FCI Three Rivers (medium-security)

FCI Three Rivers is a medium-security federal correctional institution for men in Three Rivers, Texas, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It held about 1,063 people as of November 2025. It does not offer the Residential Drug Abuse Program. The institution's main number is 361-786-3576.

MALE

Gender

MEDIUM

Security Level

1063

Population (Nov. 2025)

No RDAP

Location

Physical location: THREE RIVERS, TX 78071

Mailing address: US HIGHWAY 72 WEST, THREE RIVERS, TX 78071

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

Operating within unincorporated Live Oak County, Texas, FCI Three Rivers is a medium-security U.S. federal prison for men located near the town of Three Rivers and roughly 80 miles south of San Antonio. The Federal Bureau of Prisons administers the site within the agency's South Central Region. The facility opened in 1990 during the BOP's build-out to absorb the surge in federal drug-sentencing populations. Structured as a complex, it pairs the main medium-security institution with an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp that houses men on lower custody levels. Although reported counts vary by source and date, the main FCI generally holds around 1,000 to 1,100 inmates and the camp roughly 185 to 210, resulting in a total complex population reported between about 1,150 and 1,250.

As is standard at other medium-security institutions, every medically able inmate is required to work. Standard institutional assignments include food service, maintenance, landscaping, orderly, and administrative jobs, which pay roughly $0.12 to $0.40 per hour. Positions through Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR) pay more, providing wages in the range of about $0.23 to $1.15 per hour. Specifically, the Three Rivers UNICOR operation has been oriented toward fleet management and vehicular components. Education programming includes adult literacy, GED preparation, and English-as-a-Second-Language classes. The facility reports vocational and occupational training in building trades, HVAC, Microsoft applications, and welding, alongside apprenticeships in electrical, HVAC, and plumbing work. Notably, the intensive Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP), which can carry a sentence reduction, is not offered at this institution. However, non-residential drug abuse treatment and drug-education courses are typically available, and inmates can earn First Step Act time credits through approved programming and work.

Daily conditions reflect a standard medium-security template. Inmates adhere to structured movement schedules for recreation, which typically includes basketball and handball courts, table games, a leisure library, cardio equipment, and cable-based weight machines, as free weights are not provided at medium security. Outside communication is maintained through inmate telephone access that is capped at roughly 300 minutes per month, with individual calls limited to about 15 minutes, and is further supplemented by traditional mail and the TRULINCS electronic-messaging system. Financial purchases are also restricted; the commissary spending limit is reported at about $360 per month, although certain items such as postage and over-the-counter medications remain exempt. By contrast, the adjacent camp accommodates a minimum-security population and operates with looser movement controls, providing those inmates with greater day-to-day freedom.

The institution has a documented history of gang-related tension. In 2008, a riot broke out between rival groups described in reporting as U.S.-born Chicano inmates and Mexican-national inmates known as Paisas. The violence left one man dead, identified as 40-year-old Servando Rodriguez, and injured about 22 others. In a separate case, a corrections officer named Joel Gonzalez pleaded guilty in 2014 to smuggling contraband into the prison in exchange for bribes. Prosecutors stated that the scheme was coordinated with his wife, and both ultimately received federal sentences. These incidents are associated with the main medium-security institution rather than the minimum-security camp.

First-hand accounts

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

• FCI Three rivers Texas (r/PrisonWives) - Reddit (family-member perspective). Thread from a family member of a man designated to or held at FCI Three Rivers, seeking first-hand information on conditions, communication, and visitation at the facility.
• FCI Three Rivers (r/PrisonWives) - Reddit (family-member perspective). Family-member post about the Three Rivers institution asking others with a loved one there to share their experience of the facility.
• FCI three rivers Texas (r/PrisonWives) - Reddit (family-member perspective). Another PrisonWives thread specific to FCI Three Rivers, with a family member soliciting first-hand accounts of daily life and visiting at the Texas facility.
• FCI three rivers (r/OnTheBlock) - Reddit (corrections-officer perspective). Corrections-staff community thread specifically about working at FCI Three Rivers, with staff first-hand impressions of the institution.
• Anyone from FCI Three Rivers? (r/OnTheBlock) - Reddit (corrections-officer perspective). Staff-side thread asking current or former FCI Three Rivers officers to weigh in on the post, drawing first-hand accounts of working conditions at the facility.

Notable inmates

Name	Sentence	Offense	Dates
Barrett Brown	63 months	Threatening an FBI agent and concealing evidence connected to the Stratfor hack disclosures (internet threats / obstruction); associate of Anonymous and founder of Project PM	Register #45047-177; left FCI Three Rivers for a Dallas halfway house on Nov 29, 2016 (Wikipedia lists a release date of May 25, 2017)
Russell DeBusk	5 years in federal custody before transfer to state prison	Conspiring to commit civil rights violations and arson in connection with fires set at nine predominantly Black churches in Alabama in 2006	Register #25730-001; transferred to state prison in 2012