FCI Big Spring (minimum-security camp)

Male

Gender

Low (FCI) / Minimum (camp)

Security Level

~1,000 (FCI) + ~114 (camp)

Population

1900 Simler Avenue, Big Spring, TX 79720
RDAP: No

The Federal Correctional Institution, Big Spring is a low-security federal prison for male inmates in Big Spring, Texas. It sits in Howard County, in the western part of the state, roughly midway between Dallas and El Paso. The Federal Bureau of Prisons runs it. Next to the main institution is an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp that holds about 114 men.

The prison opened in 1979. It occupies buildings that once belonged to Webb Air Force Base, a pilot-training installation the Air Force closed in 1977. The main institution holds about 1,000 inmates. The camp holds about 114 more.

Big Spring is sometimes confused with the privately run prison next door. A separate facility, the Big Spring Correctional Center, also sat on the old Webb Air Force Base grounds and was operated under federal contract by a private company. That is a different institution. FCI Big Spring and its camp are run by the Bureau of Prisons directly.

Overview

FCI Big Spring is a low-security institution. The camp beside it is minimum-security. The two are distinct. The FCI has a secured perimeter. The camp is open, with no fence around the housing area, and the men there work jobs on the grounds.

The complex includes more than the FCI and its camp. The Bureau of Prisons lists the location as a small cluster of units with separate mailing addresses for the main facility and the satellite camp.

Low-security institutions like Big Spring hold inmates with longer sentences than a camp population but lower security needs than a medium. Housing is dormitory-style. The Bureau runs work assignments, education, and standard programming. The institution does not offer the Residential Drug Abuse Program, the 500-hour residential track that can shorten sentences. Inmates who need that program transfer to a facility that runs it.

History

Webb Air Force Base trained Air Force pilots outside Big Spring for three decades. The Air Force shut it down in 1977 as part of a wider round of base closures. The land and buildings passed to other uses.

The Bureau of Prisons took part of the former base and opened a federal facility there in 1979. Over the following years the institution settled into its current form: a low-security FCI with an adjacent minimum-security camp.

A separate privately operated prison also used the old base grounds. The Big Spring Correctional Center housed federal contract inmates, many of them noncitizens facing deportation after their sentences. That contract facility operated apart from the Bureau-run FCI and is not the same prison.

Notable Inmates

• Derek Chauvin was transferred to FCI Big Spring in August 2024. He is the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020. He is serving 22.5 years on the state murder count and a concurrent 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights. The Bureau moved him to Big Spring about nine months after he was stabbed at a federal prison in Arizona.

• David Duke, the former Louisiana state representative and longtime white nationalist, served time at Big Spring after pleading guilty to tax and mail fraud. He was released in 2004.

• Leland Yee, a former California state senator, served part of his sentence at Big Spring. He was convicted in a racketeering and corruption case that included a gun-trafficking count. He was released in 2020.

• Anthony Pellicano, the Hollywood private investigator convicted of wiretapping and racketeering, served time at the facility before his release in 2019.

Location and Visitation

FCI Big Spring is at 1900 Simler Avenue, Big Spring, Texas 79720. Mail to inmates at the camp uses the same city with the satellite camp designation. The institution sits inside the city of Big Spring, the Howard County seat.

Visiting at Big Spring follows standard Bureau of Prisons procedure. Visitors must be approved in advance through a background check that can take several weeks. Visits are contact visits in a supervised room, held on designated days, usually weekends and federal holidays. Visitors present valid government identification and follow the facility dress code. The Bureau does not permit conjugal visits at any federal facility, the camp included. For current days and hours, check the institution's official page on the Bureau of Prisons website: Official BOP Page. See also our Visitation Guide.

See also

• Index of Federal Prison Facilities
• Bureau of Prisons Classification Methods
• Residential Drug Abuse Program

Daily life and programs

FCI Big Spring is a low-security federal prison for men in Big Spring, Texas, situated on the flat West Texas plains roughly midway between Dallas and El Paso. The complex occupies the grounds of the former Webb Air Force Base, which the Federal Bureau of Prisons repurposed for corrections after the base closed. The main low-security institution opened in 1979, and a minimum-security satellite camp was added around 1992. Located adjacent to the main institution, the satellite camp houses male offenders in the lowest custody classification, generally men with shorter sentences, non-violent offenses, and limited criminal history. This camp holds a small population reported at roughly 105 to 114 men, functioning alongside a much larger main institution count that has ranged from about 500 to more than 1,000.

As a minimum-security camp, the facility has no secure perimeter fence and utilizes an open, dormitory-style layout rather than the cellblocks found in the fenced main compound. Daily life at the camp centers on work. Men are typically detailed to food service, facilities and grounds maintenance, landscaping, and other institutional support roles. These assignments keep both the camp and the larger complex running, giving the days structure and, in some cases, providing marketable skills. Traditionally, camps of this type supply much of the labor for support and grounds work across the broader institution.

Although educational and vocational programming at the camp is narrower than at the main institution, inmates may enroll in literacy, GED, English-as-a-second-language, parenting, and Adult Continuing Education (ACE) classes. The curriculum also features vocational training in areas such as horticulture, building and electrical trades, and food service management. Because the facility does not operate a Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP), inmates who need that intensive treatment must transfer to another Bureau of Prisons site. To provide alternative support, the facility offers non-residential substance-abuse services, such as a Living Sober group and a Drug Education Class. Furthermore, UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries) has operated at Big Spring to deliver paid work assignments to eligible inmates, historically focusing on electronics and plastics production.

On July 1, 2026, the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced that FCI Big Spring and its adjacent satellite camp would permanently close. This action was part of a nationwide restructuring of the federal prison system, concluding more than four decades of federal corrections on the old Webb Air Force Base site.

References

FCI Big Spring. Public domain photograph, via Wikimedia Commons.

CLOSURE NOTICE: This facility was announced for permanent closure on July 1, 2026. See the closure announcement below.

Announced closure (2026)

On July 1, 2026, the Bureau of Prisons announced that FCI Big Spring's satellite camp will permanently close, part of a set of closures the agency attributed to extreme staffing shortages and a systemwide maintenance backlog it put at more than $4 billion. This page will be retitled and preserved as a historical record once the closure is complete.