Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island

The Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island (FCI Terminal Island) is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Los Angeles, California.[1] It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.

Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island
LocationLos Angeles, California
Coordinates
StatusOperational
Security classLow-security
Population976
OpenedJune 1, 1938 (1938-06-01)
Managed byFederal Bureau of Prisons

FCI Terminal Island is located at the entrance to Los Angeles Harbor, between San Pedro and Long Beach.

History
Aerial photograph of Reservation Point on Terminal Island, with the prison in the top right, above the Coast Guard base

The prison was opened at the southern end of Terminal Island, adjacent to a Coast Guard base, on June 1, 1938, with 610 male, and 40 female prisoners. It consisted of a central quadrangle surrounded by three cell blocks and cost $2 million to construct. In 1942, the U.S. Navy took control of the prison for use as a receiving station and later as a barracks for court-martialed prisoners. The facility was deactivated by the Navy in 1950 and later turned over to the state of California for use as a medical and psychiatric institution.[2]

The state returned control to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in 1955 for conversion into a low-to-medium security federal prison. The prison was mixed-sex, with female prisoners housed separately, until 1977, when overcrowding led to the transfer of the women to the federal prison in Dublin, California.[3] The prison was given increased barbed wire and armed guards in the early 1980s in an effort to dispel the facility's "Club Fed" image. A corruption scandal rocked the prison in the early 1980s, resulting in the indictment of six employees on charges of bribes, cover-ups, marijuana sales to inmates, and other corruption. Those indicted included Charles DeSordi, the prison's chief investigator of crimes, the highest-ranking federal prison official ever to be indicted.[2]

In 2020, the COVID-19 coronavirus had infected almost half of the inmate population. With 9 deaths and over 681 inmates having been tested positive for the coronavirus, the prison was said to have one of the worst and most cases of any federal lockup in the country and more than all California state prisons combined.[4]

Notable inmates (prior to 1982)

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

Inmate Name Register Number Status Details
Qian Xuesen Unlisted† Held at Terminal Island in 1950 (Pre-FCI) on suspicion of Communist sympathies.
Name spelled Hsue-Shen Tsien.		 Chinese-born rocket scientist. Arrested September 1950 and held for two weeks at Terminal Island, released under government supervision. Left the U.S. in 1955 for China; made important contributions to Chinese nuclear, missile, and space programs.[5]
Liz Renay Unlisted† Held at FCI Terminal Island from 1959 to 1961 on a perjury charge. Girlfriend of Los Angeles mob kingpin Mickey Cohen. Convicted of perjury in 1959 and served 27 months at Terminal Island.
Salvatore Bonanno Unlisted† Held at FCI Terminal Island from 1968 to 1972 on a credit card fraud conviction. Consigliere for the Bonanno crime family in New York City in the 1960s and son of former boss Joseph Bonanno.[6][7]
Edward Bunker Unlisted† Held at FCI Terminal Island from 1973 to 1975. Crime fiction writer, screenwriter and actor; wrote No Beast So Fierce while incarcerated at FCI Terminal Island, which was adapted into the movie Straight Time starring Dustin Hoffman. Later appeared in several movies, including Reservoir Dogs.[8]
Al Capone Unlisted† Held at FCI Terminal Island from 1939 to 1940. Leader of the crime syndicate later known as the Chicago Outfit, which smuggled and bootlegged liquor during Prohibition in the 1920s; convicted of tax evasion in 1931.[9]
Henry Hill Unlisted† Held at FCI Terminal Island in the 1970s. Former associate of the Lucchese crime family in New York City; portrayed by Ray Liotta in the 1990 film Goodfellas.[10][11]
Timothy Leary Unlisted† Held at FCI Terminal Island in 1974. Harvard professor and LSD guru; convicted in 1970 of a prior prison escape and marijuana possession.[12]
Charles Manson Unlisted† Held at FCI Terminal Island from 1956 to 1958 for car theft and check fraud. Had served a life sentence for murder at Corcoran State Prison; would later inspire Helter Skelter in murdering Sharon Tate and others in 1969; died in 2017.[13]
Anita O'Day Unlisted† Held at FCI Terminal Island in 1954 on a conviction for heroin possession. Acclaimed jazz singer during the swing era in the 1930s and 1940s.[14]
Mike Rizzitello Unlisted† Held at FCI Terminal Island for nine months in 1987; for violating his parole for associating with organized crime affiliates. Caporegime in the Los Angeles crime family from 1977-1990.
Rosario Gambino Unlisted Held at FCI Terminal Island to serve a 45-year sentence for selling heroin to an undercover police officer in 1984 A soldier of the Cherry Hill Gambinos; a crew in the Gambino crime family.
The Port Chicago 50 Unlisted† Held at FCI Terminal Island from November 1944 to January 1946. 50 African-American sailors convicted of mutiny for refusing to load ammunition onto US Navy ships under unsafe conditions after the Port Chicago disaster, an explosion that killed 320 people, including 202 black sailors.[15]
Flora Purim 2775 Held at FCI Terminal Island in 1976. Brazilian jazz singer at height of career during the mid-70s; convicted c. 1975 of cocaine possession.[16]
Owsley Stanley Unlisted† Held at FCI Terminal Island from 1970 to 1972. Famous LSD chemist, counterculture figure and Grateful Dead sound engineer. Sent to Terminal Island after a judge revoked an earlier release because of a second drug bust.[17]

Notable inmates (since 1982)
Inmate Name Register Number Status Details
Ramesh Balwani Unlisted† Being held at FCI Terminal Island from 2023 to 2036. Balwani was found guilty in July 2022 on all 12 charges he faced, which included ten counts of federal wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison.

Facility and services

All inmates are expected to maintain a regular job assignment, unless medically exempted. Many job assignments are controlled through a performance pay system, which provides monetary payment for work. UNICOR has a separate pay scale. Institutional maintenance jobs are usually the first assignment for new inmates. These might include assignments to Food Service, as a unit orderly, or in a maintenance shop. However, a significant number of inmate jobs are available in the Federal Prison Industries. There is a waiting list for factory employment.

UNICOR employs and trains inmates through the operation of, and earnings from, the metal factory that produces high-quality metal products for the Federal government. Inmates must obtain a GED for grade advancement and must participate in the Financial Responsibility Program (if required) to be employed in UNICOR. Federal Prison Industries, a U.S. government employment program, has a shop at FCI Terminal Island that specializes in repairing, refurbishing, and reconditioning furniture, office equipment, tires, and other government property.[18]

Education

All inmates are required to obtain a GED before their release. College courses are offered through Coastline Community College.

See also

References
  1. "2020 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Los Angeles city, CA" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. p. 65 (PDF p. 66/72). Retrieved August 15, 2022. Federal Correctional Institute Terminal Island
  2. Gnerre, Sam (August 25, 2010). "Terminal Island's 'Big House'". South Bay Daily Breeze. Archived from the original on March 29, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
  3. "Alameda County Sheriff's Office". www.alamedacountysheriff.org. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  4. "Nearly half of inmates at Terminal Island federal prison infected with coronavirus". Daily Breeze. April 29, 2020. Archived from the original on May 1, 2020. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  5. "Obituary: Qian Xuesen". Daily Telegraph. November 22, 2009. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on March 21, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  6. "Bill Bonanno, 75, Mob Family Member, Dies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 1, 2019. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  7. Ann W. O'Neill (July 18, 1999). "Crime Story Doesn't Pay as He Expected". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  8. "Edward Bunker, Ex-Convict and Novelist, Is Dead at 71". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 20, 2011. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  9. "FBI — Al Capone". FBI.gov. Archived from the original on July 6, 2015. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  10. "Terminal Island". Mafia Today. Archived from the original on December 8, 2011. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  11. "Henry Hill, Mobster and Movie Inspiration, Dies at 69". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 21, 2017. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  12. Julia Lipkins (August 15, 2012). "Transmissions from The Timothy Leary Papers: A Buddy Film Starring Timothy Leary and G. Gordon Liddy". New York Public Library. Archived from the original on December 2, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  13. Emmons, Nuel (1986). Manson in His Own Words. New York: Grove Press. pp. 77–78.
  14. Chris Morris. "Jazz great Anita O'Day dies at 87". The Hollywood Reporter. AP. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  15. "Port Chicago Disaster". Usmm.org. Archived from the original on November 18, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  16. Richard Trubo (July 10, 1976). "Flora Purim Turns Prison Into Positive Experience". Lakeland Ledger. Lakeland, Florida. p. 5D. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  17. Margalit Fox (March 14, 2011). "Owsley Stanley, Artisan of Acid, Is Dead at 76". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 28, 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  18. "FCI Terminal Island". Bop.gov. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
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