Federal Bureau of Prisons
Federal prisons are operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and house individuals convicted of federal crimes. As of May 8, 2025, 143,699 federal inmates were in BOP custody. This directory provides articles and resources on the structure, policies and daily operations of BOP facilities and the unique challenges federal prisons face. Understanding the federal prison system is essential for professionals working within or alongside these institutions. For related topics, explore our section on the Department of Justice.
The FMC Lexington corrections officer admitted to bringing synthetic marijuana and tobacco to inmates in exchange for mobile payments
Amid nearly 30 vacancies at FCI Edgefield alone, prison teachers, nurses and electricians are being pulled to cover CO shifts without compensation
Director William K. Marshall III told the agency’s nearly 35,000 employees that Council of Prison Locals had become “an obstacle to progress instead of a partner in it”
The Bureau of Prisons is seeking to temporarily move employees from its other facilities to help with immigrant detention
The Oklahoma attorney general requested the transfer after President Donald Trump directed the DOJ to ensure states have enough lethal injection drugs to carry out executions
Acting Director William Lothrop vows to address staffing shortages and operational improvements
The latest release reduces the prison’s population to 15, the fewest since it opened in 2002
Trump said relatives of victims are angry that Biden spared the lives of some of the “worst killers in our country,” including inmates convicted of killing police and military officers
The Justice Department will pay an average of about $1.1 million to each of 103 women who sued the Bureau of Prisons over their treatment at FCI Dublin
As part of the settlement, the Bureau of Prisons “will issue a formal, public acknowledgment to victims of staff sexual abuse at FCI Dublin”
The Bureau of Prisons plans to deactivate six minimum-security facilities to address “significant challenges,” including staffing shortages and crumbling infrastructure
The Bureau of Prisons reforms include updating suicide prevention protocols and using data-driven strategies to reduce deaths in custody
A jury found Steve Bannon guilty in 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress
The operation’s goal is to maintain a “safe environment for both our employees and the incarcerated individuals housed at MDC Brooklyn,” the BOP said
The former “Chrisley Knows Best” star was fired after prison officials at the Pensacola facility caught him “associating with inmates” in the Residential Drug Abuse Program
Combs, 54, was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn — a place that’s been described as “hell on earth” and an “ongoing tragedy”
The policy shift comes after a judge in August ruled he would vacate an elderly man’s sentence if he was sent to MDC Brooklyn, citing the jail’s “barbaric conditions”
Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm stated that Alabama’s daily cost to maintain inmates has risen 21% in four years
The inmate was sentenced to more than four years for his role in the 2018 fatal bludgeoning of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger at USP Hazelton
The judge’s decision comes from multiple incidents at the Metropolitan Detention Center, including a caught-on-video stabbing
The report found FCI Dublin’s leaders failed at nearly every turn to keep inmates safe and ensure that their claims of sexual abuse were investigated properly
The bill creates a federal prison ombudsman to collect complaints via a hotline and online form, then investigate and report dangerous conditions to the AG and Congress
Michigan DOC said the men, convicted in the plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, were transferred to federal prisons for “general safety concerns” for the facility and defendants
The Federal Prison Oversight Act establishes an independent ombudsman for the BOP to field and investigate complaints
Former Trump Administration Chief Strategist Steve Bannon was ordered to serve a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena
The one-time advisor to former President Trump may serve up to 4 months at the low-security federal prison
“We have recruitment and retention incentives across the country. We have direct hire authority. The bottom line [...] we need to pay them more,” the BOP director said
Corrections officers pursued the suspect who fled from FCI Mendota, ultimately apprehending him when he became stuck in a muddy area
BOP to face trial over corrections officers’ abuse of incarcerated women at now-shuttered FCI Dublin
FCI Dublin inmates sued the prisons bureau last August alleging the agency had failed to root out sexual abuse
A BOP spokesperson categorized the closure of FCI Dublin as “temporary,” stating that no employees will lose their jobs as a result of the closure
Only “a small group” of women were still being held at FCI Dublin, with the majority of its 605 inmates having been sent to other federal facilities
The BOP stated that the bureau had “taken unprecedented steps and provided a tremendous amount of resources to address culture, recruitment and retention, aging infrastructure — and most critical — employee misconduct”
The judge ordered a special master to provide oversight as FCI Dublin attempts to reform itself from the ongoing rape scandals that started in 2021
MOST POPULAR
- Report: Prison reforms estimated to cost $346M over 10 years
- Senators introduce bill to stop contraband cellphone use in prisons
- AP: BOP has an employee corruption problem
- Epstein COs planned to slam federal prison system at trial
- No AC, extreme heat create ‘volatile’ situation at Texas federal prison