The Federal Correctional Institution, Big Spring (FCI Big Spring) is a low-security United States

federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for convicts who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), inmates considered dangerous (Brazil), or those s ...

for male inmates in Texas. It is operated by the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

, a division of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

. The facility also has a satellite prison camp which houses minimum-security male offenders. FCI Big Spring is located in the city of

Big Spring, Texas Big Spring is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Texas, United States, at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 87 and Interstate 20. With a population of 27,282 as of the 2010 census, it is the largest city between Midland to the west, ...

, midway between

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

and El Paso. The town is also the location of the privately owned and operated Big Spring Correctional Center, which contracts with the FBOP to house federal detainees at four physical locations. Both FCI Big Spring and the BSCC occupy buildings and facilities repurposed from the closed

Webb Air Force Base Webb Air Force Base , previously named Big Spring Air Force Base, was a United States Air Force facility of the Air Training Command that operated from 1951 to 1977 in West Texas within the current city limits of Big Spring. Webb AFB was a maj ...

Notable incidents

While they occur less frequently than at high-security prisons, serious acts of violence also occur at low-security institutions such as FCI Big Spring. On March 6, 2008, FCI Big Spring Correction Officer Terry Lloyd was conducting a search of inmate lockers when inmate Ray Ramirez-Bueno, 45, pushed his locker door shut on Officer Lloyd's right hand, causing Lloyd to suffer a minor injury. When additional correction officers responded to the incident, Ramirez-Bueno refused to submit to hand restraints, assumed a fighting stance, and threatened to kill the officers if they touched him. After a period of negotiation, Ramirez-Bueno agreed to be escorted to a lieutenant's office, where he submitted to hand restraints and sent to the facility's Special Housing Unit, where inmates who pose security risks are held. Ramirez-Bueno was subsequently convicted of assaulting a federal officer on March 11, 2009 and had several years added to his original sentence. He was transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution, Forrest City Low, a low-security prison in Arkansas, and is scheduled for release in 2024.

Notable inmates (current and former)

References

{{coord, 32.22851, -101.50559, display=title Buildings of the United States government in Texas Prisons in Texas Buildings and structures in Howard County, Texas Big Spring 1979 establishments in Texas

Notable incidents

Notable inmates (current and former)

See also

References