The Federal Correctional Institution, Victorville (FCI Victorville Medium I & II) are two medium-security United States federal prisons for male inmates in Victorville, California. Part of the Victorville Federal Prison Complex, it is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.
It was built on a Superfund site, which has contaminated the region's water supply with industrial solvents like trichlorethylene, and pesticides like dieldrin and aldrin, and chemicals from jet fuel.[2]
Notable incidents
Aerial view of FCI II prison
In 2010, Scott A. Holencik, 45, the warden of FCI Victorville, was named in a six-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury. The indictment accused Holencik of lying to special agents of the United States Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, when he was interviewed in November 2009 in connection with an investigation into Internet postings that disclosed confidential government information. The indictment charged Holencik with two felony counts of making false statements when he denied making posts to www.prisonofficer.org. Holencik allegedly made multiple posts to the website that contained sensitive information concerning criminal investigations at the prison. Specifically, it is alleged that he disclosed confidential government information concerning a Bureau of Prisons employee who was suspected of being involved with an inmate gambling scheme, as well as facts related to a homicide that occurred at the prison in August 2009.[3]
A federal judge, Virginia Phillips, subsequently ruled that the information posted on prisonofficer.org was not confidential, thereby dismissing those charges. On February 20, 2014, federal Judge Virginia Phillips ruled dismissing the remaining counts of the indictment against Holencik with prejudice.[4] Holencik retired as warden.
On May 31, 2016, inmate Fazliddin Kurbanov snuck behind then-warden Calvin Johnson and attempted to slit his throat with a 4-inch shank he concealed, injuring him in the process. Kurbanov, an Uzbek refugee, was serving a 25-year sentence for material support and plotting a bombing attack while working as truck-driving instructor in Salt Lake City, Utah. Kurbanov was charged with attempted murder of a federal officer and sentenced to an additional 20 years in prison in 2018. He is now serving his sentence at ADX Florence.[5][6]
In popular culture
Aerial view of FCI I prison
In the first episode of the HBO television series Luck, the main character Chester "Ace" Bernstein, played by Dustin Hoffman, is released from federal custody after serving 3 years at FCI Victorville.[7]
The main protagonist “Diablo”, played by Gino Silva, in A Man Apart (2003) featuring Vin Diesel, was incarcerated at Victorville Penitentiary.
Serving a 25-year sentence; scheduled for release in 2033.
Pleaded guilty to terrorism and weapons offenses for using a semi-automaticrifle to fire at least eight rounds at the White House on November 11, 2011 in an attempt to kill President Barack Obama, who he believed was the Antichrist.
Serving a 30-year sentence; scheduled for release in 2036. Currently at FCI Sandstone.
US citizen from Somalia; convicted in 2013 of attempting to use of a weapon of mass destruction for trying to detonate what he thought was a car bomb supplied by undercover FBI agents posing as members of Al-Qaeda at a Christmas tree lighting in Portland, Oregon in 2010.[8][9]
Served a 17-year sentence; deported to Mexico upon release in 2019.[16]
Former leader of the now-defunct Sonora Cartel, a drug trafficking organization responsible for exporting multi-ton quantities of marijuana to the US during the 1980s and 1990s; extradited to the US from Mexico in 2009.[17][18][19]
Pleaded guilty in 2007 to two counts of wire fraud, stealing nearly 2 million credit card numbers, which were used for $86 million in fraudulent purchases.
Retired US Army Reserve colonel and former civilian intelligence chief for the US Army; convicted in 2001 of providing classified military documents to the KGB during the Cold War; Trofimoff is highest-ranking Army official to be convicted of espionage.[23]
