Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc
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Location | Lompoc, California |
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The Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc (FCI Lompoc) is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Lompoc, California. It is part of the Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex (FCC Lompoc) and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.
FCC Lompoc is located within the city of Lompoc, 175 miles (282 km) northwest of Los Angeles, adjacent to Vandenberg Space Force Base.[1] The complex also includes a U.S. Penitentiary and a minimum-security prison camp.
Facility
[edit]The average offender at FCI Lompoc is serving between one and fifteen years for federal drug and or other non-violent offenses. It has four general housing units, two of which offer dormitory and room-type housing. The institution offers a full range of inmate employment, vocational training, education, counseling (both mental health and drug abuse), medical, dental, pre-release preparation, and other self-improvement opportunities.[2]
Notable incidents
[edit]1980 escape
[edit]In the late evening hours of January 21, 1980, Christopher Boyce, who was serving a forty-year sentence for spying for the Soviet Union, escaped from FCI Lompoc.[3] With the assistance of fellow inmates, he hid in a drainage hole, used a makeshift ladder and small tin scissors to cut through a barbed wire perimeter. Boyce was on the run for nineteen months, until U.S. Marshals and FBI Agents captured him on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington at Port Angeles on August 21, 1981,[4][5] ending one of the most extensive and complex manhunts in the history of the U.S. Marshals Service.[6]
COVID-19 pandemic
[edit]A deadly COVID-19 outbreak swept through the federal correctional complex in 2020.[7] It included several dozen staff members, including guards.[8]
Notable inmates (current)
[edit]Inmate Name | Register Number | Status | Details |
---|---|---|---|
Christopher Faulkner | 76501-112 | Sentenced to FCI for fraud and tax evasion; scheduled for release in 2030 and is not eligible for parole. Currently at FCI El Reno. | Texas oil-and-gas mogul who was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for bilking investors out of millions of dollars and concealing money from the IRS.[9] |
Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif | 40739-086 | Serving a 18 year sentence; scheduled for release in 2026. Currently at FCI Sheridan. | Pleaded guilty in 2012 to conspiracy to murder US officers for plotting to attack recruits at a Military Processing Center in Seattle, Washington with grenades and machine guns; co-conspirator Walli Mujahidh received 17 years.[10] |
Henry Uliomereyon Jones | 46810-112 | Scheduled for release in October 2023; now at FCI La Tuna. | Former record company executive; convicted in 2008 of mail fraud, wire fraud, and securities fraud for running a Ponzi scheme that caused 500 investors to lose over $32 million; the story was featured on the CNBC series American Greed.[11][12][13][14] |
Changpeng Zhao | 88087-510 | Reported to Lompoc II in May 2024 to serve a four month sentence. Release Date: 09/29/2024 | Co-founder and former CEO of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume as of November 2023. He resigned as the CEO in November 2023 after pleading guilty to a money laundering charge in the United States and was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024.[citation needed] |
Notable inmates (former)
[edit]†Inmates who were released from custody prior to 1982 are not listed on the Bureau of Prisons website.
Inmate Name | Register Number | Status | Details |
---|---|---|---|
Jimmy Snowden | Unlisted† | Transferred from Federal Correctional Institution, Texarkana in December 1971[15] and released in August 1972.[16] | Member of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan who became a conspirator and participant in the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in 1964. |
Christopher John Boyce Andrew Daulton Lee |
19347-148 19485-148 |
Boyce: released from custody in 2003 after serving 24 years Lee: released in 1998 after serving 19 years. |
Boyce & Lee were convicted of espionage in 1977 for selling classified information regarding US ciphers and spy satellites to the Soviet Union; they were respectively portrayed by Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn in the 1985 film The Falcon and the Snowman.[17] |
Bernie Ward | 90569-111 | Released from custody in 2014; served 6 years.[18] | Former radio host and political commentator; pleaded guilty to distribution of child pornography in 2008 for using the Internet to transmit photographs of children being molested.[19][20] |
Reed Slatkin | 24057-112 | Released from custody in 2013; served 10 years.[21] | Co-founder of EarthLink and ordained Scientology minister; pleaded guilty in 2002 to fraud, conspiracy and money laundering for perpetrating one of the largest Ponzi schemes in US history.[22] |
Chi Mak | 29252-112 | Was serving a 24-year sentence; released on October 31, 2022.[23] | Former engineer for the Boeing aerospace company; convicted in 2007 of conspiracy to commit economic espionage and other charges for stealing restricted information related to the US Space Shuttle program and Delta IV rocket for the Chinese government.[24][25] |
Mossimo Giannulli | 77808-112 | Was serving a five-month sentence; released from custody on April 2, 2021 | American Fashion Designer who pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and one count of honest services wire and mail fraud after being investigated as part of Operation Varsity Blues where it was discovered that Mossimo and his wife, Lori Loughlin, paid $500,000 to help secure their two daughters attendance at University of Southern California. [26] |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "FCI Lompoc". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
- ^ "Inmate Handbook: Rules and Regulations of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Federal Correctional Complex at Lompoc, California" (PDF). Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ "Man convicted as Soviet spy escapes from federal prison". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). UPI. 22 January 1980. p. 3A.
- ^ "Escaped spy Boyce posed as fisherman". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 23 August 1981. p. 3A.
- ^ "Agents went incognito to catch spy". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 23 August 1981. p. 4A.
- ^ "History - Capture of Christopher Boyce". US Marshals Service. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ^ Hayden, Tyler (2020-07-29). "Why Did Lompoc Prison Explode with COVID?". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
- ^ Magnoli, Giana (July 30, 2020). "Noozhawk's Guide to Understanding Santa Barbara County Public Health COVID-19 Data". Noozhawk. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
- ^ "Northern District of Texas | So-Called 'Frack Master' Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison | United States Department of Justice". www.justice.gov. 2021-10-12. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
- ^ "FBI — Seattle Man Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Plot to Attack Seattle Military Processing Center". Fbi.gov. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
- ^ Celizic, Mike (2 April 2010). "Daughter turns mom in for Ponzi scheme". NBC News. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ "Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison in $32 Million Scam that Bilked More Than 500 Victims in Coal Mines and a Secret Gold Transaction". The Federal Bureau of Investigation. 3 April 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ "United States of America v. Henry Uliomereyon Jones" (PDF). U.S. Court of Appeals. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ "American Greed Case File: Fool's Gold". CNBC. 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ^ "Cox Considers Motion by Neshoba Prisoners". The Delta Democrat-Times. December 3, 1971.
- ^ "Three Civil Rights Slayers Are Released from Prison". Northwest Arkansas Times. August 29, 1972.
- ^ Serrano, Richard A. (March 2, 2003). "The Falcon and the Fallout". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ^ Egelko, Bob (August 29, 2008). "Bernie Ward gets 7-plus years for child porn". SFGate. Hearst Communications, Inc. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
- ^ Freedman, Wayne (8 May 2008). "Ward pleads guilty to child porn charge". ABC News. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ "Ward sentenced to 7 years for child porn". ABC News. 28 August 2008. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ Tkacik, Maureen (December 17, 2001). "EarthLink's Co-Founder Slatkin Admits Fabricating Fund Statements in 1988 Note". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
- ^ Reckard, E. Scott (September 3, 2003). "Reed Slatkin Given 14-Year Prison Term". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
- ^ Sonner, Scott (August 6, 2014). "Former Nevada lobbyist, developer reports to federal prison". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Former Boeing Engineer Convicted of Economic Espionage in Theft of Space Shuttle Secrets for China". Federal Bureau of Investigation. US Department of Justice. July 16, 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ Bhattacharjee, Yudhijit (May 12, 2014). "How the F.B.I. Cracked a Chinese Spy Ring". The New Yorker. Condé Nast. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ Rose, Andy (2021-04-04). "Lori Loughlin's husband Mossimo Giannulli released from prison". CNN. Retrieved 2023-08-29.