Federal Bureau of Prisons

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP or FBOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency. A subdivision of the U.S. Department of Justice, the BOP is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system handles inmates who have violated, or are accused of violating, federal law. The BOP also holds inmates who have committed felonies in Washington, DC.

The BOP is also responsible for carrying out all judicially ordered federal executions (other than those carried out under military law) in the United States.

History

The Federal Prison System existed for more than 30 years before the BOP was established. Although its wardens functioned almost autonomously, the Superintendent of Prisons, a Department of Justice official in Washington, was nominally in charge of Federal prisons, starting with the passage of the "Three Prisons Act' in 1891, which authorized the Federal Government's first three penitentiaries: USP Leavenworth, USP Atlanta, and USP McNeil Island with limited supervision by the United States Department of Justice afterwards.