{{Short description|United States federal medical prison}} {{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Infobox prison | prison_name = Federal Medical Center, Rochester<br/>(FMC Rochester) | image = FederalMedicalCenterRochester.jpg | caption = | location = Rochester, Minnesota, U.S. | coordinates = | status = Operational | classification = Medical | capacity = | population = 786 | populationdate = {{start date|2024|07|13}} | opened = {{start date|1984}} | closed = | former_name = | managed_by = Federal Bureau of Prisons | director = | governor = | warden = Jared Rardin | website = {{URL|https://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/rch/}} }}
The '''Federal Medical Center, Rochester (FMC Rochester)''' is a United States federal prison in Minnesota for male inmates requiring specialized or long-term medical or mental health care. It is designated as an administrative facility, which means it holds inmates of all security classifications. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.
FMC Rochester is located in southeastern Minnesota, {{convert|2|mi|km}} east of downtown Rochester.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/rch/index.jsp |title=FMC Rochester |publisher=Bop.gov |date=2015-06-11 |access-date=2015-10-09}}</ref>
==Facility== FMC Rochester is one of six medical referral centers within the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Health Services staff at FMC include physicians, a dentist, dental assistants, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, a radiological technician, physical therapists, laboratory technologists and a respiratory therapist. Mental Health Services through the Psychiatry and Psychology Departments are available to all inmates. These include educational groups, therapy groups, individual therapy, intensive diagnosis/assessment, and inpatient treatment. In addition, outpatient substance abuse treatment services are available.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/rch/RCH_aohandbook.pdf |title=Admission and Orientation Handbook |publisher=Bop.gov |access-date=2015-10-09}}</ref>
In 2009, Philip Fornaci, the director of the DC Prisoners' Project, stated that Rochester, along with FMC Butner and FMC Carswell, "are clearly the "gold standard" in terms of what BOP facilities can achieve in providing medical care" and that they had provided "excellent medical care, sometimes for extremely complex medical needs."<ref name=Fornaci2009p2>Fornaci, Philip (Director of the DC Prisoners' Project). "[http://judiciary.house.gov/_files/hearings/pdf/Fornaci090721.pdf Federal Bureau of Prisons Oversight Hearing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160907070638/http://www.judiciary.house.gov/_files/hearings/pdf/Fornaci090721.pdf |date=2016-09-07 }}" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160907070638/http://www.judiciary.house.gov/_files/hearings/pdf/Fornaci090721.pdf Archive]). Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. July 21, 2009. Retrieved on February 5, 2016.</ref>
==Notable incidents== In July 2009, Richard Torres, a correction officer at FMC Rochester, was indicted for smuggling contraband into the facility for an inmate in exchange for thousands of dollars in bribes. The contraband included cellular telephones, tobacco and creatine powder. Torres was terminated. Two months later, he pleaded guilty to soliciting a bribe and he was sentenced to one year in federal prison.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/07/15/rochester_prison_guard?refid=0 |title=Rochester prison guard charged with smuggling contraband | Minnesota Public Radio News |publisher=Minnesota.publicradio.org |access-date=2015-10-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/03/04/guard-charged?refid=0 |title=Prison guard sentenced for smuggling contraband | Minnesota Public Radio News |publisher=Minnesota.publicradio.org |date=2010-03-04 |access-date=2015-10-09}}</ref>
==Notable inmates==
===Current=== {|class="wikitable sortable" |- !width=13%|Inmate Name !width=9%|Register Number !width=5%|Photo !width=24%|Status !width=54%|Details |- | style="text-align:center;"| {{sortname|Jared Lee|Loughner}} | style="text-align:center;"| [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=15213-196&x=100&y=11 15213-196]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |fix-attempted="yes"}} | style="text-align:center;"| 80px | Serving 7 life sentences without parole plus 140 years. | Perpetrator of the 2011 Tucson shooting in Arizona; pleaded guilty in 2012 to the attempted assassination of U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords and the murder of six people, including U.S. District Judge John Roll.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jared Lee Loughner Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges in Tucson Shooting|url=https://www.fbi.gov/phoenix/press-releases/2012/jared-lee-loughner-pleads-guilty-to-federal-charges-in-tucson-shooting|publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation|access-date=3 November 2013|date=August 7, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Jared Loughner Sentenced To Life In Prison For Arizona Shooting That Wounded Gabrielle Giffords|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/jared-loughner-sentenced_n_2092550.html|publisher=Huffington Post|access-date=3 November 2013|author=Jacques Billeaud|author2=Brian Skoloff |date=November 8, 2012}}</ref> |- | style="text-align:center;"| Luke Helder | style="text-align:center;"| [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=36460-048&x=100&y=11 36460-048]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |fix-attempted="yes"}} | style="text-align:center;"| 80px | Currently being held indefinitely. | Planted homemade pipe bombs in mailboxes in five Midwestern states in 2002; ruled incompetent to stand trial in 2004.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://articles.cnn.com/2002-05-10/us/mailbox.pipebombs_1_cameron-helder-federal-charges-lucas-helder?_s=PM:US | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924124730/http://articles.cnn.com/2002-05-10/us/mailbox.pipebombs_1_cameron-helder-federal-charges-lucas-helder?_s=PM:US | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 24, 2012 | work=CNN | title=Federal charges brought against accused mailbox bomber | date=2002-05-10}}</ref><ref name="wqad001">{{cite web | last = Van Hyfte | first = Vanessa | title = Helder not fit to stand trial | work = WQAD Report | year = 2004 | url = http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?s=1756862 | access-date = 2007-10-16 | archive-date = 2007-09-27 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222552/http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?s=1756862 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="wqad002">{{cite web | title = Experts say mailbox bomb suspect unlikely to be freed soon | work = WQAD Report | date = 2004-04-06| url = http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?s=1767322 | access-date = 2007-10-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222627/http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?s=1767322 | archive-date = 2007-09-27}}</ref> |- | style="text-align: center;" |Ray Holmberg | style="text-align: center;" |84357-510 | style="text-align: center;" |center|frameless|112x112px |Serving a 10-year sentence. |Former North Dakota state senator and longest-serving state legislator in the United States; plead guilty to charges related to child sex tourism in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beach |first=Amy Dalrymple, Jeff |date=2025-03-26 |title=Former ND Sen. Ray Holmberg sentenced to 10 years in prison for sex crime • North Dakota Monitor |url=https://northdakotamonitor.com/2025/03/26/former-nd-sen-ray-holmberg-sentenced-to-10-years-in-prison-for-sex-crime/ |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=North Dakota Monitor |language=en-US}}</ref> |- | style="text-align:center;"| Yonathan Melaku | style="text-align:center;"| 79418-083 | style="text-align:center;"| | Serving a 25-year sentence; scheduled for release in 2028. | Perpetrator of the Northern Virginia military shootings.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/pentagon-shooter-sentenced-to-25-years-in-prison/2013/01/11/a9fbd47a-5c2a-11e2-9fa9-5fbdc9530eb9_story.html|title=Yonathan Melaku, who fired at Pentagon and other military facilities, sentenced to 25 years in prison|newspaper=Washington Post|date=January 11, 2013|access-date=September 8, 2024}}</ref> |- | style="text-align:center;"| Ming Sen Shiue | style="text-align:center;"| 00499-041 | style="text-align:center;"|<!-- Deleted image removed: 140px --> | Serving a life sentence (with the possibility of parole). | Kidnapped Mary Stauffer and her daughter Elizabeth. Also serving a 40-year sentence on state murder charges for killing a 6-year-old boy who witnessed the crime. Shiue was detained indefinitely as a dangerous sexual predator in 2010.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-09-29 |title=Judge says killer-rapist Ming Sen Shiue can be held indefinitely |url=https://www.twincities.com/2010/09/29/judges-says-killer-rapist-ming-sen-shiue-can-be-held-indefinitely/ |access-date=2022-03-21 |website=Twin Cities |language=en-US}}</ref> |- | style="text-align:center;"|Brian Kolfage | style="text-align:center;"|26978-017 | style="text-align:center;"| 80px |Serving 4 years and 4 months (started July 25, 2023). |Pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, filing false tax returns in connection with the We Build the Wall Scam. |}
===Former=== {|class="wikitable sortable" |- !width=13%|Inmate Name !width=9%|Register Number !width=5%|Photo !width=24%|Status !width=54%|Details |- | style="text-align:center;"| Jim Bakker | style="text-align:center;"| [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=07407-058&x=100&y=11 07407-058]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |fix-attempted="yes"}} | style="text-align:center;"| 80px | Released from custody in 1994; served 5 years. | Founder of Praise the Lord (PTL) Ministries; convicted of fraud in 1989 for stealing millions of dollars in donations from his members.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-02-mn-1185-story.html | work=Los Angeles Times | title=Bakker Begins Tests to Evaluate His Mental State | date=1989-09-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://postbulletin.com/news/stories/display.php?id=474869&query=van |title=Jim Bakker arrives – PostBulletin.com: Home |publisher=PostBulletin.com |date=1989-11-03 |access-date=2015-10-09}}</ref> |- | style="text-align:center;"| Sol Wachtler | style="text-align:center;"| [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=32571-054&x=100&y=11 32571-054]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |fix-attempted="yes"}} | style="text-align:center;"| | Released from custody in 1994; served 11 months.<ref>{{cite news|last=Van Gelder|first=Lawrence|title=Ex-Judge Wachtler to Move From Prison to Halfway House|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/27/nyregion/ex-judge-wachtler-to-move-from-prison-to-halfway-house.html|access-date=1 November 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 27, 1994}}</ref> | Former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals; pleaded guilty in 1992 to sending messages to his ex-mistress threatening to kidnap her 14-year-old daughter in retaliation for her ending their affair.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/05/nyregion/seeking-leniency-wachtler-blames-adversaries.html?scp=1&sq=%22sol+wachtler%22+pleaded+kidnap&st=nyt Seeking Leniency, Wachtler Blames Adversaries], ''The New York Times'', September 5, 1993</ref> |- | style="text-align:center;"| Lyndon LaRouche | style="text-align:center;"| [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=15204-083&x=100&y=11 15204-083]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |fix-attempted="yes"}} | style="text-align:center;"| 80px | Released from custody in 1994; served 5 years. | Three-time presidential candidate; convicted in 1988 of scheming to defraud the IRS and deliberately defaulting on more than $30 million in loans from his supporters.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/28/us/larouche-receives-15-year-sentence.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm | work=The New York Times | title=Larouche Receives 15-Year Sentence | date=1989-01-28}}</ref> |- | style="text-align:center;"| Miles J. Jones | style="text-align:center;"| [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=20907-045&x=100&y=11 20907-045]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |fix-attempted="yes"}} | style="text-align:center;"| 80px | Released from custody in 2010; served 18 months. | Forensic pathologist-physician convicted of income-tax evasion<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/tax/usaopress/2009/txdv09_jones_sen.pdf |title=John F. Wood : FORMER LIBERTY PATHOLOGIST SENTENCED FOR FAILING TO FILE TAX RETURNS |publisher=Justice.gov |access-date=2015-10-09}}</ref> |- | style="text-align:center;"| Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman<ref>{{cite web | publisher=KROC (AM) |title=Blind Sheik – Former Rochester Federal Prison Inmate – Has Died |url=http://krocam.com/blind-sheik-former-rochester-federal-prison-inmate-has-died/ |access-date=18 February 2017}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"| 34892-054 | style="text-align:center;"|80px | Transferred to FMC Butner, where he died in February 2017 | Egyptian Muslim leader, convicted of seditious conspiracy after investigation into the 1993 World Trade Center bombing |- | style="text-align:center;"|Dennis Hastert | style="text-align:center;"|[http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=47991-424&x=100&y=11 47991-424]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |fix-attempted="yes"}} | style="text-align:center;"|80px |Entered prison June 2016; Released from custody in 2017; served 13 months out of a 15-month sentence. |Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, convicted of breaking financial rules in hush money aimed at covering up sexual abuse of teenagers.<ref>Michael Tarm, [http://www.startribune.com/ex-us-house-speaker-dennis-hastert-starts-prison-term/383984401/ Ex-Speaker Hastert enters prison: now Inmate No. 47991-424] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625010333/http://www.startribune.com/ex-us-house-speaker-dennis-hastert-starts-prison-term/383984401/ |date=2016-06-25 }}, Associated Press (June 22, 2016).</ref> |- | style="text-align:center;"|Leo Earl Sharp Sr. | style="text-align:center;"|[http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=46394-039&x=100&y=11 46394-039]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |fix-attempted="yes"}} | style="text-align:center;"|80px |Entered prison May 2014; Compassionate release granted in June 2015; served 13 months of a 3-year sentence. Died December, 2016. |Drug courier for Sinaloa Cartel, and inspiration for Clint Eastwood movie ''The Mule''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michigan-drug-mule-leo-sharp-gets-3-years-90th-birthday-n99826|title=Michigan Drug 'Mule' Leo Sharp Gets 3 Years on 90th Birthday|website=NBC News}}</ref> |- | style="text-align:center;"| Gregory Scarpa | style="text-align:center;"| [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=30880-053&x=100&y=11 30880-053]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |fix-attempted="yes"}} | style="text-align:center;"| 80px | Deceased in custody in 1994. | Colombo crime family hitman and FBI informant. |- | style="text-align:center;"| Keith E. Anderson | style="text-align:center;"| [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=63025-004&x=100&y=11 63025-004]{{Dead link|date=January 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} | style="text-align:center;"| | Served a 20-year sentence; released in 2019. | Owner of Anderson's Ark & Associates tax preparation company; extradited from Costa Rica in 2002; convicted in 2004 of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering for assisting over 2,000 clients in five countries evade taxes on millions of dollars of income.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/12/business/10-are-charged-in-tax-evasion-case-said-to-involve-2000.html | work=The New York Times | title=10 Are Charged in Tax Evasion Case Said to Involve 2,000 | date=2002-12-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2005/April/05_tax_210.htm |title=#210: 04-22-05 FOUR DEFENDANTS SENTENCED IN $120 MILLION INTERNATIONAL TAX SHELTER CASE |publisher=Justice.gov |access-date=2015-10-09}} </ref> |- | style="text-align:center;"| Melvin Mayes | style="text-align:center;"| [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=IDSearch&needingMoreList=false&IDType=IRN&IDNumber=09891-000&x=100&y=11 09891-000]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |fix-attempted="yes"}} | style="text-align:center;"| | Sentenced to three life sentences; Released in February 2022 on compassionate release due to a terminal illness.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Meisner |first1=Jason |title=El Rukn general at center of bizarre Libyan terror plot to be released from prison |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/criminal-justice/ct-el-rukn-gang-general-melvin-mayes-released-20220121-zggfwbmf4rcbvaqlrpx2xhbbnq-story.html |access-date=23 July 2023 |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date=21 January 2022}}</ref> | Lieutenant for El Rukn street gang leader Jeff Fort; convicted ''in absentia'' in 1987 of racketeering, drug trafficking and conspiring to commit terrorist attacks in the US on behalf of the Libyan government; captured in 1995 after eight years as a fugitive.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/04/09/el-rukn-member-gets-3-life-terms-in-racketeering-case/|title=El Rukn Member Gets 3 Life Terms In Racketeering Case|work=tribunedigital-chicagotribune|access-date=1 May 2015}}</ref> |}
==See also== {{Portal|United States|Politics}} *List of United States federal prisons *Federal Bureau of Prisons *Incarceration in the United States {{Clear}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[http://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/rch/index.jsp FMC Rochester]
{{Coord|44|01|27.36|N|92|26|10.65|W|region:US-MN_type:landmark_source:dewiki|display=title}} {{Federal Bureau of Prisons}}
Rochester Category:Buildings and structures in Rochester, Minnesota Rochester Category:1984 establishments in Minnesota Category:Prison hospitals