FCI La Tuna (minimum-security camp)

FCI La Tuna is a minimum-security satellite camp for men in Anthony, Texas, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It held about 150 people as of November 2025. The institution's main number is 915-791-9000.

MALE

Gender

MINIMUM

Security Level

150

Population (Nov. 2025)

RDAP

Location

Physical location: ANTHONY, TX 79821

Mailing address: LA TUNA FCI/SCP, ANTHONY, TX 79821

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 La Tuna allow conjugal visits?

No. FCI La Tuna 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 La Tuna?

FCI La Tuna 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

Operated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, FCI La Tuna is a low-security federal prison for men located in Anthony, Texas. The facility is situated within El Paso County on the Texas and New Mexico state line, just north of El Paso. The subject of this entry is the minimum-security satellite prison camp located adjacent to the main institution. The complex opened in 1932 and is architecturally notable for its Spanish mission-style design by El Paso architect Gustavus Trost of the Trost and Trost firm, having been built to blend into the Southwestern landscape. The minimum-security satellite camp was added in 1978 to house lower-risk men separately from the main population, and it was rated for roughly 176 beds. At the time of the July 2026 closure announcement, the camp held about 161 men while the main low-security institution held about 551, for a complex total in the low 700s.

Housing at the camp utilizes a dormitory-style layout rather than individual cells. The facility provides common day rooms as well as shared showers, sinks, and toilets, offering inmates greater freedom of movement than the walled low-security institution. Camp residents are generally assigned there because they have demonstrated good behavior and pose minimal flight or security risk. Consequently, they typically enjoy different work opportunities and enhanced visiting privileges compared with inmates at the main institution. Satellite camps in the federal system exist in large part to supply inmate labor to the parent institution and to off-site work details. Historically, La Tuna emphasized self-sufficiency through agricultural operations, including farming and dairying on its several hundred acres, alongside facilities maintenance, food service, and grounds work.

Programming at the La Tuna complex included education, GED instruction, and vocational training, in addition to the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). This voluntary, roughly nine-month intensive treatment track can yield up to twelve months of sentence reduction for eligible inmates who complete it. Publicly available guides describe RDAP and other programs at the facility broadly, but they do not always specify whether a given track ran at the main institution, the camp, or both. Consequently, camp-specific program rosters are not fully documented in open sources. Former inmates and observers have generally described the La Tuna locations as non-violent with reasonable living conditions, while some accounts note complaints about heat and commissary.

On July 1, 2026, the Bureau of Prisons announced that the La Tuna complex would close after nearly 94 years of operation, citing longstanding infrastructure and staffing challenges. La Tuna was named as one of six federal prisons targeted for closure (including the Texas facilities at Beaumont and Big Spring), part of a restructuring that followed a decline in the federal prison population from a 2013 peak of roughly 219,000 to about 154,000. The Bureau indicated that La Tuna employees would be laid off rather than reassigned, and no firm closure date was given. This entry reflects the camp's operations as of the pre-closure period.

First-hand accounts

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

• La tuna camp, Anthony - Reddit. A poster whose fiance was heading to the La Tuna satellite camp asks the community for stories, advice, and information about visiting the minimum-security camp specifically. Family-side account seeking first-hand camp experience; the camp is named explicitly.
• FCI La Tuna - Reddit (corrections-staff subreddit). Corrections-officer discussion thread about the FCI La Tuna complex on the staff-focused subreddit. Staff perspective on working at La Tuna, not an inmate account and not camp-specific; included as a real, on-facility community thread and labeled accordingly.
• Anyone have any insight into La Tuna? - Reddit (corrections-staff subreddit). Another thread asking corrections officers for insight into the La Tuna complex (staff/employment perspective). Not an inmate first-person account and not camp-specific; labeled as staff discussion.

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 La Tuna's satellite camp, together with the main institution, 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.