My husband just completed a program at springfield, MO med center and is now eligible to be moved to any prison he chooses. We are considering Petersburg or Butner but would like to know any info on the place. Basically, things like do they have weights, how is the visiting, do you get to sit next to each other, etc. If you could help it would be greatly appreciated. thank you

He won't be moved to Butner. As of January 2005, they are turning Butner Low into a secondary medical extention of the original medical facililty located at Butner Medium....so they will be transferring ALL inmates who do not have medical needs (Wheelchairs, breathing devices, IVs etc,) to other Low facilities in the country.

But if by some weird twist of fate that he does get transfered to Butner for a little while, visitation goes like this:

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday- visiting hours are 8am -3:00pm
No visitation on Tuesday or Wednesday
Thursday and Friday- visitin hours are 1pm-8pm

You can bring the following in with you:
Clear baggie with you ID, about $20 in quarters (no bill money), an unopened pack of cigarettes and a book of matches and one set of car keys...nothing else.

You fill our your visiting form, then make you walk through a metal detector, check your ID, stamp your hand, etc...walk you to the visiting room, check your stamp again, let you hug and kiss your man at the beginning and end of the visit, and you basically sit at some tables with your man and talk for 7 hours and eat out of vending machines there...and they have toys and stuff for kids who are too little to sit and hold a converstaion for 7 hours....its not bad at all...the guards can be **** sometimes, but others are quite polite and nice to guests and inmates....

PM if you need anymore info on BUTNER ok? My husband is in FCI Butner Low.
:)

My fiance is also at FCI Butner Low. I've heard terrible things about Petersburg. No A/C, old facility, nasty guards, etc. When my FI was convicted, the guys at Prison Fellowship said that if they had to pick any facility to live in, it would be the Low at Butner. So... hope for that one, even with the 2005 issue... that might not happen or might be delayed.


I'd also be willing to answer any Butner questions you might have... i feel like i've lived there part time for over two years now. :(

My friend just left Petersburg..he was in the medium however. He hated it!! He said he had never been at a facility where the guards caused more trouble than the inmates. The low is an old facility and the medium is new (nov 2002?) and they are right beside each other so I can not imagine that there would be much diff in the guards at the low. All I have heard about Butner is that it is "sweet"...seems like that is his best bet...

My fiance is also at FCI Butner Low. I've heard terrible things about Petersburg. No A/C, old facility, nasty guards, etc. When my FI was convicted, the guys at Prison Fellowship said that if they had to pick any facility to live in, it would be the Low at Butner. So... hope for that one, even with the 2005 issue... that might not happen or might be delayed.


I'd also be willing to answer any Butner questions you might have... i feel like i've lived there part time for over two years now. :( Hi
My son is going to Butner in the spring? Should I send money with him? Are they allowed packages? And how is the visitation how many people can you touch them etc.

Hi
My son is going to Butner in the spring? Should I send money with him? Are they allowed packages? And how is the visitation how many people can you touch them etc.

Is he going to the Low Security part of the Butner correctional complex? My information is only relevant to the low.

My husband got out in August, but as of then, guys could bring in whatever money they had on them - it all gets put into an account that they can use to buy things like sneakers, shorts, sweats, hygiene items, stamps, phone calls, recreational gear, a radio (to be able to watch TV he needs a radio), and snack foods. Some of these items are near essentials in order to live any kind of comfortable life there. My husband suggests $300 - $500, especially now that the BOP has made getting money to inmates more difficult (I hear that you'll have to send your money order to Idaho I think if you want to get him money after he's in).

When he goes in he'll be able to bring that money (immediately put into an account for him), a Bible or other religious text, a wedding band, and a "religious medallion." The clothes he is wearing will be sent home to you.

He cannot bring anything else - so if he has an address book of people he wants to be able to contact, he should give it to you or someone else to mail in to him. Or he can mail it to himself ahead of time, but clearly mark the mail with his arrival date or the guards will send it back. Another thing my husband suggests mailing to him early or ahead of time are pictures - he's allowed to posess 25 pictures, and he says it was really nice to have these early on. The final thing my husband says was nice to have was a list of books he wanted to read - that way, he knew what to request from the library (which does an exchange with the library in town).

You cannot send care packages. You cannot send stamps. The only things you could send in as of August (don't know if it's changed) are letters, pictures, magazines, and paperback books. You can send hardcover books only from the publisher/vendor (like Amazon). He can make collect calls, which are very expensive. Calls he makes through the inmate phone system are about $.25 per minute, 15 minutes or less per phone call, and he can use a maximum of 300 minutes per month. These are paid for with money from the account set up for him with whatever money he has going in, whatever money people send him, and whatever he makes while working in the prison (about $.12-$.18 per hour, not much). He might not be able to call you for a week or two.

As for visits, sarahtoga had good information, above. Like I said, my husband left there in August, so I don't know if any of it's changed. Ask your son to send you the visitor information packet he's supposed to get once he's there - lots of guys don't know about it, but it really does have good information about dress code, visitation times, and all that. Find out what dorm he's in - each dorm has visitation every other weekend (and every Monday, Thursday, and Friday) so you'll need to know if he's the first and third weekend or the second and fourth.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I developed a pretty detailed document about contacting and visiting my husband while he was in there, I can email it to you if you want.

hope that helps, and I'm sorry you're going through this. it sucks.

Nicole

Hi
My son is going to Butner in the spring? Should I send money with him? Are they allowed packages? And how is the visitation how many people can you touch them etc.I called FMC Butner about questions like these, and this is what I was told:

All money has to be sent to the Federal Bureau of Prisons in DesMoines, Iowa. You put the name of the inmate and his/her number on the money order. This is the address:

Federal Bureau of Prisons
(name)
(number)
P.O. Box 474701
Des Moines, IO 50947-0001

Mail is fine, including photos with letters is ok, but nothing 'racy', and no polaroids. Magazines can be sent from the publisher, but consider the content, as they don't allow pornographic stuff. Books are ok, but I was told no hardcover, only paperback and they have to be sent from the publisher.

When I dropped off my brother, in November, he was NOT allowed to carry anything in with him except his glasses and a few important papers. He had to hand back his Bible to me to take home, and I had to order him a new one from a publisher.

The phone information is correct, they can make collect calls that cost about $8.00 per 15 minutes. I'm not aware of any limitation, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

When you visit, you can bring quarters to use in the vending machines, but that's it, nothing else. They have lockers at the entrance in which you have to leave your 'stuff'. When I called in November, I was told visiting was on Monday, Thursday and Friday from 2:30-8:00, and Saturday, Sunday and holidays from 8:00-4:00.

I think that's accurate, it's from personal experience and what I was told when I called the facility.

Here are the phone numbers:
FCI Butner (Low) 919-575-5000
FCI Butner (Med) 919-575-4541
FMC Butner 919-575-3900

Best wishes. Maybe we'll run into each other on visitation days.

:)

My fiance` is at Butner medium facility. I'm going down to see him next weekend for his birthday..when I was there a few weeks ago, I did see people there with bills although I was told to just bring quarters. You can hold hands above the table, kiss & hug at the beginning and end of the visit. Also, when I went back Saturday morning, I was tested for drugs and explosives before walking through the metal detector. I hope that helps ;-)

I have just found out my son is in Petersburg Medium Security- his sentense was to minimum security. He has been in no. neck awaiting transfer . He has a hold-over conselor but he has not contacted anyone for two weeks. We can get no information! Does a hold over counsilor mean he is waiting to be moved again? Why would they put him in medium security to wait to be moved ? Please let me know what your experience is. I feel totally in the dark!! Thanks, Mother Mary

remember that visiting hours and other rules will be different at each facility.

I was corrected by my hubby about the collect calls - they can make them but they are expensive (for some reason I couldn't edit my post at the time, I tried, sorry).

Mary, I don't know why he's being held for transfer, I really don't. that might have been the only place they had room for him until a bed freed up in a camp. I don't know. I'm sorry you can't get any info; I'd keep calling until someone answered my questions. Good luck.

Nicole

My fiance is going to Butner in the next month or so and i was wondering if anyone had any info about the SOTP program. Is it medium or low? Another question i had was does Butner allow outside visitation? I've heard that some of the facilities do. He's also heard rumor while awaiting transfer that some fed inmates are having their sentences commuted because of over crowding. Can anyone verify this?

New to this and in the dark....

Mother Mary, if you can locate a phone number for Petersburg on www.bop.com (http://www.bop.com/) you can call and ask for your son's counselor. Be sure you have your son's federal ID number at hand. It sounds as if your son is in transfer to his final facility and is just "parked" at Petersburg in holding on the way which has nothing to do with his security level at his final destination.

grimmsprincess, Welcome to PTO Federal. You'll find lots of good information here but remember rumors are rumors and if you need the bottom line on something always call the facility. (Butner's numbers are listed above in another post on this thread.) Otherwise you might check the legal or news forums for federal. Some appeals are being made in light of the illegality of enhancements to original charges which increased prison sentence time in trial verdicts. If anyone might be bumped out of federal prison or camp I would say it would be only to a halfway house or on a very slim chance to home confinement for a very extraordinary reason. Commuting a sentence would only be, I think, if the original verdict were completely overturned or lessened (making time served enough). If you want to read about it there is a condition called compassionate release. You will find an explanation of it and any other reasons for release by searching www.bop.com (http://www.bop.com/)

From what I've read I believe the SOTP is housed separately and designated medium at Butner.

Only inmates housed in camps are permitted outside grounds "passes". Sometimes nonviolent offenders are offered the option of moving downward to a camp after serving time in a higher security level. I do not believe this option is open to persons designated to SOTP.

Best wishes,

wjr557

PS If you search through a search engine like Dogpile or Google you should be able to find among US government publications lists items that have been created for prison counselors and staff about the SO program. You can open and read them yourself since the site is open to the public for viewing.

Thanks for the info wjr557. Just something that i don't understand is why a porn conviction would be considered a violent offense. He's going to have to serve his time under medium security? But his security designation is low. Medium security is going to be hell for someone who never laid a hand on anyone.

A porn conviction is considered violent for the same reason large amouts of drugs are thought of as violent; some place down the line violence MIGHT happen because of it.

And do NOT believe the rumors about people being let go due to overcrowding; I was arrested in 1989 and has been hearing THAT ever since. It's not going to happen; they'll shove more people in the prisons and/or build new ones, but nobody will be getting out early due to crowding.

Also, don't believe that any inmate has a choice about where they are sent; they may have told somebody's huband he could go where he wants, but that is NOT true. They'll send him to where ever is best for them. In general - they put them nearer to the point of release IF that helps The Bop.

Also - a judge saying somebody should go to low security is all show; the judge has NO authority with The Bop; they are totally unrelated and the Bop can send you where ever they want.

Does anyone have any specific information about the Camp @ Butner?

Have you checked the BOP website for info? www.bop.gov (http://www.bop.gov) has info for visitation.