Massachusetts has one federal prison complex, and if you need to contact or visit someone held in a federal prison in Massachusetts, that complex is Federal Medical Center (FMC) Devens in Ayer, with an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp. Both are operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.1United States Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Prisons Contact runs through five channels: an approved in-person visitor list, postal mail to a specific P.O. Box, deposits to the inmate’s trust fund account, monitored phone calls, and electronic messaging through TRULINCS and CorrLinks. Each has its own rules, and most start with a step the inmate has to take before you can do anything from the outside.
Confirm the Person Is at FMC Devens
Before you mail anything or plan a trip to Ayer, verify the placement. The Bureau of Prisons runs a free online inmate locator covering all federal inmates from 1982 to the present. You can search by first and last name or by the BOP register number, which is formatted as five digits, a hyphen, and three digits (#####-###). The result shows the facility where the person is housed.2Federal Bureau of Prisons. Find an Inmate
One caveat the Bureau flags on the search page itself: because the First Step Act triggered sentence recalculations, the release date shown in the locator may not be current. Check back periodically if that date matters to your planning.
Getting on the Visitor List
Visits require advance approval, and the process starts with the inmate, not you. When someone arrives at FMC Devens, staff give them copies of the Visitor Information Form (BP-A0629). The inmate fills out their portion and mails a copy to each person they want on their visitor list.3Federal Bureau of Prisons. How to Visit a Federal Inmate You cannot download the form yourself and submit it independently. It has to come from the inmate.
Once the form reaches you, complete the remaining fields: your address, your relationship to the inmate, and your Social Security number.4Federal Bureau of Prisons. Visitor Information Form BP-A0629 Mail it back to the facility address printed on the form. Staff run a background check. If you clear, you’re added to the approved list. Turnaround varies, so plan ahead. Submitting the form the week before you want to visit is too late.
Visiting Hours and Confirming the Schedule
Federal law guarantees inmates at least four hours of visiting time per month, and most facilities provide more. FMC Devens publishes a visiting schedule that can change for security or weather reasons. Call 603-342-4000 before driving out to confirm the current schedule.5Federal Bureau of Prisons. FMC Devens
Mailing Address for FMC Devens and the Camp
Every piece of mail must include the inmate’s full committed name and register number. The two parts of the complex share a P.O. Box but use different facility labels on the second line of the address. Mixing them up can delay delivery or get your letter returned.5Federal Bureau of Prisons. FMC Devens
For the main medical center:
Inmate Name and Register Number
FMC Devens
Federal Medical Center
P.O. Box 879
Ayer, MA 01432
For the satellite camp:
Inmate Name and Register Number
FMC Devens Camp
Satellite Prison Camp
P.O. Box 879
Ayer, MA 01432
What You Cannot Send
Packages require prior authorization from the Warden. Any package that arrives without approval is treated as contraband.6Federal Bureau of Prisons. Correspondence Letters themselves face content restrictions: the Warden can reject correspondence containing threats, escape-related information, business instructions, sexually explicit personal photographs, or material that could facilitate criminal activity or disrupt the institution. Do not enclose cash or checks with a letter. Those get rejected too. There is a separate process for sending money.
Sending Money to an Inmate
Three methods are available for depositing funds into an inmate’s trust fund account.7Federal Bureau of Prisons. Stay in Touch – Sending Funds
- Western Union’s Quick Collect Program, online or in person. Funds sent between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Eastern post within two to four hours. Transfers sent after 9:00 p.m. post at 7:00 a.m. the following morning.8Federal Bureau of Prisons. Sending Funds Using Western Union
- MoneyGram’s ExpressPayment Program, with the same two-to-four-hour posting during business hours and next-morning posting outside them.
- U.S. Postal Service mail to the Bureau’s centralized Lockbox. You can send a money order, a U.S. government check, or a cashier’s check. Print the inmate’s full committed name and eight-digit register number on both the negotiable instrument and the outside of the envelope. Personal checks and cash are prohibited and will be returned.
The inmate uses deposited funds for commissary purchases, phone calls, and electronic messaging. The monthly commissary spending limit is $360.
Phone Calls
Federal inmates place calls through the institution’s telephone system, and the charges come out of the inmate’s trust fund balance rather than yours. Under interim rules the FCC published in late 2025, the rate cap for domestic audio calls in prisons is $0.09 per minute, with providers allowed to add up to $0.02 per minute to recover facility costs. The maximum is $0.11 per minute.9Federal Register. Implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act – Rates for Incarcerated Peoples Communication Services
Calls are monitored by staff. The one exception is a call with the inmate’s attorney of record. Keep that monitoring in mind when deciding what to discuss.
Electronic Messaging Through CorrLinks
Federal inmates send and receive written messages through TRULINCS, the Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System. Inmates read and compose from monitored terminals inside the facility. Outside contacts receive and reply through a linked service called CorrLinks. The inmate pays roughly $0.05 per minute of computer time from their trust fund account. Outside contacts are not charged.
You need to register with CorrLinks and be approved before messages can go either way. As with visiting, the inmate initiates the connection from their end. Messages are monitored on the same terms as phone calls, with attorney communication the only exception.
Who Is Held at FMC Devens
Knowing the type of facility helps make sense of the contact rules. FMC Devens is one of a handful of federal medical referral centers in the country, with an administrative-security designation that lets it house inmates across multiple custody levels within a single perimeter as long as they need medical or mental health services ordinary federal prisons cannot provide.10U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General. DOJ OIG Releases an Inspection of the BOP’s Federal Medical Center Devens The Bureau draws its authority to provide this care from federal law requiring it to manage all federal correctional institutions and ensure the safekeeping, care, and protection of people convicted of federal offenses.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 4042 – Duties of Bureau of Prisons The main facility holds more than 900 inmates. The adjacent camp holds roughly 75 to 130 people in minimum-security dormitory housing.
That specialization matters for contact in a practical way. Because inmates are referred to Devens from across the federal system based on medical need, your loved one may be held hundreds or thousands of miles from where they were sentenced or from where you live. The mail, money, phone, and CorrLinks channels are the main day-to-day ways most families stay connected.
When Contact Shifts: Reentry Placement
The way you contact someone can change as release approaches. Federal law allows the Bureau to transfer inmates to community custody for up to the final 12 months of their sentence, either to a Residential Reentry Center (the formal name for a halfway house) or to home confinement.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3624 – Release of a Prisoner Referrals typically begin 17 to 19 months before the projected release date at a scheduled program review.13Federal Bureau of Prisons. Residential Reentry Management Centers If and when that transfer happens, the FMC Devens address and visitor list no longer apply. Contact rules follow the new placement, and you will need to work with the halfway house or supervising office for the new procedures.