United States Penitentiary, Big Sandy
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| Location | Martin County, near Inez, Kentucky, United States |
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| Status | Operational |
| Security class | High-security (with minimum-security prison camp) |
| Population | 1,467 (97 in prison camp) |
| Opened | 2003 |
| Managed by | Federal Bureau of Prisons |
| Warden | Gregory A. Kizziah |
The United States Penitentiary, Big Sandy (USP Big Sandy) is a high-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Kentucky, near Inez. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has a satellite prison camp which houses minimum-security male inmates.
USP Big Sandy is located in eastern Kentucky, approximately 133 miles (214 km) from Frankfort, 140 miles (230 km) from Lexington, and 320 miles (510 km) from Washington, DC.
USP Big Sandy is known for housing multiple high-profile inmates. The facility houses a large number of people who were convicted of crimes in Washington, D.C. due to the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, which gave the Federal Bureau of Prisons custody of sentenced DC felons. As of 2013 up to about 33% had been convicted of DC crimes. Additionally, many federal inmates are sent there because they have been convicted of violent crimes and are now serving long sentences.
Numerous violent incidents, mostly stabbings, have occurred at USP Big Sandy since it opened in 2003.
In October 2006, USP Big Sandy inmate Terrell Johnson, 33, who was serving a sentence for armed bank robbery, killed inmate Calvin Speight by stabbing him in the neck with a prison-made weapon known as a shank. Johnson pleaded guilty to the charge of second degree murder in August 2008 and was sentenced to 26 additional years in prison in 2009. Johnson is currently being held at ADX Florence, the federal supermax prison in Colorado. He is scheduled for release in 2035.
On November 12, 2006, inmates Darryl Milburne and Dwaune Gravely beat and choked fellow inmate Shamoni Peterson to death. Milburne and Gravely were charged with murder, assault, and evidence tampering. Both were transferred to ADX Florence, the supermax prison in Colorado which holds the most dangerous male inmates in the federal prison system.
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