USP Lee (high-security)

USP Lee is a high-security United States penitentiary for men in Pennington Gap, Virginia, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It held about 1,371 people as of November 2025. It does not offer the Residential Drug Abuse Program. The institution's main number is 276-546-0150.

MALE

Gender

HIGH

Security Level

1371

Population (Nov. 2025)

No RDAP

Location

Physical location: PENNINGTON GAP, VA 24277

Mailing address: LEE COUNTY INDUSTRIAL PARK, PENNINGTON GAP, VA 24277

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

Situated roughly eight miles east of Jonesville in the far southwestern corner of Virginia, USP Lee is a high-security United States Penitentiary for men. The facility is located near Pennington Gap within the Lee County Industrial Park. Opened in 2002, the institution is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons within the U.S. Department of Justice. It sits alongside an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp that houses a small population of lower-risk male offenders who provide labor for the main compound. While the design capacity is cited across sources in the range of about 1,500 to 1,600, the facility has typically held well over a thousand men in the main penitentiary, in addition to a few dozen at the camp. Given its designation as a high-security USP, the large majority of residents are serving lengthy sentences for serious federal offenses.

Men at USP Lee live in one-person and two-person cells inside the secure perimeter, while the camp uses open dormitories. Daily life follows the tightly controlled rhythm of a high-security penitentiary. This rigorous routine includes multiple standing counts each day, as well as controlled and often escorted movement between housing units, dining, work, and recreation. Furthermore, the schedule imposes comparatively limited out-of-cell and yard time relative to lower-security prisons. The compound has a documented history of violence, and inmate-on-inmate assaults have been a recurring feature of the environment. Specifically, several inmates were killed during fights between 2008 and 2010, with each death subsequently prompting institution-wide lockdowns.

Facility programming encompasses education, religious services, recreation, psychology and drug-abuse counseling, alongside vocational training. Educational services have included GED instruction, English-as-a-second-language classes, parenting courses, and advanced occupational programs such as Basic Home Construction, Residential HVAC, and Horticulture. Furthermore, USP Lee has operated the Challenge Program, serving as a high-security cognitive-treatment unit intended for men with histories of substance abuse, mental illness, or violence. Institution work assignments, which feature food service, maintenance, laundry, orderly, and tutoring roles, pay roughly $0.12 to $0.40 per hour, while UNICOR / Federal Prison Industries work is also available on the compound. Notably, the main penitentiary does not run the residential drug-abuse program (RDAP), and men seeking that programming are generally transferred to an institution that hosts it.

Visitation is scheduled on Friday evenings, weekends, and federal holidays, with a cap of three adult visitors per inmate. Over its history, the main penitentiary has housed a number of high-profile prisoners. These inmates have ranged from would-be presidential assassin Francisco Martin Duran to Charles McArthur Emmanuel (Chuckie Taylor), who was the first person convicted under the U.S. federal anti-torture statute. Several of these men were later transferred to more restrictive institutions such as ADX Florence. The adjacent minimum-security camp is a legally and operationally distinct unit. As a result, its population and incidents, including a 2008 walkaway escape, should not be conflated with those of the high-security penitentiary.

First-hand accounts

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

• When will I hear from him?? (partner just transferred to USP Lee) - Reddit. A partner writes that her boyfriend was moved straight from a regional jail to USP Lee on a 35-year federal sentence, and asks other families how long it typically takes to receive a first phone call or letter after arrival at the penitentiary.
• Any USP LEE wives here? - Reddit. A family member of a man held at USP Lee seeks to connect with other spouses and partners of men incarcerated at the facility to compare notes on communication, visiting, and conditions.
• UPDATE ON USP LEE PRISON AND MARCOS - Reddit. A follow-up thread in giving an update on USP Lee and an inmate named Marcos; the original post text is no longer visible in the archive but the thread drew community discussion about the facility.

Notable inmates

Name	Sentence	Offense	Dates
Charles McArthur Emmanuel ("Chuckie Taylor")	97 years	Son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor; first person convicted under the U.S. federal anti-torture statute for atrocities committed in Liberia	Listed at USP Lee
Francisco Martin Duran	40 years	Fired 29 rounds at the White House in 1994 in an attempt to assassinate President Bill Clinton	Listed at USP Lee
Genaro Garcia Luna	38 years	Former Mexican Secretary of Public Security convicted of accepting bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel, drug trafficking, and false statements	Held at USP Lee; later transferred to ADX Florence
Dandeny Munoz Mosquera	Life	Medellin Cartel assassin linked to the 1989 bombing of Avianca Flight 203	Held at USP Lee; later transferred to USP Atwater
Anthony "Harv" Ellison	24 years	Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods member convicted in the kidnapping and armed robbery of rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine (Daniel Hernandez)	Held at USP Lee; later transferred to USP Canaan
Brian Patrick Regan	Life	Former U.S. Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office employee convicted of attempted espionage	Held at USP Lee; later transferred to FCI Terre Haute
Eyad Ismoil	210 years	Drove the explosives-laden van in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing	Held at USP Lee; later transferred to USP Victorville
Neftaly Platero	Life without parole	Former U.S. soldier convicted of murdering two fellow soldiers in Iraq	Listed at USP Lee