
Wisconsin	FCI Oxford	Satellite camp	Men

Compiled from BOP’s published facility records for all 118 institutions on its locations roster, reconciled September 5, 2026. FPC Pensacola, FCI Dublin and Taft Correctional Institution are not on this list — Pensacola and Dublin are off BOP’s roster, and Taft is permanently closed under the July 1, 2026 announcement.

Five of the six women’s federal facilities appear on this list: Alderson and Bryan as standalone camps, and Aliceville, Estill and Carswell as institutions with satellite camps. See our page on women’s federal prisons and the Bureau’s Female Offender Manual. Women’s classification differs materially — the cut points are wider (0–15 for Minimum rather than 0–11), the Custody Variance table swings from +15 to −16 rather than +8 to −5, and there are no female Medium-security institutions at all (PS 5100.08 at pp. 14–15, 77).

Where people get stuck with federal prison camp placement

“He scored low but they sent him to an FCI.”

Check the Public Safety Factor field on the BP-337 or the current BP-338 before anything else. A single PSF closes the camp regardless of the point total, and the most common ones — Sex Offender, Deportable Alien, Greatest Severity Offense, Sentence Length over ten years — are all set at initial designation from the PSR. A cop-out to the Unit Team asking which factors are applied and on what documentation is the first step; the Inmate Request to Staff form is BP-A0148.

“He is scored for Minimum and still at a Low.”

That requires a Management Variable, and it should be visible on the BP-338 with an expiration date. Population Management runs up to 18 months; where no date is entered SENTRY defaults to 12 months out (PS 5100.08 at p. 55). At the expiration date, case management staff are required to review whether it still applies. Bed space is a real constraint — the closures above removed camp capacity — and the Population Management variable is how the Bureau records that.

“The judge recommended a camp.”

The court may recommend, and the Bureau must consider the recommendation under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b)(4) — but the same subsection provides that “a designation of a place of imprisonment under this subsection is not reviewable by any court.” A recommendation for a security level the record does not support cannot be followed. Check the PSFs before assuming the Bureau ignored the judge.

“He got an incident report and now they are talking about a transfer.”

Defend the hearing. A Greatest-severity finding scores 0 on the custody form for ten years, and documented misconduct supports a code 309 or 323 transfer “normally of greater security” (PS 5100.08 at p. 88). Our page on inmate discipline proceedings and the administrative remedy program cover the defense and the appeal.

“Nobody will tell us what his score is.”

The custody form is a central-file document, and the Unit Team is required to document in writing on the form any decision that departs from the point total and inform the person (PS 5100.08 at p. 64). Ask at the program review for the current Security Total, the current custody level, and any PSF or Management Variable with its expiration date. The central file and records policy explains what is in the file and how to see it.

What this means for you before a camp designation

If you are heading to sentencing

The three documents that decide camp placement are the PSR, the Statement of Reasons and the Judgment. Object to offense-conduct language you disagree with while the judge can still narrow it, ask about self-surrender (worth three points), and get any detainer resolved before designation. Our prison preparation service exists for exactly this window.

If you are the family

You cannot move the score, but you can move one item on it: the Family/Community Ties item is scored on the incarcerated person’s own effort to build and maintain ties, which is impossible to demonstrate when nobody outside is reachable (PS 5100.08 at p. 75). Get on the visiting list, take the calls, write. Then ask at each program review for the Security Total, the custody level and any PSF or Management Variable in force.

If you are counsel

The highest-value camp arguments are documentary: a severity score built on conduct the Statement of Reasons narrowed; a Deportable Alien factor that survived an ICE decision not to remove; a Sentence Length factor that should have lapsed as the remaining term fell below ten years; a Management Variable past its expiration date; and the pre-release camp-placement paragraph at page 92, which is directive language nobody cites.

Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. is a boutique federal criminal defense and appellate firm founded in 2019, with offices in Columbia and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, serving clients nationwide. Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA leads the firm’s federal prison consulting work — designation and classification, sentence computation, First Step Act credits, RDAP and reentry planning — and legal representation is provided by Elizabeth Franklin-Best. Call (843) 620-1100 or book an initial consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions About Federal Prison Camps

Authorities Cited

Every source relied on above, cited in full and linked once. Page references in the text are to the editions listed here.

• BOP Program Statement 5100.08 — U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification (Sept. 12, 2006), as amended by Change Notice CN-3 (May 6, 2026)
• 18 U.S.C. § 3621 — Imprisonment of a convicted person
• 28 C.F.R. pt. 524 — Classification of Inmates
• 28 C.F.R. § 524.11 — Process for classification and program reviews
• BOP press release, July 1, 2026 — Federal Bureau of Prisons, Facility Closures and Conversions

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