FPC Alderson

FEMALE

Gender

MINIMUM

Security Level

468

Population (July 9, 2026)

Federal Prison Camp, Alderson (FPC Alderson) is a minimum-security United States federal prison for female inmates located in Alderson, West Virginia. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. Opened in 1927, FPC Alderson is the oldest federal women's prison in the United States and is sometimes referred to as "Camp Cupcake" in the media.

Overview

FPC Alderson is a minimum-security federal prison camp housing female offenders. As a minimum-security facility, it is the least restrictive type of federal prison, housing inmates considered to be low-risk and non-violent. The camp has limited perimeter fencing, and inmates are able to move relatively freely within the facility.

The facility is located on approximately 95 acres in rural West Virginia and consists of 26 cottages along with administrative buildings. Inmates are housed in dormitory-style living arrangements.

Notable Inmates

FPC Alderson has housed several high-profile inmates throughout its history:

Martha Stewart - Media mogul and businesswoman, served 5 months (October 2004 - March 2005) for obstruction of justice and lying to federal investigators related to an insider trading investigation. Her high-profile incarceration led to the facility being nicknamed "Camp Cupcake."
Billie Holiday - Legendary jazz singer, served time in the late 1940s on drug charges.
Tokyo Rose (Iva Toguri D'Aquino) - World War II radio broadcaster, served 6 years for treason (later pardoned by President Ford).
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme - Manson Family member, served time for the attempted assassination of President Ford.
Sara Jane Moore - Attempted to assassinate President Ford, served time at Alderson.

Name	Sentence	Offense	Dates
Iva Toguri D'Aquino ("Tokyo Rose")	10 years (served ~6)	Treason for WWII wartime broadcasts aimed at U.S. troops (later pardoned by President Ford, 1977)	c. 1949-1956
Mildred Gillars ("Axis Sally")	10 to 30 years; served at Alderson in the 1950s	Treason for broadcasting Nazi propaganda during WWII	1950s
Lolita Lebron	Imprisoned 1954-1979 (sentence commuted by President Carter)	Puerto Rican nationalist; 1954 armed attack in the U.S. House of Representatives	1954-1979
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn	Imprisoned in the mid-1950s	Smith Act conviction (advocating overthrow of the U.S. government); labor and Communist Party leader	1955-1957

Notes from Alumni

The following people have spoken about their time at FPC Alderson on the Nightmare Success podcast, hosted by Brent Cassity (himself formerly incarcerated in the federal system):

Navigating the Legal Maze: Tara Lenich’s Journey from Prosecutor to Advocate (Nightmare Success podcast)

Please remember that experiences are unique and may not reflect today's experience.

Location

Physical location: ALDERSON, WV 24910

Mailing address: GLEN RAY RD., ALDERSON, WV 24910

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 FPC Alderson allow conjugal visits?

No. FPC Alderson 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 FPC Alderson?

FPC Alderson 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

FPC Alderson opened on April 30, 1927, as the Federal Industrial Institute for Women, distinguishing itself as the first federal prison built for women in the United States. The facility was born out of a 1920s shortage of federal space for female offenders, who until that point were either given alternative punishments or housed inside all-male institutions. Assistant U.S. Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt championed the dedicated facility. A 159-acre site in Alderson, West Virginia, was chosen because it was remote enough from major population centers to discourage escapes while remaining reasonably close to Washington, D.C. The institution was deliberately styled after a boarding school or college campus rather than a fortress. It originally consisted of 14 cottages arranged in a horseshoe pattern, offered education and vocational work, and operated with no armed guards and no barbed wire, which represented a reformatory model unusual for its era. The facility remains the largest employer in the Alderson area.

Today, the camp operates as a minimum-security facility. As of the Bureau of Prisons' population report dated July 9, 2026, it held 468 women, below the roughly-a-thousand-woman capacity and two-dormitory-building layout described in older facility accounts. Rather than residing in barred cells, inmates live in two-person cubicles furnished with bunk beds and separated by cinder-block partitions, which are described in multiple accounts as roughly 5-by-9 feet. New arrivals typically start their terms in crowded, open 'ranges'. One former inmate described about 125 women to a range with no doors or privacy. After some months of good conduct, individuals can advance to the older cottages, which house fewer women and feature actual doors. Every able inmate is assigned a job and follows a fixed schedule. Work assignments often begin in the dining hall and include kitchen duty, landscaping, grounds and street cleaning, powerhouse work, and similar labor. The structured schedules provide holidays off, except for kitchen and powerhouse crews. Ultimately, these Federal prison jobs pay only a few dollars a month.

Programming at Alderson centers on the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP), which serves as the Bureau of Prisons' intensive substance-abuse track. The curriculum is a roughly nine-month, 500-hour residential course, and its successful completion can earn eligible inmates up to a 12-month reduction in sentence. Education and vocational offerings at the facility include GED preparation, English-as-a-Second-Language classes, and vocational training such as cosmetology and horticulture. Furthermore, the institution provides a law library and a general library for legal research, alongside various recreational and hobby classes. The camp has historically operated a Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR) work program. Because the facility operates as a minimum-security camp, movement is comparatively open, establishing an operational emphasis on work, programming, and eventual reentry rather than physical security.

Operating as America's oldest federal women's prison, Alderson possesses a long history that has produced a roster of nationally known inmates spanning nearly a century. This notable population has encompassed individuals ranging from World War II propaganda broadcasters and Cold War political prisoners to would-be presidential assassins. Most famously, lifestyle entrepreneur Martha Stewart completed a stay from 2004 to 2005 that cemented the facility's media nickname 'Camp Cupcake', although Stewart herself reportedly called it 'Yale'. That soft-focus reputation is contested by former inmates, whose first-person accounts describe hard physical labor, minimal pay, poor accommodations for elderly prisoners, and conditions its authors insist are nothing like a country club. The prison's high profile grew further in the era of Netflix's 'Orange Is the New Black', which drew renewed public attention to women's federal incarceration and to Alderson's storied past.

First-hand accounts

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

Where Martha Stewart and I Went to Prison Was No 'Camp Cupcake' — Evie Litwok (first-person essay, Medium; also published by Talk Poverty). Evie Litwok, incarcerated at FPC Alderson beginning in 2010 at age 60, describes grueling work assignments (kitchen, landscaping, street sweeping), pay of about $5.25 a month, poor living conditions, and inadequate accommodation for elderly inmates, arguing the 'Camp Cupcake' nickname badly misrepresents the reality. She later founded the advocacy group Witness to Mass Incarceration.
One Inmate's Experience At Alderson — Forbes (interview with former inmate Vicki Webb). Former inmate Vicki Webb, who served 18 months at Alderson for embezzlement, describes the camp firsthand: new arrivals in crowded dorm 'ranges' of about 125 women in two-person cubes with no doors, promotion after roughly three months to cottages housing about 60 women, dining-hall labor as the typical first job, hobby and education classes, commissary and vending, and comparatively little serious violence.
I lived Orange Is the New Black, AMA — Reddit AMA. First-person account from a white-collar offender who self-surrendered to FPC Alderson for 72 months.
Take a tour of America's 'cushiest' prison — Business Insider. Reported photo-tour feature using the BOP inmate handbook, with visual and architectural detail families search for.
America's oldest federal women's prison is in West Virginia — WBOY (WV local TV). History piece on Alderson, which opened in 1927 as the first federal women's reformatory.
Matt — Reddit (r/60daysin). Short first-person aside from someone who did federal time at FPC Alderson, contrasted with a state facility.