The United States Penitentiary, Tucson (USP Tucson) is a maximum-security federal prison in Arizona that houses male inmates. It is part of the Tucson Federal Correctional Complex (FCC Tucson) and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. Additionally, the facility operates a satellite prison camp for low-security male offenders.

USP Tucson is located within the city limits of Tucson, approximately 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of downtown Tucson.

On March 28, 2001, the Federal Bureau of Prisons released a report naming Tucson as an ideal location for a new federal prison housing 1,100 medium-security or 1,000 high-security inmates. Moreover, that following May, a hearing was arranged.

In 2005, construction began at the cost of approximately $100 million, but additional preparations took more than a year before inmates could be received. The 584,000-square-foot (54,300-square-kilometer) facility is located on a 640-acre (2.6-kilometer-square) property and is designed to house 1,500 inmates, though officials originally intended to cap the population at around 960. 

The minimum-security work camp provides labor for the day-to-day operations of the federal prison complex. It has been described as “its own little city” by Josias Salazar, executive assistant of the prison complex. The penitentiary’s opening on February 5, 2007, aggravated a local prison officer shortage and was cited by residents as contributing to the street traffic generated by the various prison facilities.

Furthermore, USP Tucson is one of several federal prisons that offer a Sex Offender Management Program (SOMP). Thus, it has a higher than average proportion of sex offenders in its general population. Having a greater number of sex offenders in SOMP facilities instills inmates with confidence in their ability to participate in treatment. 

It also offers a Non-Residential Sex Offender Treatment Program (SOTP-NR), a moderate-intensity program for sexual offenders who pose a low to moderate risk. Many of the inmates in the SOTP-NR are first-time offenders serving a sentence for an Internet sex crime. The SOTP-NR is available at all SOMP institutions, and transfers to SOMP facilities are made based on an inmate’s treatment needs and security level. You can note that USP Tucson is home to several high-profile sexual offenders.

The United States Penitentiary, Victorville, California (USP Victorville) is a maximum-security federal prison in California for male convicts. It is maintained by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice, as part of the Victorville Federal Correctional Complex (FCC Victorville). 

FCC Victorville is located within the city limits, 8 miles northwest of central Victorville, California, and approximately 85 miles (137 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles.

USP Victorville began operations in 2004. It is a facility located within the Victorville Federal Correctional Complex (FCC). Notable inmates include: 

• Ayman Shahid – President of Discovery Home Builders (sentenced to 46 months in prison for wire fraud, mortgage fraud, and bank fraud)
• Gerardo Hernandez – leader of the Cuban Five (sentenced to life in prison in 2001 for conspiracy to commit murder and espionage, but his sentence was commuted in 2014 by then-US President Barack Obama)
• Augustin Zambrano – leader of the Chicago Latin Kings (serving a life sentence for conspiracy to commit murder and released in July 2013 after serving 6.5 months for grand theft auto and providing false financial statements)

The Recreation Department at USP Victorville offers various hobby craft activities, leisure and holiday events, music programs, sports programs and leagues, and structured exercise/wellness programs. To provide more recreational possibilities for the imprisoned population, offenders may engage in a housing unit art/hobby craft program. Additionally, the resource library contains literature, DVDs, and films on fitness/wellness. Moreover, inmates can participate in an Inmate Photo Program. On designated visiting days, the program allows offenders to have photographs made of themselves and their visitors.

Additionally, USP Victorville offers a commissary, which allows convicts to purchase products that are not supplied or delivered as part of the institution’s basic care and items of a higher quality. Monthly expenditures are limited to $360.00. Inmates are permitted to shop only once a week on their assigned shopping day.

Thomson Correctional Center, formerly United States Penitentiary, Thomson (USP Thomson), is a maximum-security federal prison located in Thomson, Illinois. It covers an area of approximately 146 acres (59 ha) and consists of 15 structures. The facility is surrounded by a 15-foot (4.6 m) 7000-volt electric fence and a 12-foot (3.7 m) razor wire-covered exterior fence. Thomson has eight cell houses with a total capacity of 2,100 beds—1,900 high-security SMU beds and 200 minimum-security beds at the onsite camp. As per the BOP officials, the potential to use some of its high-security rated capacity to house up to 400 ADX inmates. Moreover, it remained vacant from 2001 to 2006. By 2009, all prisoners were housed in the minimum-security section.

Thomson Correctional Center was purchased by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) from the State of Illinois for $165 million in October 2012.

On December 15, 2009, President Barack Obama issued a Presidential memorandum directing the departments of Justice and Defense to establish federal ownership of the prison and prepare for the transfer of federal prisoners and Guantanamo detainees to the facility.

According to previous press reports, the acquisition plan included the possibility of housing up to 100 inmates from the camp, as well as other federal prisoners. The Federal Bureau of Prisons would construct a more secure perimeter fence, exceeding supermax security standards. The Department of Defense would operate the portion of the Thomson prison that would house Guantanamo detainees, while the Federal Bureau of Prisons would operate the remainder of the prison.

Furthermore, Donald Hudson was appointed the prison’s first warden in August 2014. The prison was fully operational in January 2019 and had a population of 1,067 inmates as of March 2020. In June 2019, the prison surpassed the 400-employee mark and received authorization to hire an additional 200 over the next few years as the inmate population continues to grow. By May 2020, USP Thomson already houses 1009 inmates at the maximum-security USP and 74 at the minimum-security camp.

In Terre Haute, Indiana, the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute (USP Terre Haute) is a high-security federal prison for male convicts. It is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute (FCC Terre Haute) run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the US Department of Justice. The federal execution chamber and a Special Confinement Unit for male federal inmates who were sentenced to death are placed in USP Terre Haute. Most inmates sentenced to death by the US Federal Government are imprisoned in USP Terre Haute before execution, although there are notable exceptions for this matter. FCC Terre Haute is located in Terre Haute, Indiana, approximately 70 miles (110 kilometers) west of Indianapolis.

The federal government designated USP Terre Haute as the venue for the execution of federal death sentences on July 19, 1993, which included the formation of the “Special Confinement Unit,” a federal death row for men. USP Terre Haute was modified in 1995 and 1996 by the Bureau of Prisons to accommodate death row functions. The BOP transferred male federal death row convicts from other federal prisons and state prisons to USP Terre Haute when the Special Confinement Unit at USP Terre Haute opened on July 13, 1999.

On federal death row, there are currently 46 people. Moreover, the majority of them are held at USP Terre Haute, which currently has 42 convicts on death row. Because of its central location inside the United States, the federal government chose Terre Haute as the men’s death row site.

The federal government of the United States of America has executed 16 people since 1963, and USP Terre Haute was the site of the executions for all of those. The first prisoner executed by the United States Federal Government since the capital penalty moratorium was lifted in 1976, was Timothy McVeigh, after he was found guilty of his role in the Oklahoma City bombing. The federal government employed lethal injection as an execution procedure.

The United States Penitentiary, Pollock (USP Pollock), is a high-security federal prison in Louisiana that only houses male convicts. The Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice, operates it as part of the Pollock Federal Correctional Complex (FCC Pollock). Moreover, a satellite prison camp for minimum-security male offenders is located nearby.

All detainees are given a screening examination shortly after they arrive at the institution. Moreover, sick calls, routine medical and dental calls, emergency medical treatment, and drugs are all given as part of their health services. Most medical care is delivered via appointments, with offenders being placed on an institutional call-out list. Each time an inmate reports to Health Services, they must provide their ID card. Emergency services are accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

As for the Psychology Services, within 14 days of arrival, inmates meet with a psychologist for a routine intake screening. On a case-by-case basis, psychologists are accessible for individual counseling. Additionally, there is the option of crisis intervention. The Challenge Program, a unit-based, residential treatment program that emphasizes the acquisition and execution of pro-social values and a non-criminal lifestyle, is also available at USP Pollock. Inmates can participate in group therapy, personal development groups, individual therapy, correctional counseling, crisis intervention, pre-release counseling, voluntary groups, and other appropriate programs.

Some notable incidents in this place involve the escape of Richard Lee McNair, a well-known offender convicted of murder and robbery in 2006. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police caught him 18 months later in New Brunswick, Canada. Additionally, during a fight with another inmate, Shaun Wayne Williams stabbed inmate William Anthony Bullock to death with a shank in November 2007. The shank was made from a piece of a cell locker by Williams. Williams was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2009 and sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison while serving a 96-month term for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons, a branch of the United States Department of Justice, ran United States Penitentiary McCreary (USPM) and was opened in 2003. There have been several violent occurrences within the camp. And because of the danger associated with their duties at the institution, some prison staff members have been described in the media as scared for their lives. Inmates at this site are kept in one or two-person cells at the USPM and are accommodated in dorms at the camp. The prison camp is about 88 miles north of Knoxville, 125 miles south of Lexington, Kentucky, and 208 miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Several incidents happened in this camp during the past years. In October of 2013, a controversial report about prison employees working without pay due to the 2013 federal government shutdown aired on a local television station while convicts continued to get paid for their labor. Another issue that was brought up a few years ago was the two correction officers who were stabbed on November 8, 2010. The police were rushed to a local hospital with severe but non-life-threatening injuries to their chest, back, and shoulder, but they were treated and discharged shortly after. The officers were performing normal cell searches when an inmate assaulted them with a handcrafted prison weapon known as a “shank,” according to a prison official.

A few of the notable inmates housed in the United States Penitentiary, McCreary, were Hector Galindo, arrested for drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering, abduction, and murder. Luke Sommer, for masterminding the takeover robbery of a bank in Tacoma in 2008. Terrence Smith was convicted in 2005 of witness tampering and attempted murder for ordering the firebombing of a community activist’s home in reprisal for supplying authorities with information about the gang’s drug trafficking activities.

The United States Penitentiary, Marion was opened in 1963 as a replacement for Alcatraz—a maximum-security federal prison on an Island in San Francisco, which closed the same year. It was built to house 500 of the most dangerous federal offenders, most of whom were transfers from Alcatraz. It quickly rose to become the United States’ most secure jail by 1978. There are 1,366 male offenders detained at this Southern Illinois prison, including 1,131 at the USP and 235 in the camp. While it is still known as USP Marion, it holds medium-security convicts and serves as a Sex Offender Management Program (SOMP) facility.

Furthermore, they created the “control unit” cells in 1973, where offenders would spend at least 23 hours a day in a one-man cell, expressly designed to minimize or eliminate the inmate’s interaction with other individuals in the jail as well as the outside world. On October 22, 1983, two correctional guards were slain in separate instances just hours apart. Merle E. Clutts and Robert L. Hoffman were identified as the officers on duty that night. Officer Clutts was fatally stabbed. Thomas Silverstein was able to turn to the side and approach a specific cell while strolling down the hall with Clutts. Silverstein’s handcuffs were then released with a stolen key, and a knife was given to him by the inmate in that cell. Officer Hoffmann was stabbed to death by Clayton Fountain later that morning after Hoffmann had rescued Fountain from an attack on another officer.

Notable people like Pete Rose, a big-league baseball player and career hit record holder, was one of the offenders imprisoned in USP, Marion. In 1990, he was found guilty of submitting fake tax returns. Other notable people such as Andrew Stepanian, Matthew F. Hale, and Garrett Brock Trapnell were also imprisoned in the United States Penitentiary, Marion.

The United States Penitentiary, Lompoc (USPL), is located in Lompoc of Santa Barbara County, California. It was formerly a military barracks and was known as “Camp Cooke.” The said penitentiary was founded in 1959 as a Federal Correctional Institution and was later changed to its current name, USP Lompoc, in 1981. As per the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBP) website, its current total of inmates is 1,092, all of which are male offenders. USPL is a federal prison for male offenders in California and is under FBP’s management, a United States Department of Justice branch.

On the brighter side of being sentenced to this prison, multiple activities are given to the inmates as they spend years of their lives serving their penalties. Staying as an inmate in this prison can really help you reflect on life as you must participate in several activities. Like being able to join food service assignments wherein you will act as cooks, bakers, and butchers to your fellow inmate, or learn about mechanical services like electricians, plumbers, and carpenters. These are only a few of the vast amount of activities offered in this facility. USPL takes good care of their residents by helping them grow as a person as they spend years in jail.

Given the benefits and privileges these inmates receive, the prison has earned the title of being called the “Country Club Prison” in an article published by The New York Times on July 31, 1990. USPL gained attention internationally when Herbert W. Kalmbach, the former white house chief of staff, was convicted of Watergate-related offenses. To make it more dramatic, not only the White House’s former chief of staff was imprisoned, but people like the former President Richard M. Nixon’s personal lawyer and multiple Nixon Aides were also convicted of the same offense.

United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg (USP Lewisburg) opened in 1932 and was known as “Northeastern Penitentiary.” It is located in the central Pennsylvania region, where it is also the center of a large population. One of the many reasons for its location was the possibility of the site adapting to agricultural development. Moreover, technologies started to evolve in this prison, such as railroads, highways, gas, and water supply. United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg is managed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a branch of the United States Department of Justice.

In 1991, filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond released a film called “Doing Time: Life Inside the Prison.” They were able to make a hundred-hour documentary on how prisoners of the USP lived their life in the facility. It took the couple around six weeks to film inside the prison walls. During their stay, they witnessed how pairs of prisoners were in a six-by-eight-foot cell that was meant to be occupied by only one man. The couple discovered how life is for the unlucky prisoners that were sent to this facility. The film was truly an eye-opener that shows how life really is behind the Lewisburg Penitentiary.

The United States Penitentiary is not an ordinary penitentiary. It was also a temporary home to some of America’s most notorious criminals. Powerful people like Al Capone, John Gotti, and Henry Hill were imprisoned here and somehow surprisingly managed to reign an area of the prison called the “mafia row.” Aside from these famous mafias, men like civil rights leader Bayard Rustin and accused Soviet spy Alger Hiss served years of service in UPS facilities. Rustin was imprisoned in 1943 for not registering in the draft and refused to take any alternative services during WWII. Alger Hiss spent forty-four months in prison for perjury.

The United States Penitentiary, Lee is a federal prison in Virginia that only houses male inmates. The facility operates under the management of a US Department of Justice division called the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The prison facility runs a high level of security to ensure protection against any offenders from within and outside. 

Located in the Lee County Industrial Park in southern Virginia, the United States Penitentiary, Lee sits right off the US Route 85 by the intersection of Route 638. The prison is at least eight miles east of Jonesville near Pennington Gap. 

In the ’90s, Virginia was the prime candidate for housing inmates in federal prisons and made a profit out of it due to Lee County having an annual per capita income of approximately $12,917. Measuring at exactly 635,097 square footage, the County Lee facility was imposed by an American multinational engineering firm that consists of Hayes, Seay, and Mattern. 

The advanced technology of computer systems at the time served as watchtowers to pinpoint blindspots of guards for heightened security. Building the Lee County began in 1998 with a budget of $102 million. The prison facility finished construction in August of 2001 and started accepting inmates by 2002. 

The Lee County prison facility once held famous America’s Most Wanted fugitive, Edward Porta, who had quite an interesting reputation after escaping the prison. On February 25th of 2008, security in the Lee prison noticed Porta missing during their daily count at 4 pm. This sparked security to go on a chase for over eight years until capturing Porta again in May of 2016. 

Like most prison facilities, the Lee County prison has had numerous incidents involving violence and homicides. These incidents include the murder of inmate Quinten Corniel, Ernest Bennett, and Filikisi Hafoka, who was hospitalized after a fellow inmate stabbed him. These incidents were not left unnoticed by the prison management and eventually underwent a lockdown after the incidents.