(BOP) - Consistent with the President's January 26, 2021, Executive Order on "Reforming Our Incarceration Systems to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities," the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has ended all contracts with privately-managed prisons. The contract with the last private prison, McRae Correctional Facility, located in McRae, Georgia, ended on November 30, 2022. Throughout the years, the partnerships between the BOP and privately-managed prisons remained positive, while maintaining transparency and accountability.
All BOP inmates previously housed in these private prisons have been safely transferred to BOP locations without incident.
In the mid-1980s, the BOP began designating Low security inmates with specialized needs, such as sentenced criminal aliens, to privately-managed prisons to address, and better manage, the increasing inmate population. Over time, the BOP maintained contracts for 15 private prisons, housing approximately 29,000 inmates. The overall BOP population peaked in 2013, with over 219,000 inmates. Today, the BOP maintains a population of approximately 159,500 inmates and employs 34,813 staff.