Federal Bureau of Prisons

FBOP redirects here. For the bank holding company, see FBOP Corporation.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (often referred to operationally as the BOP) is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice, and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system.

The Bureau was established in 1930 to provide more progressive and humane care for Federal inmates, to professionalize the prison service, and to ensure consistent and centralized administration of the 11 Federal prisons in operation at the time.

According to its official web site, the Bureau consists of more than 114 institutions, 6 regional offices, a Central Office in Washington D.C. (headquarters), 2 staff training centers, and 28 community corrections offices, and is responsible for the custody and care of approximately 185,000 Federal offenders. Approximately 85 percent of these inmates are confined in Bureau-operated correctional facilities or detention centers. The remainder are confined through agreements with state and local governments or through contracts with privately-operated community corrections centers, detention centers, prisons, and juvenile facilities.

The Bureau is also responsible for carrying out all judicially mandated federal executions (other than those carried out under military law) in the United States, and maintains the federal lethal injection chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana.