# United States Penitentiary, Coleman

The United States Penitentiary, Coleman I and II (USP Coleman I and II) are high-security United States federal prisons for male inmates in Florida. It is part of the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex (FCC Coleman) and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. USP Coleman I was opened in 2001, and in 2004 Clark Construction completed a 555,000-square-foot (51,600 m$^2$) additional component for USP Coleman II.
FCC Coleman is located in Central Florida, approximately 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Orlando, 60 miles (97 km) northeast of Tampa, and 35 miles (56 km) south of Ocala.

## United States Penitentiary, Coleman 1

USP Coleman 1 is a high security federal lockup that houses several notorious and infamous criminals. Inmates at this facility consist of dozens of international terrorists, high profile drug and arms dealers and other serial and repeat offenders. Inmates housed here report extreme violence at this facility. According to one respondent, “General population is very violent, even against staff members.” Another explained, “The violence is terrible. People are regularly killed.” Another inmate agreed, stating, “Violence is very high, and safety is very poor.” Former inmates also report frequent lockdowns at this facility, due to the level of violence.

## United States Penitentiary, Coleman 2

Former prisoner Nate A. Lindell wrote that USP Coleman II is "a so-called special-needs prison—a 'safe' facility where informants, former cops, ex-gang members, check-ins (prisoners who intentionally put themselves in solitary confinement to be safe), homosexuals, and sex offenders can all, supposedly, walk the Yard freely. At regular BOP lockups, these types of men are in danger of being beaten, stabbed, or killed." The Marshall Project stated that "Coleman II did not respond to multiple requests for confirmation". However, in July 2023, convicted sex offender Larry Nassar, serving a life sentence at the facility, was stabbed 10 times, leading to his transfer to another federal prison soon after.

## Officer Erin J. Sharma

On February 3, 2005, while working at USP Coleman I, Erin Sharma had an altercation with inmate Richard Allen Delano where Delano grabbed Sharma's arm through a food tray slot in the door and bruised it. Sharma said to Delano, "You're a dead man."
On March 1, 2005, Delano, known to be a "snitch", was transferred into a cell with John Javilo "Animal" McCullah, a convicted murderer who had assaulted all of his previous cellmates. Prior to the transfer, witnesses overheard Sharma encouraging McCullah to attack Delano, but to do so on a day when she was not at work.
On March 4, while Sharma was on a three-day vacation, Delano was beaten into a coma. He died 13 days later. Sharma was charged with two felony counts of violating Delano's civil rights under color of law for conspiring to have him killed and with violating his Constitutional right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.
On July 29, 2009, a federal jury in Orlando found Sharma guilty of two felony federal civil rights charges related to the fatal assault of federal inmate Richard Delano in March 2005. She was subsequently sentenced to Life in prison.
Erin Sharma is the only Federal Correctional Officer that has been sentenced to life in prison for an act committed while at work.
Erin Sharma is married to Rajesh "Roger" Sharma, who works for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

## Officer Michael Rudkin

In late 2008, Michael Rudkin was sentenced to 10 years in prison for having sex with a female inmate and plotting with her to kill his wife while he was a correctional officer at the Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury, a federal prison for women in Connecticut. Rudkin was sent to FCC Coleman to serve his sentence. While at Coleman, Rudkin solicited the help of fellow inmates in June 2009 to find a hitman to kill his (now ex) wife, her new boyfriend, his former inmate paramour and a federal investigator. He provided a handwritten note giving physical descriptions and locations of the intended victims to fellow inmates. The inmates alerted authorities, who instructed the inmates to provide Rudkin with a false name and address of a "hitman." Rudkin subsequently mailed money from his inmate account to the alleged "hitman" as an advance. Rudkin was subsequently convicted of orchestrating the plot and sentenced to 90 years in prison, which he served at the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute, the federal facility in Indiana. On 24 August 2021, he was beaten to death by another inmate.

## Notable inmates (current and former)

†The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 eliminated parole for most federal inmates. However, inmates sentenced for offenses committed prior to 1987 are eligible for parole consideration.

### Infamous prisoners

| Inmate Name | Register Number | Photo | Status | Details |
| Leonard Peltier | 89637-132 | | Served two life sentences plus seven years for an armed escape from USP Lompoc. Commuted to indefinite house arrest by President Joe Biden on January 19, 2025, effective Feb, 18. | Member of the American Indian Movement, a Native American activist group; convicted in a contested trial in 1977 of murdering FBI Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams during a shootout at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975. |

### Financial crimes

| Inmate Name | Register Number | Photo | Status | Details |
| Allen Stanford | 35017-183 | | Serving 110 years under his actual name, Robert Allen Stanford. Scheduled release in 2103. | Owner of the now-defunct Stanford Financial Group; convicted in 2012 of 17 charges, including fraud, money laundering and masterminding a Ponzi scheme which defrauded thousands of investors of over $7 billion; the story was featured on the CNBC television program American Greed. |
| Corrine Brown | 67315-018 | | Released from prison on April 22, 2020 citing health concerns. | Democratic member of the House of Representatives; convicted in 2017 of 18 charges related to running a fraudulent charity, embezzling more than $300,000 for personal use. |

### Terrorists

| Inmate Name | Register Number | Status | Details |
| Ahmed Ajaj | 40637-053 | Serving an 84-year sentence; scheduled for release in 2091. | Convicted of participating in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. |
| Nidal Ayyad | 16917-050 | Serving an 86 year sentence. Scheduled for release in 2067. | Sentenced for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. |
| Amine El Khalifi | 79748-083 | Serving a 30-year sentence; scheduled for release in 2037. Currently at FCI Williamsburg. | Al-Qaeda supporter; pleaded guilty in June 2012 to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction for plotting to conduct a suicide bombing at the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC in February 2012. |
| Hysen Sherifi | 51768-056 | Serving a life sentence. | Convicted for being part of the Raleigh jihad group. |
| David Oquendo-Rivas | 34348-069 | Serving a life sentence. | Convicted in 2013 for the 2009 Sabana Seca massacre |
| Mohammed Odeh | 42375-054 | Serving a life sentence. | Participated in the 1998 United States embassy bombings |

### Organized crime figures

| Inmate Name | Register Number | Status | Details |
| Whitey Bulger | 02182-748 | Served life sentences plus 5 years under his real name, James J. Bulger. Murdered in 2018 upon arrival at USP Hazelton. | Former leader of the Winter Hill Gang in Massachusetts and FBI Ten Most Wanted fugitive; apprehended in 2011 after 16 years on the run; convicted in 2013 of ordering 11 murders, as well as extortion, money laundering and drug trafficking. Transferred in October 2018 to the Federal Transfer Center and then to USP Hazelton, where he was murdered less than 24 hours after arrival. |
| Benjamin Arellano Felix | 00678-748 | Scheduled for release in 2032. Now at USP Lee | Former leader of the Tijuana Cartel in Mexico, pleaded guilty in 2013 to conspiracy and money laundering for directing the importation of thousands of tons of cocaine into the US; the cartel killed over 1,000 civilians and police officers over a 16-year period. |
| Louis Daidone | 39065-053 | Serving a life sentence. | Former acting boss of the Lucchese crime family, convicted of racketeering, loan sharking, extortion, and for the 1989 murder of Tom Gilmore, a Lucchese associate. He was also convicted of the 1990 murder of Bruno Facciola, in which Daidone lured Facciola into a Brooklyn garage where he was killed, and also stuffed a dead canary in Facciola’s mouth. |
| Stephen Caracappa | 04597-748 | Sentenced to life plus 80 years. Died in 2017. | Former NYPD detective; convicted in 2006 of taking bribes to carry out murders and leak law enforcement intelligence disclosing the identities of witnesses for then Lucchese crime family Underboss Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso; his partner, Louis Eppolito, was sentenced to life plus 100 years. |
| Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez | 59344-380 | Serving a life sentence. | Leader of the Mexican Gulf Cartel, extradited from Mexico to the U.S in 2015 on narcotics charges for importing cocaine and marijuana to the U.S, as well as threatening two federal agents at gunpoint during the 1999 Matamoros standoff. |
| Vincent Basciano | 30694-054 | Serving a life sentence. | Former boss of the Bonanno crime family, convicted in 2006 of the murder of Frank Santoro, later convicted in 2011 of ordering the murder of Bonnano associate Randolph Pizzolo. |
| Ronnie Thomas | 43322-037 | Released from custody on November 10, 2022. | Leader of the Tree Top Pirus, a subset of the Bloods street gang in Maryland, and producer of the Stop Snitchin' video series; convicted in 2010 of racketeering for participating in murder conspiracy, drug trafficking and robbery. |
| Edgar Valdez Villarreal | 05658-748 | Sentenced to 49 years. Scheduled for release in 2056. | American-Mexican drug lord, extradited to US on September 30, 2015. Will be released on 27 July 2056. |
| Ronell Wilson | 71460-053 | Serving a life sentence. | Gang leader in Staten Island, New York; murdered NYPD Detectives James Nemorin and Rodney Andrews, who were conducting a sting operation to buy an illegal gun in 2003. Wilson was initially on death row before having his sentence reduced to life without parole on the grounds of that he was mentally disabled. |
| José Antonio Acosta Hernández | 92043-280 | Sentenced to life imprisonment. | One of several known leaders of the Mexican gang La Línea. |

### Others

| Inmate Name | Register Number | Status | Details |
| Randy Lanier | 04961-069 | Released in 2015; served 26 years. | Racecar driver, 1984 IMSA Camel GT champion and 1986 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year; convicted in 1988 of directing a drug operation that brought more than 600,000 pounds of marijuana into the United States from Colombia between 1982 and 1986. |
| Nicholas Slatten | 16018-081 | Granted a full presidential pardon by U.S. President Donald Trump after receiving a life sentence. | Former Blackwater security guard, convicted of murder in 2014 for his role in the Nisour Square massacre. |
| Mahdi Jama Mohamed | 77985-083 | Deceased. Died on August 22, 2023 while scheduled for release in 2041. | Sentenced for his involvement in the SY quest hijacking that resulted in the deaths of four American citizens. |
| Brendt Christensen | 22127-026 | Serving a life sentence. | Kidnapped, raped, and murdered Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. |
| Larry Nassar | 21504-040 | Serving a 60 year federal sentence; now at USP Lewisburg. | Former USA Gymnastics team physician, and Michigan State University professor and clinician, convicted on federal charges relating to the possession of thousands of items of child pornography. Also convicted for sexually assaulting hundreds of underage girls countless times over decades. On 9 July 2023, Nassar was stabbed multiple times by another inmate but survived. |
| William Holliday, Jr | 21026-017 | Served 13 months and 3 days. Released on May 14, 2013. | In February 2011 the aspiring YouTuber was arrested, and marijuana valued at $400,000 was seized during the execution of a search warrant being conducted at his residence in Lafayette County, Florida. Deputies seized 199 marijuana plants and 2,024 grams of harvested marijuana along with a scale and other drug paraphernalia. Holliday was charged with Possession with intent To Sell Mfg Or Deliver Schedule I, possession Schedule I over 20 grams and possession of weapon/ammo by convicted felon. Post release, Holliday joined the cop watch community and while filming a locally owned private pizza place, was spray painted by a local resident of the small town of Mayo, Florida. Holliday was subsequently trespassed from most of the local businesses. This lead Mr. Holliday, under the YouTube Channel Poor Dirt Farmer, to gin up a race war against the town during the tumultuous period of the summer of 2020 amidst protests and unrest occurring nationwide to no avail. |
| George Martorano | 12973-004 | Sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Released on October 5, 2015 after serving 32 years. | Was the longest-serving first-time non-violent offender in the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the time of his release. Wrote 31 books while in prison. |
| Scott Lee Kimball | 14444-006 | Scheduled release date in 2082. Currently at USP Florence High. | Serial killer sentenced to 70 years in Colorado state prison in 2009 for financial crimes and four murders committed while he was an FBI informant. Suspected of having committed additional murders. Convicted of attempted escape in 2020 after a prisoner he was plotting with three years earlier informed the FBI; transferred from state to federal custody in 2021 for unknown reasons. |
| Paul Anthony Ciancia | 67089-112 | Serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole plus 60 years, now at USP Victorville | Pleaded guilty in 2016 for the 2013 LAX Shooting. |
| Luke Sommer | 38474-086 | Scheduled release date in 2034. | Former US Army Ranger; pleaded guilty to bank robbery in 2008 for masterminding the takeover robbery of a bank in Tacoma, Washington; pleaded guilty in 2010 to attempting to solicit the murder of an Assistant United States Attorney. |
| Auburn Calloway | 14601-076 | Serving a life sentence. | Attempted to hijack and crash Federal Express Flight 705 as a deadheading passenger. Convicted of attempted air piracy and interference of flight crew operations and given two consecutive life sentences, reduced to one following appeal. |