The Federal Correctional Institution, Florence (FCI Florence) is a medium-security United States

federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for convicts who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), inmates considered dangerous (Brazil), or those s ...

for male inmates in Colorado. Part of the

Florence Federal Correctional Complex The Federal Correctional Complex, Florence (FCC Florence) is a United States federal prison complex for male inmates in Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice, and consis ...

(FCC Florence), it is operated by the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

, a division of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

. FCI Florence is located in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...

in Fremont County, outside the city of Florence, Colorado, south of Denver, south of Colorado Springs, and west of Pueblo.

Notable incidents

On the morning hours of December 29, 2008, correction officers at FCI Florence found inmate Pablo Zúñiga-García, 33, dead in his cell. Zúñiga-García (95492-198), who was serving a 54-month sentence for an illegal-immigration conviction, had suffered numerous blunt-force injuries to his head. A subsequent FBI investigation found that inmates José Augustín Pluma, Juan Martín Ruelas, Mark Rosález, and Justin Hernández, all inmates at FCI Florence and members of the

Sureños Sureños (; Spanish: ''Southerners'')‍, Southern United Raza, Sur 13 or Sureños X3 are groups of loosely affiliated gangs that pay tribute to the Mexican Mafia while in U.S. state and federal correctional facilities. Many Sureño gangs have ...

gang, orchestrated the assault. Prior to the fatal assault, Hernández, a

leader, ordered several other inmates to physically assault Zúñiga-García. Hernández's lieutenant, Rosález, asked another inmate to act as a lookout during the assault and prevent Zúñiga-García from escaping. During the early hours of December 29, 2008, Pluma and three of the unnamed co-conspirators entered the cell with their makeshift weapons, padlocks attached to belts, and began a 15-minute beating of Zúñiga-García while Ruelas and another unnamed co-conspirator took their places as lookouts. Three other participants pleaded to lesser charges and agreed to testify against the four men. Pluma, Ruelas, Rosález, and Hernández were convicted of conspiring to assault Zúñiga-García and second-degree murder on June 14, 2011. They are all serving lengthy sentences at high-security facilities: Justin Hernandez (30123-013) is located in the nearby supermax prison

ADX Florence The United States Penitentiary, Florence Administrative Maximum Facility (USP Florence ADMAX), commonly known as ADX Florence, is an American federal prison in Fremont County near Florence, Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Pri ...

; scheduled for release on November 15, 2058. José Augustín Pluma (34104-013) is in USP Beaumont in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

; scheduled for release on July 14, 2040. Juan Martin Ruelas (11510-081) is in USP Coleman I in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

; scheduled for release on May 2, 2029. Mark Rosález (08961-091) is in USP Lee in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

; scheduled for release on October 2, 2040.

Notable inmates (current and former)

†Beckley was incarcerated at the adjacent FCI Florence minimum-security prison camp.

References

Buildings and structures in Fremont County, Colorado

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

Prisons in Colorado {{US-prison-stub

Notable incidents

Notable inmates (current and former)

See also

References