Federal Medical Center, Lexington

The Federal Medical Center, Lexington (FMC Lexington) is a United States federal prison in Kentucky for male or female inmates requiring medical or mental health care. It is designated as an administrative facility, which means that it holds inmates of all security classifications. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp for female inmates.

Federal Medical Center, Lexington
LocationFayette County, Kentucky
StatusOperational
Security classAdministrative facility (with minimum-security prison camp)
Population1,950 (330 in prison camp)
Opened1935 (designated as federal prison in 1974)
Managed byFederal Bureau of Prisons
WardenFrancisco Quintana

FMC Lexington is located 7 miles (11 km) north of Lexington and 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Frankfort, the state capital.[1]

History
Undated aerial view of the hospital

The site opened on May 15, 1935 on 1,000 acres (400 ha) under the name "United States Narcotic Farm" then changed shortly after to "U.S. Public Health Service Hospital." In 1967, it changed its name again to "National Institute of Mental Health, Clinical Research Center." Its original purpose was to treat people who "voluntarily" were admitted with drug abuse problems and treat them, with mostly experimental treatments; it was the first of its kind in the United States. The 1,050-acre (420 ha) site included a farm where patients would work.[2]

Throughout the life of the institution as a prison/hospital, approximately two-thirds of those sent to the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital were considered volunteers. While many traveled to the institution on their own to volunteer for treatment, other so-called volunteers were in fact motivated to go there in lieu of federal sentencing. The remaining one-third of the prison's population, which reached 1,499 inmates at its peak, were there due to federal charges either directly or indirectly related to drug use.

In 1974, the institution became a federal prison but maintained a "psychiatric hospital" title until 1998, the year 2 inmates killed another with a fire extinguisher. Most psychiatric patients were subsequently moved to other federal medical centers, although the change in mission was due to the psychiatric function being transferred to a new Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts, and not the homicide.

Literature
  • In Nelson Algren's novel The Man With the Golden Arm and the 1955 screen adaptation, the main character Frankie the Machine, a morphine addict, returns to his Chicago neighborhood after being detoxed at the Lexington Medical Center.
  • In William S. Burroughs' book Junkie, the autobiographical main character spends a period of time at "Lexington," where he checks himself in voluntarily in order to quit his heroin addiction. Burroughs and his son, William Seward Burroughs III, were both patients at the facility.[3][4]
  • In Alexander King's book Mine Enemy Grows Older, King recounts his sojourns at "Lexington Bluegrass Hospital," where he "heard the best jazz ever played anywhere" by a continually changing lineup of famous jazz musicians, all there voluntarily for treatment for heroin addiction.

Notable inmates (current and former)

Current
Inmate Register Number Status Details
Daniel Cowart 22540-076 Serving a 14-year sentence; scheduled for release in 2021. White supremacist; pleaded guilty in 2010 to plotting the assassination of then-Presidential nominee Barack Obama in 2008.[5][6]

Former

† Inmates released from custody prior to 1982 are not listed on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.

Inmate Name Register Number Status Details
Narseal Batiste 76736-004 Served a 13-year sentence; released in 2018. Leader of the Universal Divine Saviors religious cult; convicted of terrorism conspiracy in 2009 for masterminding a foiled plot to bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago. Four co-conspirators were also convicted.[7][8]
Larry Langford 27349-001[9] Served a 15-year sentence released in 2018 died in 2019 Former mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, sentenced for conspiracy to commit bribery, and wire fraud
Susan Rosenberg 03684-016 Released in 2001 after her sentence was commuted by President Bill Clinton; served 16 years of a 58-year sentence. Political activist and former member of the May 19th Communist Organization, a terrorist group which carried out bombings of government facilities and bank robberies in the 1980s; convicted of possessing explosives in 1984.[10][11]
Silvia Baraldini 05125-054 Transferred to an Italian prison in 1999 while serving a 40-year sentence. Political activist from Italy; convicted of racketeering in 1982 for taking part in two armored truck robberies, as well as for aiding convicted murderer Assata Shakur escape from prison.[12][13]
Wayne Kramer Unlisted† Held at FMC Lexington in the 1970s; served 2 years. Guitarist and co-founder of the Detroit rock band MC5; convicted of selling cocaine to undercover police officers.[14]
Red Rodney Unlisted† Held at FMC Lexington in the 1970s; served 27 months. Bop and hard bop trumpeter; convicted of fraud and theft for impersonating an Army officer in order to steal $10,000 from the Atomic Energy Commission of San Francisco.[15]
Leona Helmsley 15113-054[16] Released after serving 18 months of a 4-year sentence Helmsley was sentenced to serve four years for income tax fraud in 1992

See also

References
  1. "BOP: Our Locations". Bop.gov. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  2. Thomas R. Kosten and David A. Gorelick (January 2002). "The Lexington Narcotic Farm" (PDF). American Journal of Psychiatry. 159 (22): 22–22. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.159.1.22. PMID 11772684.
  3. "Lessons from The Narcotic Farm, Part One | Points: The Blog of the Alcohol & Drugs History Society". Pointsadhsblog.wordpress.com. 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  4. "Lessons of the Narcotic Farm, Part Four: The Literature of Lexington | Points: The Blog of the Alcohol & Drugs History Society". Pointsadhsblog.wordpress.com. 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  5. "Man pleads guilty in plot to go on 'killing spree' against blacks". CNN. 30 March 2010.
  6. "Tennessee Man Sentenced for Conspiring to Commit Murders of African-Americans | OPA | Department of Justice". Justice.gov. 2010-10-22. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  7. "5 Florida men get prison for plotting terrorist attacks with al Qaeda". CNN. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  8. "Miami jury finds five guilty in Sears Tower plot". Reuters. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  9. https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/
  10. "An Exclusive Interview with Susan Rosenberg After President Clinton Granted Her Executiveclemency". Democracy Now!. 2001-01-23. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  11. "Voices from Solitary: Imprisoned in the First Control Unit for Women". Solitary Watch. 2011-02-26. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  12. "Human Rights Campaign for Political Prisoners Begins" (PDF). Freedomarchives.org. March 1989. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  13. "#375: 08-24-99 DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE STATEMENT REGARDING THE TRANSFER OF SILVIA BARALDINI". Justice.gov. 1999-08-24. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  14. "Ex-Inmate Musician Returns To Jail With Guitars". Huffington Post. March 4, 2012.
  15. "Rodney, Red (Robert Rodney Chudnick) – Jazz.com | Jazz Music – Jazz Artists – Jazz News". Jazz.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  16. "Helmsley Surrenders At Prison". The New York Times. 1992-04-16. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-09-05.

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