FCI Cumberland (minimum-security camp)

FCI Cumberland. Public domain photograph, via Wikimedia Commons.

FCI Cumberland is a minimum-security satellite camp for men in Cumberland, Maryland, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It held about 264 people as of November 2025. The institution's main number is 301-784-1000.

MALE

Gender

MINIMUM

Security Level

264

Population (Nov. 2025)

RDAP

Location

Physical location: CUMBERLAND, MD 21502

Mailing address: 14601 BURBRIDGE RD SE, CUMBERLAND, MD 21502

Visitation

There are many specific rules and procedures to be aware of when you're considering visiting the institution. Read more on our Visitation Guide.

For full, current visiting rules and scheduling, always check the institution's official page on the Bureau of Prisons website: Official BOP Page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does FCI Cumberland allow conjugal visits?

No. FCI Cumberland does not allow conjugal visits. The Federal Bureau of Prisons does not permit conjugal visits at any facility regardless of security level. This includes all minimum-security federal prison camps, low-security FCIs, medium-security facilities, and high-security USPs. Only four state prison systems (California, Connecticut, New York, and Washington) allow conjugal visits for state prisoners. Federal inmates have no access to conjugal or extended family visits anywhere in the BOP system.

Q: What types of visitation are allowed at FCI Cumberland?

FCI Cumberland allows contact visits during designated visiting hours, typically on weekends and holidays. Contact visits permit brief embraces at the start and end of visits, but prolonged physical contact is not allowed. All visits occur in supervised visiting rooms. Visitors must be pre-approved through a background check process and must follow dress code requirements. For full details, see the Visiting Policies and Procedures page.

Daily life and programs

FCI Cumberland is a Federal Bureau of Prisons complex that opened in 1994 in unincorporated Allegany County, Maryland, roughly 130 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. It pairs a medium-security main institution with an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp for men. The camp holds a smaller population (published figures range from about 250 to just over 300 men) and is reserved for nonviolent, low-risk offenders; inmates with sex offenses, violent histories, or prior escapes are not eligible for camp placement. Camp residents are still expected to hold a prison job and pursue academic, vocational, and life-skills programming aimed at reentry. The complex is rated Medical Care Level 2.

Camp inmates are housed dormitory-style rather than in cells. Reporting from inside the complex describes a 'college campus-like feel,' characterized by outdoor walkways and mountain views in the western Maryland highlands. A 2023 Government Executive feature on Cumberland noted comparatively little violence alongside chronic staffing shortages at the complex. With a staff of around 100 correctional officers, the facility operates below the roughly 107 to 120 generally considered optimal, a reality that stretches officers across multiple roles. The same account documented a sample lunch of a fried chicken patty (or a vegetarian option), rice, beans, and cake. Additionally, the wider complex operates a UNICOR factory that manufactures license plates for federal government vehicles.

Eligible camp inmates are provided with a variety of programming options, including the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP), which serves as the Bureau's most intensive substance-abuse track. Participants may also access standard education offerings such as Adult Basic Education, GED preparation, English as a Second Language, Adult Continuing Education, and Correctional Learning Network courses. Furthermore, both leisure and law libraries serve the population. The camp's signature program involves a partnership begun in 2005 with the nonprofit organization Fidos for Freedom. Through this arrangement, camp inmates live with and train service and therapy dogs over roughly a year in preparation for placement with families in the Washington, D.C. area. Additionally, a summer partnership with Hope House of Washington, D.C. has allowed children of incarcerated fathers to spend structured activity time with their parent at the facility.

Because the camp is a minimum-security setting for nonviolent men within easy reach of Washington, it has periodically housed high-profile white-collar offenders. Lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik both served their sentences at the Cumberland camp, and journalists have drawn on their experiences to describe conditions inside federal white-collar camps. Wikipedia's list of Cumberland inmates does not separate camp residents from the medium-security main institution, and several better-known names on it (including convicted murderer Jeffrey MacDonald) were held at the medium-security FCI, not the camp.

First-hand accounts

First-person accounts and reporting about life at this facility. Experiences are individual and may not reflect current conditions.

• Bernie Kerik's jailhouse epiphany: Giuliani's ex-NYPD boss on how he discovered prison reform - Salon. Former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik recounts his years at the Cumberland minimum-security camp and how the experience turned him toward prison reform advocacy.
• The Secrets of White Collar Prisons - DuJour. Feature drawing on Bernard Kerik and Jack Abramoff, both of whom served at the Cumberland camp, describing daily routines and conditions inside federal minimum-security white-collar facilities.
• NYPD chief-turned-inmate Kerik: Prison system is 'broken' - TODAY / NBC News. Interview in which Kerik describes his incarceration at the Cumberland camp and criticizes the federal prison system after his release.

Notable inmates

Name	Sentence	Offense	Dates
Jack Abramoff	Approximately 70 months; served about 43 months before release to a halfway house	Mail fraud, conspiracy, and tax evasion (Washington lobbying and SunCruz Casinos scandals)	c. 2006-2010
Bernard Kerik	48 months; served roughly three years	Tax fraud and making false statements to the federal government	2010-2013