Find USP McCreary Federal Inmates

USP McCreary Overview

United States Penitentiary McCreary is a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility at 330 Federal Way, Pine Knot, KY 42635. BOP classifies it as a high-security U.S. penitentiary for male inmates with an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp. It sits physically inside McCreary County, but it is operated by the federal government. That distinction matters for every inmate search, mail question, visit, records request, and mugshot expectation.

The official BOP USP McCreary page is the primary facility source for address, contact, visiting notices, mail links, money guidance, and facility-specific BOP resources.

Use that BOP page for federal prison details, while using McCreary County and nearby jail pages for local arrest and county detention questions.

USP McCreary Population

BOP's official facility data reported 1,480 total inmates for USP McCreary on June 11, 2026, with 1,365 at the main U.S. penitentiary and 115 at the minimum-security camp. BOP also identifies the region as Mid-Atlantic and the judicial district as Eastern Kentucky. The operational level was listed as Level 2 as of January 9, 2024. These numbers describe federal custody, not the McCreary County local jail population.

Search USP McCreary Inmates

Use the BOP inmate locator for United States Penitentiary McCreary inmates. BOP locates federal inmates incarcerated from 1982 to the present. Search by BOP Register Number, DCDC Number, FBI Number, INS Number, or by name with optional race, age, and sex filters. A county jail roster or Kentucky KOOL search may not show a federal prisoner unless another custody system has a separate record.

1. Open the BOP inmate locator and choose a number search if a register number is available.
2. Use the name search when the number is unknown, entering first and last name and any reliable filter.
3. Check the result for register number, age, race, sex, release date, and location.
4. Confirm the location is USP McCreary or the McCreary camp before using facility mail or visit rules.
5. Call the institution if BOP location, release-date, or visiting information must be confirmed before action.

The BOP locator page shows the search paths and field types used for federal inmate lookup.

Federal locator results are custody records, not county booking pages, and they do not serve as a public federal mugshot gallery.

USP McCreary Contact

USP McCreary's physical address is used for staff mail and shipping, while inmate mail uses a PO Box format. Do not send inmate mail to the physical address unless BOP rules specifically instruct it. Call the facility before traveling for visits because BOP pages warn that weather, security status, and special-housing status can change visiting access.

USP McCreary Visits

Federal prison visiting is controlled by BOP rules and the facility's current visiting policy. Visitors generally need approval and must follow federal identification, dress, conduct, search, and schedule rules. USP McCreary can limit or change visits based on security status, weather, institutional operations, or special-housing conditions. The BOP facility page and visiting regulations should be checked before travel.

Note: Federal visiting approval is separate from McCreary County court appearances, county jail visits, or outside county jail video visits.

USP McCreary Mail

BOP gives separate mailing formats for inmate mail and staff mail. Inmate mail for the main institution should include the inmate name and register number, USP McCreary, U.S. Penitentiary, PO Box 3000, Pine Knot, KY 42635. Camp mail uses the same PO Box but should include SATELLITE CAMP before the address block. Staff mail and shipping use 330 Federal Way, Pine Knot, KY 42635.

Federal Prison Intake

USP McCreary does not perform county street-arrest booking for ordinary McCreary County cases. Federal prisoners arrive through federal custody channels after federal prosecution, sentencing, transfer, or designation by BOP. Intake and classification in BOP custody focus on federal identity records, sentence data, security level, medical and mental health screening, housing placement, property, communications, and program assignment.

A local McCreary County arrest may become federal if a federal agency, federal indictment, U.S. Marshals custody, or federal sentence is involved. In that situation, BOP and federal court records become relevant. If the case remains a Kentucky county matter, search the sheriff/jailer chain, outside county jail rosters, Kentucky court dockets, and KOOL where applicable.

About Federal Custody

USP McCreary is part of the correctional population physically located in McCreary County, but it is not the McCreary County jail. That distinction prevents common search errors. A person housed at USP McCreary will not be found by calling the county jailer for a local roster result, and a person arrested by the McCreary County Sheriff's Office will not appear in BOP unless the custody is federal.

BOP locator records can show name, register number, age, race, sex, release date, and location. BOP warns that release dates can change, including recalculations tied to federal law. BOP does not publish a county-style public booking mugshot gallery. For court records after a federal prosecution, use federal court resources, not McCreary County District or Circuit Court as the sole source.

USP McCreary also affects local search results because its population is large compared with the county's closed local jail capacity. A person may be physically in McCreary County but still be under federal sentence and federal rules. That is why a federal lookup should start with the BOP locator, use the register number whenever possible, and then move to the USP McCreary facility page for mail, visits, and money. County contacts are still relevant for local arrests, but they cannot change a BOP designation or federal release date. BOP records remain the controlling custody source for federal placement, transfer, and projected release information.