Federal Medical Center, Carswell

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FMC Carswell

The Federal Medical Center (FMC) Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, is a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility that provides specialized medical and mental health services to female offenders. FMC Carswell is located in the northeast corner of Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, and houses approximately 1,400 inmates. The facility is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the American Correctional Association.

Although most inmates at this facility have some form of medical condition requiring treatment, there is also a general population of inmates at FMC Carswell who do not.

There is a Federal Prison Industries UNICOR program at Carswell i.e. a Call Center, which employs inmates on 411-type directory assistance enquiries.

The prison has undergone various changes since 1995: the parking lot formerly situated at the south end has been moved to the northwest end, which is overlooked by a large water-tower standing just outside the razor wire perimeter. A running track and a baseball field surrounded by trees have been constructed at the southwest corner. The main facility itself is a large structure of interconnecting buildings, typical of a hospital complex.

The prison is surrounded by two separate fences with a gap of approximately 20 feet between them. Measuring approximately 20 feet high, each chain-link fence is reinforced with multiple coils of long-barb razor wire fixed at the top and bottom.

The prison's main entrance is on the northwest end, and there is a second entrance on the south end, which contains a guard post and two gates. Finally, there is a third entrance in the north which contains two gates. Outside the razor-wire perimeter in the south are two large buildings which are either warehouses or vehicle storage areas.

Security systems include door control, telephone, LAN radio, intercom/paging, video surveillance, nurse call, intrusion detection, perimeter security and master-antenna-television.

[edit] Criticism

Articles criticizing FMC Carswell have appeared in various media outlets relating to various forms of prisoner abuse. These articles focus on allegations of medical malpractice, neglect, and sexual abuse of inmates by staff^[1]. Indeed, over a seven-year period, seven FMC Carswell staff members were convicted of sexual abuse of a prisoner^[2]^[3]..

In May 2008, Vincent Inametti, 48, a Roman Catholic priest who worked as a chaplain at FMC Carswell, was sentenced to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay a $3000 fine after pleading guilty in November 2007 to two counts of sexual abuse of a ward.