Rivers Correctional Institution

Rivers Correctional Institution is a privately owned prison in unincorporated Hertford County, North Carolina, operated by GEO Group under contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons since its construction in 2001. The prison, on 257acre of land, was specially built to house prisoners from the District of Columbia. It is about 1mi from the town of Winton and about 200mi from Washington, DC.The first inmates were transferred from the Lorton Reformatory of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections, which closed in 2001. Under the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, offenders of the District of Columbia at Rivers and elsewhere serve time in FBOP custody; they committed no federal crime but instead had committed DC crimes. Most prisoners stay around two years and had been sent to Rivers because they violated parole conditions and/or committed drug offenses. As of 2007 DC inmates made up about 66% of the about 1,400 prisoners. In 2009 the prison housed about 800-900 prisoners sentenced under DC law. In addition the prison also houses non-U.S. citizens who were convicted of violating federal law. As of 2009 the prison had about 400-500 foreign prisoners, and in 2007 about 200 of the prisoners were nationals of Mexico.OperationsAs of 2009 there is one on-site physician in the prison. No on-site medical service was provided, and the doctor worked fewer than 40 hours per week. Comparably-sized BOP facilities had at least two full-time physicians and weekend on-site medical services.