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Federal prisons in West Virginia

Nothing suspended in West Virginia right now. Visiting is running at every West Virginia facility I watch, as far as the BOP's own data admits.

Checked . I poll the BOP's own data for all 13 of these every five minutes. The BOP under-reports, so quiet means they have not said anything, not that nothing is happening.

West Virginia has 8 federal institutions across 6 towns. Counting the camps and detention centers attached to them, that is 13 separate places somebody can be designated to: 6 camps, 4 mediums, 1 penitentiary, and 2 facilities at a level I don't have. Each one has its own page here.

Security level is the first thing that matters, because it decides almost everything else: whether there is a fence, whether visiting is a room or a table outside, how much movement there is, and what the days look like. Where somebody lands in West Virginia is not a choice anybody gets to make, but it is worth knowing what the options are.

The whole lockdown record Get an alert when one goes down

Every federal facility in West Virginia

Camps and detention centers sit under the prison they belong to, because that is what they are: a satellite unit on the same grounds, run by the same staff, with its own security level and its own rules about visiting.

Facility Security Holds Where Visiting
FPC Alderson Minimum Women Alderson, WV Running
FCI Beckley Medium Men Beaver, WV Running
— FCI Beckley Camp Minimum Men Beaver, WV Running
FCI Gilmer Medium Men Glenville, WV Running
— FCI Gilmer Camp Minimum Men Glenville, WV Running
FCC Hazelton Unknown Men and women Bruceton Mills, WV Running
FCI Hazelton Medium Men and women Bruceton Mills, WV Running
— FCI Hazelton Secure Female Facility Unknown Women Bruceton Mills, WV Running
USP Hazelton High Men Bruceton Mills, WV Running
— USP Hazelton Camp Minimum Men Bruceton Mills, WV Running
FCI McDowell Medium Men Welch, WV Running
— FCI McDowell Camp Minimum Men Welch, WV Running
FPC Morgantown Minimum Men Morgantown, WV Running

Visiting status is the BOP's public data, not a schedule. A facility running today can suspend tomorrow without warning, and the suspension usually shows up in the data before it shows up on a phone call. Each facility's page carries its own day-by-day record.

The complexes

A federal correctional complex is several separate prisons on one piece of ground, usually at different security levels, sharing a mailing address and not much else. People get the name of the complex and the name of the prison mixed up constantly, and it matters: the wrong one on an envelope is a delay, and the wrong one in your head is the wrong visiting rules.

FCC Hazelton

The camps in West Virginia

A camp is minimum security: no fence, open bay housing, and the most freedom of movement the Bureau hands out. It is also the level most people picture when they think "federal prison camp," and the level most first-time white-collar defendants are hoping for. Nobody chooses it. The designation score does, and you can work the score out yourself before anybody tells you.

Where women go in West Virginia

There are far fewer federal facilities for women than for men, which is why women get designated further from home on average. These are the West Virginia options.

The suspension record for West Virginia

Every visiting suspension I have caught at a West Virginia facility, newest first. 5 of them started in the last twelve months. I started watching these places on July 25, 2026, so nothing before that date is here.

Where this comes from

The addresses, phone numbers, security levels and visiting status are the Bureau's own published data, re-read every five minutes. 12 of these facilities also have an admission and orientation handbook behind the page, which is where the facility-specific answers about mail, money and visiting come from. Everything else on a facility page is general to that security level, and it says so where it is.

Unknown means unknown. I would rather show a blank than a guess, and the facility pages do. If you have done time at one of these or visited somebody there, tell me what I have wrong.

Every federal facility, all states →

Need help with this? Just ask.

These pages cover the general rules. Your situation has details they don't. Email me a question. Answers are free, and "you don't need to pay anyone for this" is my most common answer.

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I answer in the order received, usually within a couple of days. I have a day job. If your situation genuinely needs more than an email, I take a limited number of consults, so say so and we'll work it out.

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