FCI Phoenix (medium-security)

FCI Phoenix is a medium-security federal correctional institution for men in Phoenix, Arizona, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It held about 834 people as of November 2025. It does not offer the Residential Drug Abuse Program. The institution's main number is 623-465-9757.

MALE

Gender

MEDIUM

Security Level

834

Population (Dec. 2025)

No RDAP

Location

Physical location: PHOENIX, AZ 85086

Mailing address: 37900 N 45TH AVE, PHOENIX, AZ 85086

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

The Federal Correctional Institution, Phoenix (FCI Phoenix) is a medium-security U.S. federal prison for male inmates located in Maricopa County, roughly 25 miles north of downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons within the Department of Justice and forms the core of the Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) Phoenix, which also includes an adjacent minimum-security satellite prison camp for men. The institution opened in April 1985. As of 2024 the campus held roughly 1,000 to 1,180 inmates depending on the count, with the majority in the medium-security main institution and several hundred housed at the co-located minimum-security camp. Because the camp is a separate security level, individuals held there are distinct from those confined in the fenced medium-security FCI.

As a medium-security institution, FCI Phoenix applies more structured supervision and controlled movement than a low- or minimum-security facility, sitting a step below high-security penitentiaries. Inmates at the FCI are housed in general-population units, which were historically organized as two housing units of 66 rooms each at opening. These housing blocks were later expanded, with inmates typically living in two- and three-person cells. The Arizona desert setting means extreme summer heat is a recurring feature of daily life. Additionally, the facility has drawn scrutiny over conditions and staffing, including federal labor-relations disputes between the Bureau of Prisons and the local American Federation of Government Employees union representing correctional officers.

Core programming at FCI Phoenix centers on the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). As the flagship voluntary, intensive substance-abuse treatment track for the Bureau, this initiative provides about 500 hours of treatment over roughly nine months. Successful completion can qualify eligible inmates for up to a 12-month sentence reduction. The institution operates a UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries) factory that provides paid work assignments, and it offers vocational and occupational training in carpentry, electrical, plumbing, ServSafe food-safety certification, and principles of construction. Additional daily-life offerings reported at the facility include recreation and exercise yards, pool and music activities, arts programming, and library access with interlibrary loan, all of which are available alongside standard adult continuing education and GED coursework.

Over the decades, FCI Phoenix has held a number of nationally noted prisoners tied to organized crime, terrorism, and high-profile federal cases. The medium-security institution has also been the site of a widely reported homicide. On November 4, 2005, Earl Krugel, western coordinator of the Jewish Defense League, was beaten to death with a piece of concrete in the medium-security exercise yard only days after arriving. Krugel had pleaded guilty in a plot to bomb a Culver City mosque and the office of a congressman. Inmate David Frank Jennings later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced in 2008. The killing prompted a wrongful-death lawsuit and media litigation to unseal records, keeping the facility in coverage of Bureau of Prisons custodial-safety questions.

Notable inmates

Name	Sentence	Offense	Dates
Earl Krugel	20 years	Conspiracy in a plot to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City and a congressman's office (Jewish Defense League)	Arrived and murdered November 2005 (killed in the FCI exercise yard after ~3 days)
Tyler Barriss	20 years	Serial "swatting"; hoax call that led police to fatally shoot a Wichita, Kansas man (Andrew Finch)	Held at FCI Phoenix after 2019 sentencing; later transferred to FCI Herlong
Hamid Hayat	24 years	Providing material support to terrorists (Lodi, California case; attendance at an al-Qaeda training camp)	Incarcerated at FCI Phoenix; released August 9, 2019 after his conviction was vacated
Ralph "Sonny" Barger	Served time across multiple federal convictions	Founding Hells Angels leader; federal racketeering and firearms/conspiracy convictions	Held at FCI Phoenix; released November 1992
Cris Kirkwood	About 11 months	Assault with a dangerous weapon (altercation with a postal security guard); Meat Puppets bassist	Released 2005
Steven Shawn Smith	25 years	Online solicitation of minors (communicated with 170+ users identifying as minors)	Serving; projected release 2042