United States Penitentiary, Victorville

The United States Penitentiary, Victorville ("USP Victorville") is a high-security federal prison for men in the United States. Part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Victorville which is located north west of the city of Victorville, San Bernardino County, California on the grounds of the former George Air Force Base.

Construction

USP Victorville is a 630,000 square foot (58,500 m²) high-security prison constructed by Hensel Phelps Construction Co. and Crosby Group of Redwood City, California for US$101.4 million (security system constructed by Buford Goff and Associates, Inc.) and operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (B.O.P).

It opened on October 21 2004 and is designed to house 960 male inmates in 6 housing units. USP Victorville is constructed very similar to the new federal penitentiaries at Atwater, California, Inez, Kentucky,Canaan, Pennsylvania, Coleman, Florida, Hazelton, West Virginia, Pennington Gap, Virginia, McCreary, Kentucky, Terre Haute, Indiana and Tucson, Arizona.

Six V-shaped buildings (units 1-3 on east side, units 4-6 on west side) facing each other and a larger maintenance building surround a central yard with a tower in the middle. Six additional towers are lined along the rectangular shaped facility. The facility is surrounded by a lethal electrical double fence, a 2 m (8 ft) brickstone wall on its northern side and a view protection fence on its western side. Cells are approximately 4 × 2 m (13 × 7 feet) in size equipped with a bunkbed, a stainless steel sink-toilet combination and a small table with a non-removable stool. Cells are usually occupied by two inmates and are air conditioned. The administrative and disciplinary unit (SHU) can hold 238 inmates. Cells in the disciplinary unit have showers and are occupied by three inmates when overcrowding occurs (one inmate is forced to sleep on the floor in such cases).

High Profile Prisoners

* Gerardo Hernandez, one of the Cuban Five, was incarcerated there and after inmates went on a work strike shortly after activation of the facility in 2004.
* John Walker Lindh, the so-called "American Taliban" fighter was incarcerated here until he was sentenced to 20 years at the ADX Florence SuperMax in Colorado.
*Richard Dale Morrison, charged with setting fire to a black church in 1996, later attacked fellow inmate John Walker Lindh (above)
* William Leonard Pickard, a Harvard graduate, was the mastermind behind the missile-silo LSD lab that was discovered by the DEA in November 2000 in Wamego, Kansas.

Daily routine

Inmates get counted 5-6 times a day at 12:01 a.m., 3:00 a.m., 5:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m. (stand up count) , 10:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. (on weekends and holidays). Initial work movements start at 4:30 a.m. and inmates must be up at 7:30 a.m. All inmates must be back to their cells at 10:00 p.m.

Prisoner privileges

Prisoners have access to the text-based e-mail program known as TRULINCS (Trust Fund Limited Inmate Communication System). Prisoners are only allowed 13,000 characters per e-mail, and attachments cannot be sent, received, or viewed. Inmates are not allowed to retain more than two newspapers, 10 magazines and 25 letters in their cells. Inmates are allowed to place phone calls to up to 30 approved numbers. Phone calls are restricted to 15 minutes per call and five hours per month. Inmates pay for their phone calls through their trust accounts. Inmates can buy additional food, hygiene articles and clothes from commissary for a maximum of $290 a month.

Location

*Geographic location: 34° 33’ 55.9” N / 117° 22’ 26.3” W
*Physical address: 13777 Air Expressway Blvd, Victorville, CA 92394
*Inmate address: P.O. Box 5500, Adelanto, CA 93201
*Staff address: P.O. Box 5600, Adelanto, CA 92301
*Phone: [phone]
*Fax: [phone]
*Email: VIP/[e-mail]
*Visiting Hours: Sat-Mon 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
*Judicial District: Central California

Capacity

*Rated Capacity: 960
*Population as of 12/28/07: 1450

Administration

*Warden: Joseph L. Norwood (previous wardens: W.J. Jusino, J.E. Slade, P.M. Schultz, J.E. Gunja)
*Assistant Wardens: John A. Stockton (Programs), Arcola Washington-Adduci (Operations)
*Department Heads: C. Jackson (unit manager units 1/2), Randall Bacon (unit manager units 3/4), Fereti Semia (unit manager units 5/6), S. R. Grant (Captain), C. Gonzales (Chaplain), L. Pauly (CMC), R. Rangel (Faculity Manager), M. Bradshaw (Trust Fund Manager), B. Cereceres (ISM), S. Garcia (Education), B. Green (Safety Manager)
*Medical Staff (incomplete): B. Barton (MD), Dr. Hayden (Psychologist), P. Misra (Health Service)
*Correctional Staff (incomplete): Omitted for officer safety (q: what does "officer safety" mean?)
*Regional Director: Robert E. McFadden (previous director: Joseph E. Gunja)

*Other facilities at FCC Victorville: Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) I / FCI II / Camp

Deaths

Inmates killed since opening

# Peter Steven Scopazzi (Reg. No. 71855-004) died on 16 April 2005 from injuries he received during a fight on 11 April 2005
# Tony Richard Padilla (Reg. No. 60031-097) died on 12 August 2006 from injuries he received during a fight on 8 August 2006
# Unknown inmate murdered on 30 December 2006

Correctional officers killed since opening

External links

* [http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/vip/index.jsp USP Victorville @ www.bop.gov]
* [http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=1nli4b2e7nfs0?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=United+States+Penitentiary%2C+Victorville&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc06a&linktext=United%20States%20Penitentiary%2C%20Victorville mirror site with pictures]
* [http://uk.geocities.com/osin1066/usp_victorville more information, more pictures]
* [http://www.victorvillefoia.org conditions at USP Victorville]

;Images
*http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/osin1066/detail?.dir=6679&.dnm=753a.jpg
*http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/osin1066/detail?.dir=6679&.dnm=8303.jpg