FMC Lexington (minimum-security camp)

FMC Lexington is a minimum-security satellite camp for women in Lexington, Kentucky, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It held about 205 people as of November 2025. The institution's main number is 859-255-6812.

FEMALE

Gender

MINIMUM

Security Level

205

Population (Nov. 2025)

RDAP

Location

Physical location: LEXINGTON, KY 40511

Mailing address: 3301 LEESTOWN ROAD, LEXINGTON, KY 40511

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 FMC Lexington allow conjugal visits?

No. FMC Lexington 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 FMC Lexington?

FMC Lexington 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

The Federal Medical Center (FMC) Lexington operates as an administrative security federal prison in Lexington, Kentucky, functioning primarily as a medical and mental health referral center for male inmates. Adjacent to the main institution is a minimum security satellite facility, the Federal Prison Camp (FPC Lexington), which holds the female population. In recent years, the women's camp housed roughly 300 to 330 inmates, recording a population of 232 at the time of the July 2026 closure announcement. Most of these individuals serve sentences for nonviolent white collar or drug offenses. The women live in dorm style barracks (historically Atwood Hall) that are divided into two, four, and eight person cubicles, with personal property limited to what fits in a locker. Because the facility is classified as a camp, there are no cells or perimeter fences. Daily work assignments typically encompass food service, unit orderly, and grounds and maintenance details. Inmates participate in these assignments alongside GED classes and the institution's vocational tracks (carpentry, culinary arts, greenhouse/horticulture, masonry, residential electrical, welding). As it is colocated with the Federal Medical Center, extensive on site medical care serves as a defining feature, incorporating a routine sick call copay and facilitating referrals to community hospitals in Lexington for complex cases.

FMC Lexington opened in 1935 as the 'United States Narcotic Farm', a facility widely called 'Narco'. It functioned as the federal government's pioneering institution for treating drug-addicted prisoners and voluntary patients together, as well as an early hub of federal addiction research. During World War II, the property served as an internment site for civilians of German, Italian, and Japanese ancestry. The institution became the NIMH Clinical Research Center in 1967 and was later converted to a Bureau of Prisons facility in 1974. Following an inmate homicide, the site lost its psychiatric-hospital designation in 1998. The Lexington complex also holds a separate, notorious chapter in women's incarceration history. From 1986 to 1988, it operated the underground Lexington High Security Unit (HSU), a small women's control unit that held political prisoners such as Susan Rosenberg and Silvia Baraldini. Amnesty International condemned the HSU, and a federal court ordered it closed in the case of Baraldini v. Meese. That control unit is a distinct entity and should not be conflated with the present-day minimum-security women's camp.

FMC Lexington operates a Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP), which serves as the BOP's roughly 9-month, 500-hour intensive treatment track. Participants who complete the program can earn up to a 12-month sentence reduction. However, prison-consulting reporting indicates that the intensive RDAP unit runs at the main institution and is not offered at the satellite camp itself, a nuance worth flagging. Conditions at the women's camp drew national attention during Julie Chrisley's 2023 to 2025 incarceration, when her family publicly complained about the lack of air conditioning in summer heat. In response, the BOP stated that it was monitoring ventilation and that inmates had unlimited access to drinking water. The facility has also experienced repeated, documented staff-misconduct problems. In 2024, former correctional officer Jacob Salcido pleaded guilty in federal court to three counts of sexual abuse of a ward for sexual acts with three female inmates in late 2020. The Department of Justice noted that this case was at least the fourth in as many years involving alleged staff sexual assault of women held at FMC Lexington.

On July 1, 2026, the Bureau of Prisons announced that it would permanently close the FMC Lexington satellite camp, which was then housing 232 inmates. The location was one of six institutions or camps being shut down nationwide amid more than $4 billion in deferred maintenance and what the government called 'extreme staffing challenges'. BOP Director William K. Marshall III framed the closures as necessary to address longstanding infrastructure and staffing challenges. The agency stated that camp staff would be reassigned to other posts at FMC Lexington or nearby facilities so employees could keep their jobs. As of the announcement, however, officials had not specified a closure date or indicated where the displaced women would be transferred. In response to the decision, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) urged Congress to block the closures as dangerous.

First-hand accounts

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

• ~ from FMC Lexington, by Kathy Kelly - The Nuclear Resister. First-person essay by peace activist Kathy Kelly written from inside the women's satellite camp, describing Atwood Hall's deteriorating conditions (peeling paint, leaky plumbing), her fellow women inmates and their long sentences, choir, reading time, and the human bonds formed there.
• My Future in Prison - Common Dreams. Kathy Kelly's first-person account written as she prepared to report to the FMC Lexington satellite prison camp for women, reflecting on the drone-protest conviction and what she expected of the 90-day term.
• A Future in Prison, Kathy Kelly (crosspost of her first-person essay) - Reddit. Reddit archive of Kathy Kelly's first-person essay noting her assignment to 'the satellite prison camp for women, adjacent to Lexington's federal medical center for men', a citable community mirror of the primary account.
• Designated to FMC Lexington Satellite Camp. Not much information available on their website. - Reddit. First-hand thread from someone designated to report to the FMC Lexington women's satellite camp, asking others for direct experience or family knowledge of the facility.

Notable inmates

Name	Sentence	Offense	Dates
Julie Chrisley	7 years; served about 2 years 4 months	Bank fraud and tax evasion (reality-TV personality, 'Chrisley Knows Best')	c. Jan 2023, May 2025; pardoned by President Trump on May 28, 2025
Kathy Kelly	3-month sentence (2015); had also served ~9 months at the Lexington women's unit in 1989	Misdemeanor criminal trespass (2014 anti-drone protest at Whiteman Air Force Base); peace activist	Feb-May 2015
Leona Helmsley	4 years; served ~18 months (mostly at other facilities)	Tax evasion / mail fraud ('Queen of Mean' hotelier)	Held at FMC Lexington from April 1992 for intake and medical evaluation before transfer to a minimum-security camp, brief stay, so camp-vs-medical-center placement is qualified

See also

• FMC Lexington camp: a practical guide for women, including the announced closure (womensfederalprison.com)

References

CLOSURE NOTICE: This facility was announced for closure on July 1, 2026 (the medical center itself remains open). See the closure announcement below.

Announced closure (2026)

On July 1, 2026, the Bureau of Prisons announced that FMC Lexington's satellite camp (the medical center itself remains open) 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.