The Federal Correctional Institution, Atlanta (FCI Atlanta) is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Atlanta, Georgia. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has a satellite prison camp for minimum-security male inmates, a detention center for male pretrial inmates (also likely used for inmates serving brief sentences), and also has an additional high and/or maximum security detention center unit[s] (possibly for holdover inmates from former USP, higher risk inmates serving brief sentences and/or inmates from the FCI with behavioural concerns).

History

In 1899, President William McKinley authorized the construction of a federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia.

Georgia Congressman Leonidas F. Livingston advocated placing the prison in Atlanta. William S. Eames, an architect from St. Louis, Missouri; and United States Attorney General John W. Griggs, on April 18, 1899, traveled to Atlanta to select the prison site.Garrett, Franklin Miller. Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, Volume 2. University of Georgia Press, June 1, 1969. , 9780820302645. p. 422

Construction was completed in January 1902 and the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary opened with the transfer of six convicts from the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in upstate New York. They were the beneficiaries of the Three Prisons Act of 1891, which established penitentiaries in Leavenworth, Kansas; Atlanta, Georgia; and McNeil Island, Washington. The first two remain open today, the third closed in 1976. The Atlanta site was the largest Federal prison, with a capacity of 3,000 inmates. Inmate case files presented "mini-biographies of men confined in the penitentiary. Prison officials recorded every detail of their lives - their medical treatments, their visitors, their letters to and from the outside world"

The main prison building was designed by the St. Louis, Missouri, architect firm of Eames & Young, which also designed the main building at the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth. It encompassed and had a capacity of 1200 inmates. The facility was subsequently renamed the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta when US government created the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1930.

In the 1980s, USP Atlanta was used as a detention center for Cuban refugees from the Mariel boatlift who were ineligible for release into American society.

USP Atlanta was one of several facilities, including the Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City, that were used to house prisoners who are being transferred between prisons.

Notable incidents

1987 riots

In November 1987, Cuban detainees, tired of indefinite confinement and in constant fear of being deported back to Cuba, rioted for 11 days, staged a bloody riot, seizing dozens of hostages and setting fire to the prison. At least one prisoner was killed. Local hospitals reported admitting a total of eight Cubans suffering gunshot wounds, along with two prison guards who were slightly injured.

Notable inmates (current and former) *Inmates released from custody prior to 1982 are not listed on the Bureau of Prisons website.

Organized crime figures Inmate NameRegister NumberPhotoStatusDetails Giuseppe Morello Unlisted* Entered USP Atlanta in 1910, released in 1920Head of the 107th Street Mob and founder of Morello crime family, the precursor to Genovese family; convicted of counterfeiting but numerous arrests for murder and racketeering. from Mike Dash, The First Family, p. 219-223 Ignazio Lupo Unlisted* At USP Atlanta from 1910 to 1920 and from 1936 to 1946. Founder of the Morello crime family; convicted of counterfeiting in 1910; returned to prison in 1936 for racketeering; suspect in numerous Mafia-related murders. Whitey Bulger 02182-748 Entered USP Atlanta in 1956; transferred to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1959. Former Boss of the Boston Irish Mob crew known as the Winter Hill Gang. Imprisoned in 1956 for bank robbery and truck hijacking. Transferred to Alcatraz in 1959.Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen Unlisted* Cohen was transferred from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary to USP Atlanta in January 1963. He was released in 1972.Gangster based in Los Angeles and boss of the Cohen crime family. He also had strong ties to the Italian American Mafia from the 1930s through 1960s.

On August 14, 1963, fellow inmate Burl Estes McDonald scaled the wall of a secure compound within USP Atlanta, entered an electronics repair training facility and wielding a three-foot iron pipe, snuck up from behind and bludgeoned the unsuspecting Cohen into unconsciousness. Cohen sustained a critical head injury resulting from shards of skull fragments that had to be removed from brain tissue which had hemorrhaged. He underwent extensive neurosurgery and following a two-week coma, doctors inserted a steel plate to replace the mangled bone fragments in the rear skull region. James Burke Unlisted* Released from custody in 1978; served 6 years. Associate of the Lucchese crime family; convicted in 1972 of extortion with fellow associate Henry Hill; suspected mastermind of the 1978 Lufthansa Heist, in which nearly $6 million in cash and jewels were stolen at JFK Airport; Burke and Hill were portrayed in the 1990 film Goodfellas. Al Capone Unlisted* Transferred to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1934. Leader of the Chicago Outfit, which smuggled and bootlegged liquor during Prohibition in the 1920s; convicted of tax evasion in 1931. Vincent Papa Unlisted* Murdered at USP Atlanta in 1977. Associate of the Lucchese crime family; convicted in 1975 masterminding the theft of heroin seized during the French Connection investigation from the New York City Police Department property office from 1969 to 1972. Nicodemo Scarfo Sr. 09813–050 Scarfo began his sentence at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. He was later transferred to the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, where he died of natural causes on January 13, 2017. Member of the American Mafia who became the boss of the Philadelphia crime family after the deaths of Angelo Bruno and Phil Testa.

Fraudsters Inmate NameRegister NumberPhotoStatusDetails Carlo Ponzi Unlisted* Released from custody in 1924 after serving 3 years. Inventor of the financial fraud known as Ponzi scheme; convicted of mail fraud in 1920. Charles W. Morse Unlisted* Pardoned in 1912 after serving 2 years, as he feigned terminal illness. Imprisoned 1910 for frauds and corrupt business practices. In 1912 Morse drank soapwater with chemicals to appear seriously ill. He managed to be released for medical treatment in Germany, as he claimed to have Bright's disease.Robert F. Bruner and Sean D. Carr, The Panic of 1907. Lessons Learned From the Market's Perfect Storm, p. 183. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2007.

Political figures Inmate NameRegister NumberPhotoStatusDetails Eugene V. Debs 9653 Released in 1921 after his sentence was commuted by US President Warren G. Harding. Founding member of Industrial Workers of the World and US Presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America; convicted of sedition in 1918 for promoting opposition to the military draft during World War I under both the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918; received over 900,000 votes while incarcerated in 1920. Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher Unlisted* Released in 1962 as part of a prisoner exchange with the Soviet Union. Convicted of espionage with relation to the Hollow Nickel Case and sentenced to 45 years' imprisonmentWhittell, Giles. (2010). A True Story of the Cold War: Bridge of Spies. Broadway Books. New York. Marcus Garvey Unlisted* Released from custody in 1927 after serving 4 years. Founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and leading figure in the Black Nationalist and Pan Africanist movements; convicted of mail fraud in 1923 for promoting the Black Star Line, a UNIA business dedicated to the transportation of goods and eventually throughout the African global economy. Pedro Albizu Campos Unlisted* Transferred to a hospital prison in 1943 and released in 1947 after serving 10 years. President of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party from 1930 to 1965; convicted in 1936 of sedition in connection with the assassination of Puerto Rican Police Chief Elisha Riggs, which was in retaliation for the Río Piedras massacre, during which police killed four unarmed party supporters. Enrique Tarrio 98721-004 Transferred to Federal Correctional Institution, Manchester. Pardoned by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025. Convicted of seditious conspiracy and other things in the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

Public officials Inmate NameRegister NumberPhotoStatusDetails Ed Norris 41115-037 Released from custody in 2005; served 6 months. Baltimore Police Commissioner from 2000 to 2002; pleaded guilty in 2004 to misusing police department funds for personal expenses and tax fraud. George A. Caldwell Unlisted* Released from custody in 1941 after serving 1 year and pardoned by US President Harry Truman. Louisiana General contractor who supervised the construction of 26 public buildings; convicted in 1940 of tax evasion and accepting kickbacks in connection with the Louisiana Hayride scandals in 1939 and 1940. William Colbeck Unlisted* Released in 1940 after serving 16 years. Politician and organized crime figure in St. Louis; convicted in 1924 of two 1923 armed robberies which netted over $2 million.

Others