My Husband is doing state time, and has to do Federal time. he will be going there in Oct. does anyone one know how it all happens? when he will go? will he stay in the same state, close to home? and if not how can he get a transfer? Please Please anyone HELP i am in need of answer son ................. Thank you so much for any answer that you may have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I dont know how the time works cause my fiance had only federal time, but i do know that they like to move them around a lot atleast in our experience. They dont necessarily keep them close to home..:mad: Mine is 1200 miles from me, so i understand how you feel. ~Take Care~

There is a BOP "rule" (which they often break) that says they will try to keep their "guests" within 500 miles of home. However, my husband is 800 miles away and has friends who are 1200 or more miles from home. Best wishes!

When his state sentence is over the marshals will pick him up and move him to a federal pretrial facility in the district where he was sentenced. He'll wait there while they process him which can take quite a long time. Then he'll be moved around by plane and bus till they get him where he'll be staying. He'll get 54 days a year good time towards release and everybody works and gets paid for doing something.

I am afraid I can't give you any better news than the others. They do tend to put them where they have room, and they can sit in regional jails anywhere while they find a placement. But, the good news is, according to everyone I have talked to federal prisons are much better then state prisons, so maybe his life will improve. I hope he does get placed close to home. Good luck.

My man is at an FCI 3,000 miles from home. Obviously, that "try to keep em' close to home thing," didn't apply here.

This post is about what you can expect if you are taken into custody after sentencing in the U.S. Federal System. It assumes that you are not self-surrendering and covers where you will be staying, how you will get there and the designation process while in custody. This isn’t a guarantee that it is how your “trip” will occur, but it is what happens to most people.


From court you will be taken back into a "hold-over" or "trial cell" in the federal building. How long you will have to wait there depends on what time your trial is but I don't recall ever hearing of anyone spending the night in one of these.

At the end of the day, once everyone that is there has finished with court, the Marshal's will chain you all up for transport. What this means is you will be shackled at your ankles with leg-cuffs that will let you sort-of walk, but never run. You will have leather (usually) or a chain belt around your waist that your handcuffs will hook though, making it so that your hands don't get far from your waist. Personally, I like this MUCH more than being handcuffed from behind. I don't like being handcuffed at all but the point is that you will be somewhat comfortable. The U.S. Marshal's never just cuff you in front and leave your legs free. They have a serious protocol that they stick to.

Once everyone is chained up, they will lead you down to a van or bus. If it is only one or two of you then you may ride in a car. That depends on the number of people and how much business the feds are doing in your district.

Where will you go? It depends on if there is a (FDC) Federal Detention Center in your city. This may also be called a (MDC) Metropolitan Detention Center or something else similarly federal in name. However, in many federal districts, they don't do enough "business" to have a dedicated federal detention center so they contract space with local county jails. In most cases, the accommodations in these SUCK. I spent a little over 2 months in a federal contract facility in Montgomery Co., Texas and it was not a good situation. We were treated worse than the regular country prisoners. No trusty jobs were available to fed prisoners.. Visits were 15 minutes through a Plexiglas window, etc. In compare to federal detention centers, the treatment was crap! Fortunately for us, the new Houston FDC was opened and I believe I was the 14th prisoner to walk in there. It was heaven compared to the Montgomery County dungeon.

So, you could end up in a FDC/MDC after sentencing if they have one in your area or you could end up in a county jail that is contacted for prisoners. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure this out if you want to know. Call the federal courthouse where you were sentenced and ask them were federal prisoners are housed, and if they have a federal detention center or a contract facility with the county.

So, you end up at one place or another. Plan on being there from a day to a month.. Probably closer to 2 weeks max. while they purchase your tickets. :)

Unless something has changed that I am not aware of, you will be going to Oklahoma City for 2 weeks to a month following your stay at whichever detention center. Unless you are fairly close to Ok. City, you can plan on flying Con-Air. I'll consider you are not close to Oklahoma City and tell you about Con-Air.

Con-Air is not just a movie; it is a true federal transport. Of course, they don't fly old military cargo carriers, but they are almost as bad, or at least they feel like it!

When you get transported via "Con-Air", you know you are in some serious crap. Before it is the standard jail and transport BS. When you pull up on this plane you know you are dealing with the U.S. "justice" system and how serious they are about it.

There is a ring of guards surrounding the airplane with assault shotguns and automatic rifles. You will never see one of these people smile. They are serious as hell and I suspect very ready to shoot at a seconds notice and with little provocation. I have never heard of a Con-Air takeover by anyone but they act as if they are guarding the President of the U.S. himself. Actually, when you see the president get on his plane, he and the plane do not look like they are completely surrounded by storm-troopers. Con-Air does and being the prisoner and seeing all of this was the first true sign of the feds for me and how serious they are about security and not losing a prisoner. It doesn't matter if you are going to be with them for 4 months or 50 years, they treat everyone the same. Not necessarily bad but just very serious.

Before you get on the plane they shake you down good. They make you shake out your hair, open your mouth, etc. Everything short of a cavity check, though some people may get that, though it isn’t the norm, nor is it done on the airport tarmac.

One at a time you walk up the rear of the planes stairs, into the tail of the airplane.

Before I go any further, I should mention that there are a number of different planes that the U.S. Marshal’s Service uses. The one that I rode on was an OLD Boeing 727 that had paisley designs from what I would guess is the 1960’s inside. These planes are not the nice shining new and well maintained jets you see at the airport. I have seen three of them and they were either white or grey with a thin red or blue stripe down the plane. You would probably think they were a cargo or mail plane if you saw one. Inside and out you will see duct or metal tape. Maintenance, especially aesthetic is not that good. They also have single and twin engine planes, and a few LearJets. I’ve heard that most all of these have been seized. I may try to do a report on “Con-Air” sometime in the future but for this article, I think I have covered it enough. Bottom line; don’t think you are going to get a Business-First ticket.. There are none.

The female prisoners are generally kept way forward in the plane and away from the men. Everyone is usually in a foul mood from being on a plane all day long, cuffed and shackled. It’s not a fun ride and to be honest, though I love to fly, I was a big nervous about being locked down in a plane such as this..

Depending on where you are being picked up from and what time, you may only be on the plane for an hour or so or you may be on it 12 or more hours. Either way, you are ready to get off when you land in Oklahoma City! You won’t be making another road trip because the feds have a terminal there at the airport for the transit center! Oklahoma City is the home of Con-Air so why not keep it simple for them.

The transit center is basically a large Federal Detention Center where they keep most people while figuring out where they are going to place you. I personally have never been there but from all the people I did time with, along with someone close to me, the time you will stay there is from 1 to 4 weeks while they get your paperwork finished and find you an open bed, hopefully at the institution closest to your family.

I’m not for sure, but I don’t think you can purchase commissary there. Con-Air does not take anything of yours, so commissary would be a pain anyways. You are allowed to make phone calls, write and receive letters, etc. There are TV’s to watch and recreation areas, if you want to call them that.. Mostly exercise bikes. You can smoke too.

Once you get your designation, you are back on a reverse trip. You probably will fly Con-Air back out unless the prison you are going to stay at is close to Oklahoma City. They will take you to the closest point to the prison that they can land and then the Marshals will drive you the rest of the way.

When you get to the prison, you may have to wait in Segregation a few days if a bed isn’t immediately open. You will go through R&D (Receiving and Discharge) and get a minor physical. They will take blood. You then will get screened, usually by your unit team, if they are not too lazy to show up. (Mine didn’t.. only one person) They will ask about co-defendants if you have them, gang affiliations, etc.. etc.. Then, after they run you through the intake process, they will send you to a unit. They will assign you a room and you get to meet your new cellie or cellies, depending on how you are going to be housed.

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Above post was not mine. I tried to just post the link, but it did not work. Hope this helps. Fed ex...I hope you are not upset!!!!

I waited 12 weeks at a local fed pretrial spot to be designated somewhere and there were people waiting who got there before me and still were there when I left. It all depends on the individuals situation. The federal community corrections (I think thats what they are called) people in your local district do the designations.

IM NOT SURE IF YOU ALREADY GOT THE HELP YOU WANTED. BUT I REMEMBER THEY WANTE DTO GIVE MY HUSBAND STATE TOO.BUT OUR LAWYER SAID THAT IT S BETTER TO DO FED TIME FIRST. CAUSE THE FED TIME WILL OVER RIDE THE STATE.IF THE OTHER WAY AROUND. HE WOULD HAVE TO DO ALL OF STATE. THEN ALL OF FED.WHICH MEANS IT WOULD BE JUST THAT MUCH LONGER.BUT HIS LAWYER ALSO SAID THEY TRY TO KEEP THEM CLOSE TO HOME. LUCKLY HE ONLY GOT HIT WITH ONE AND NOT BOTH. BUT ID PERFFER STATE.HE WOULD HAVE BEEN HOME SOONER.BUT NO MATTER THE WAIT ILL BE HERE WAITING.I HOPE I HELPED.AND I HOPE EVERY THING WORKS OUT FOR YOU BOTH.

WHEN MY FIANCE GOT ARRESTED HE WAS ON PAROLE SO HE HAD TO FLATTEN HIS STATE TIME FIRST. THEY GET 6 GOOD DAYS A MONTH AND I WOULD GO TO THE "FELONY LOOK-UP WEBSITE" AND THEY HAD HIS RELEASE DATE. ONCE HE FINISHED HIS STATE TIME THEY TOOK HIM TO THE FEDERAL DETENTION CENTER UNTIL FEDERAL SENTENCING. ONCE HE GOT SENTENCED A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER , THEY DIDNT TELL HIM WHEN THEY WERE COMING, THEY TOOK HIM TO THE TRANSFER CENTER IN OKLAHOMA FOR CLASSIFICATION AND HE STAYED THERE MAYBE TWO WEEKS AND THEN THEY SENT HIM TO WHERE HE WAS GOING TO BE SERVING HIS TIME. I HOPE THIS INFO. IS HELPFUL TO YOU.