FCI Pekin (medium-security)

FCI Pekin. Public domain photograph, via Wikimedia Commons.

FCI Pekin is a medium-security federal correctional institution for men in Pekin, Illinois, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It held about 1,052 people as of November 2025. It does not offer the Residential Drug Abuse Program. The institution's main number is 309-346-8588.

MALE

Gender

MEDIUM

Security Level

1052

Population (Nov. 2025)

No RDAP

Location

Physical location: PEKIN, IL 61554

Mailing address: 2600 S. SECOND ST., PEKIN, IL 61554

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.

Daily life and programs

FCI Pekin is a medium-security U.S. federal prison for male inmates located in Tazewell County in Pekin, Illinois. Operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons within its North Central Region, the institution opened in 1994. The facility is positioned about 10 miles south of Peoria, which places it roughly 180 miles from both Chicago and St. Louis. An adjacent minimum-security satellite camp sits on the same grounds but functions as a separate facility from the men's medium compound. While the main institution holds men, the camp's population has shifted over the years and, per current sources, houses female offenders. The total population across the complex runs around 1,250, with roughly 1,000 men in the medium-security institution and about 230 at the camp. Additionally, FCI Pekin is designated a Medical Care Level 2 facility, meaning it serves inmates who are generally in good health but may have chronic conditions requiring ongoing clinical monitoring.

Men at FCI Pekin reside in four housing units built around cells configured for two, three, eight, and ten occupants, while the camp utilizes open dormitories with two-person cubicles. Every inmate is required to hold an institution job and to participate in academic, enrichment, and life-skills programming. Recreation is structured around scheduled call-outs; outdoor space includes walking and jogging tracks, basketball, handball, racquetball and volleyball courts, softball fields, and horseshoes, whereas indoor areas offer table tennis, billiards, art rooms, and fitness equipment. The facility maintains both law and leisure libraries. Contact with the outside is managed through standard BOP channels, which encompass traditional mail, scheduled in-person visitation, TRULINCS electronic messaging, and roughly 300 phone minutes per month (about 15 minutes per call). In addition, routine medical, dental, and mental-health care are available through sick call for a small inmate co-pay.

Regarding inmate employment, the institution operates a UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries) shop that produces industrial products and handles fleet management and vehicular components. These UNICOR assignments pay more than standard institution details. Available education offerings consist of GED instruction, English-as-a-Second-Language classes, and inmate-led Adult Continuing Education (ACE) courses. Furthermore, the facility provides advanced occupational training in Certified Production Technician and Computer Applications, along with apprenticeships such as Institutional Cook, Maintenance Electrician, Quality Control Technician, and Sheet Metal Worker. A notable gap for a facility of this type is that neither FCI Pekin nor its camp offers the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP), which is the intensive residential track that can carry a sentence reduction. Instead, both provide the Drug Education Program, the Non-Residential Drug Abuse Program, and Alcoholics Anonymous.

Over its history, the men's institution has held several high-profile federal prisoners. These notably include the Illinois political fundraiser Tony Rezko alongside the former Chicago police officer Joseph Miedzianowski, who is serving a life term for racketeering and running a cocaine-distribution ring. The facility's most widely known former inmate is Shon Hopwood, who taught himself law in the Pekin law library while serving time for bank robbery. Hopwood filed successful U.S. Supreme Court petitions from inside the prison and later became a Georgetown law professor. Additionally, because the adjacent camp has at times housed women, several notable female offenders are often loosely associated with the name Pekin. Prominent examples include the Dixon, Illinois embezzler Rita Crundwell and the college-admissions-scandal defendant Karen Littlefair. Both women served their sentences at the minimum-security camp rather than the men's medium-security institution, establishing a distinction that matters when attributing inmates to this specific facility.

First-hand accounts

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

• Meet a convicted felon who became a Georgetown law professor (60 Minutes) - CBS News / 60 Minutes. First-person profile in which Shon Hopwood recounts his years inside FCI Pekin's men's medium-security institution, describing how he taught himself federal law in the prison law library and drafted successful U.S. Supreme Court petitions from inside before his 2009 release.

Notable inmates

Name	Sentence	Offense	Dates
Joseph Miedzianowski	Life without parole (sentenced 2003)	Racketeering and drug (cocaine) conspiracy; a former Chicago police officer who ran a cocaine-distribution ring with gang members while shielding it with his badge	Convicted/sentenced 2003; reported serving at FCI Pekin
Tony Rezko	10.5 years	Fraud, money laundering, and bribery in an Illinois political-corruption case (aiding and abetting bribery; scheming for kickbacks)	Served roughly 2011-2015 at the medium-security Pekin institution; released to a halfway house 2015, fully released 2016
Shon Hopwood	About 12 years (12 years, 3 months); released 2009	Armed bank robbery (five Nebraska banks, 1997-1998) plus a firearm count	Incarcerated at FCI Pekin, released 2009; later became a Georgetown law professor
John Tomkins	37 years	Mailing threatening letters and pipe bombs to investment firms (the 'Bishop' extortion case)	Convicted 2012; listed among FCI Pekin inmates before later transfer to USP Thomson
Yori von Kahl	Life	Federal charges tied to the 1983 Medina, North Dakota shootout that killed two U.S. Marshals (son of Posse Comitatus figure Gordon Kahl)	Listed among FCI Pekin notable inmates