FMC Carswell (medical facility)

Daily life and programs

Located on the northeast corner of Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, near the southeast shore of Lake Worth in northwest Fort Worth, Texas, FMC Carswell opened in 1994. The administrative-security facility was established within the former base hospital of Carswell Air Force Base. Serving as the Federal Bureau of Prisons' only medical and psychiatric referral center for women, the institution houses female inmates of all security classifications who have significant medical or mental-health needs. The core of the compound is a five-story hospital building designed for roughly 600 patients, while an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp holds additional women in barracks-style housing. Population figures run high. According to the Bureau of Prisons' population report dated July 9, 2026, the facility held 1,030 women in the main institution and 244 in the satellite camp (1,274 total), consistent with the April 2022 count of about 1,206 (928 main, 278 camp) and later guide-source estimates near 1,270. The facility is accredited by the Joint Commission (JCAHO) and the American Correctional Association.

In addition to providing acute and chronic medical care, Carswell operates the only administrative high-security unit for women within the BOP. This specific unit confines approximately 20 inmates who are categorized as 'special management concerns' due to a history of violence or escapes. Furthermore, the facility serves as the site of the federal death row for women. Lisa Marie Montgomery was housed on death row at Carswell prior to her transfer to USP Terre Haute, Indiana, which contains the federal execution chamber, and she was ultimately executed on January 13, 2021. Within the facility, daily routine adheres to the standard BOP structure of formal counts, work assignments, meals, and programming. Medically able inmates are expected to work unless they are enrolled full-time in education, and institutional pay generally ranges from about $0.12 to $0.40 per hour. Health care is administered through scheduled pill lines alongside a psychology department that offers individual counseling, group therapy, and crisis intervention. Inmate-initiated sick-call visits carry a $2.00 co-pay, while follow-ups, emergencies, and mental-health contacts are entirely exempted.

Standard educational opportunities at Carswell include literacy and GED instruction, English-as-a-Second-Language, and parenting classes. The facility also provides the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP), a voluntary, roughly nine-month, 500-hour residential treatment track that can yield up to a 12-month sentence reduction for eligible non-violent inmates upon successful completion. Carswell is also listed on the Bureau's RDAP location document as a Female Integrated Treatment Program site. Secondary facility guides (defense attorney and inmate resource sites) report advanced occupational programs such as cosmetology and culinary arts at the main institution, alongside a horticulture Master Gardener program and a personal trainer track at the camp, though the BOP's own program listing for the facility was not confirmed in primary sources. Institutional guidelines cap commissary spending near $360 per month and limit telephone access to about 300 minutes per month with 15-minute call limits. Additionally, TRULINCS electronic messaging is available as a monitored, text-only service. Finally, reporting on the presence of UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries) at Carswell remains inconsistent across sources.

Carswell has drawn sustained scrutiny over living conditions and staff misconduct. Over a roughly seven-year span, seven staff members were convicted of sexually abusing inmates. These cases included corrections officer Michael Lawrence Miller, who was convicted of rape in 2004 and sentenced to 150 months, as well as chaplain Vincent Inametti, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to two counts of sexual abuse and received a sentence of 48 months. According to 2024 reporting, newer civil suits alleging staff sexual assault have continued to surface. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Carswell recorded one of the highest infection rates in the federal system, which resulted in hundreds of women infected and at least four deaths. Andrea Circle Bear is widely reported as the first federal inmate to die of COVID-19, having passed away on April 28, 2020, shortly after an emergency cesarean section. In August 2023, inmate Gwen Rider died by suicide after staff allegedly failed to place her on suicide-prevention status. The facility has also been a focus of journalism regarding the treatment of transgender women in federal custody.

First-hand accounts

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

• I just did four years in a federal women's prison AMA! — Reddit. First-person AMA by a woman who served about four years in a federal women's prison; the thread's discussion identifies the facility as FMC Carswell, with the poster describing security-level structure, the medical population, the separate camp, and the administrative unit, and a commenter directly asking about her experience 'at FMC Carswell.'
• Comment: 'I was in FMC Carswell', no phone access in ~5 years — Reddit (user moonrabbit368). First-hand account from someone who spent roughly five years incarcerated at FMC Carswell, describing that she never saw a contraband cell phone inside the main institution and contrasting that with camps where some women reportedly get phones.
• Comment: released from FMC Carswell, on SOTP/RDAP and good-time policy — Reddit (user Jazzlike-Finish3534). First-person account from a woman who got out of FMC Carswell about 18 months earlier, describing serving 85% of her sentence, completing the Sex Offender Treatment Program for a $30 incentive, RDAP not granting time off in her case, and receiving the full 12 months of halfway-house time.
• Human trafficking behind prison walls: women at FMC Carswell — Reddit (r/Dallas), repost of Guardian investigative reporting. Serious accountability journalism on alleged sexual-abuse patterns at FMC Carswell, necessary context given documented DOJ-referenced abuse investigations at the facility.
• Reporting to FMC Carswell next week, trying to prepare — Reddit (r/Prison). Self-surrender first-person post, with family gathering tips ahead of the reporting date.
• FMC Carswell inspection report and BOP response — DC Corrections Information Council. Primary oversight document with the BOP's official response, useful for conditions and programs detail.

Notable inmates

Name	Sentence	Offense	Dates
Alice Marie Johnson	Life (commuted by President Trump June 2018; later granted full pardon)	Nonviolent cocaine-distribution conspiracy	Held at FMC Carswell early in her sentence, later moved to FCI Aliceville
Aafia Siddiqui	86 years	Attempted murder and assault of U.S. officers/soldiers in Afghanistan (convicted 2010)	Incarcerated at FMC Carswell (currently held)
Reality Winner	63 months	NSA contractor who leaked a classified document on Russian election interference (Espionage Act)	Held at FMC Carswell; released to home confinement June 2, 2021
Ana Belen Montes	25 years	Espionage; former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who spied for Cuba	Held at FMC Carswell; released January 6, 2023
Marion Jones	6 months	Lied to federal investigators (performance-enhancing drugs / check-fraud case)	Served at FMC Carswell; released 2008
Emma Coronel Aispuro	About 3 years	Drug-trafficking conspiracy (wife of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman)	Held at FMC Carswell; released September 13, 2023
Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme	Life (paroled)	Attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford (1975)	Held at FMC Carswell; paroled 2009
Kristen Gilbert	Four consecutive life terms	Nurse who murdered four patients with epinephrine injections	Incarcerated at FMC Carswell

FMC Carswell. Public domain photograph, via Wikimedia Commons.

See also

• FMC Carswell: a practical guide for women facing a medical designation (womensfederalprison.com)