Union Correctional Institution

The Union Correctional Institution, formerly referred to as Florida State Prison, Raiford Prison and State Prison Farm is a Florida Department of Corrections state prison located in unincorporated Union County, Florida, near Raiford.First opened in 1913, the prison expanded and restructured many times. State Prison Farm was well known as one of the last prisons in America to abolish the practice of convict leasing in 1923. In 1955 the first buildings of the East Unit were established, across the Bradford county line to the south. In July 1972, the East Unit became the new Florida State Prison, and the old prison was redesignated as Union Correctional Facility.As of 2016 Union remains one of the largest prisons in the Florida system. It houses a maximum capacity of 2,172 adult male prisoners at a range of security levels (Maximum, Close, Medium, Minimum, and Community).HistoryState Prison FarmFlorida’s largest and oldest correctional institution was established in 1913 to house infirm inmates who could not be leased to private businesses. The initial population of the prison was close to 600 inmates, both male and female. Given the official name of Raiford Penitentiary, the facility was referred to almost exclusively as “State Prison Farm”, as convicts’ duties routinely included farming the 18000acre prison property. The population at the facility remained fairly constant during these early years; the number of inmates needed for the farm would dictate the initial capacity for the prison.