FCI Mendota Overview
FCI Mendota is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Fresno County. The BOP directory lists MENDOTA FCI at 33500 West California Avenue, Mendota, CA 93640, with main phone (559) 274-4000 and fax (559) 274-4223. It is a medium-security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp. The research identifies its population as male federal sentenced inmates. It is not searched through the Fresno County Sheriff Inmate Info Center.
Federal custody is a separate system from local Fresno County jail custody and California CDCR state prison custody. A person arrested in Fresno County may pass through the local jail or federal pretrial process before sentencing, but a sentenced federal inmate at FCI Mendota is searched through the BOP Inmate Locator. Fresno County booking numbers, sheriff Person IDs, and jail housing codes do not become BOP register numbers.
The official BOP FCI Mendota facility page is the source for institution-level federal information.
Use the BOP facility page for federal institution information, and use the locator when the question is whether a specific federal inmate is housed there.
FCI Mendota Capacity and Population
The research file captured population figures from a BOP PREA audit snippet for FCI Mendota. It reports designed capacity of 1,280, current population of 1,062, and a 12-month average daily population of 1,172. Those numbers are federal facility figures and should not be mixed with Fresno County jail population numbers. The sheriff's live population table measures county jail custody, while BOP counts federal prison custody.
Population figures at federal prisons change as people transfer, release, move to the satellite camp, enter special housing, or arrive from other federal facilities. Use current BOP sources when a live number is needed. The figures below are useful for facility context because they come from the BOP-related PREA audit material captured in the research, but they are not a guarantee of today's count.
How to Look Up an Inmate at FCI Mendota
The correct search tool is the BOP Inmate Locator. The locator can search by federal register number or by name. A federal register number is different from a Fresno County booking number. If a Fresno County jail search fails and the case involved federal charges or sentencing, the BOP locator is the next custody source to check. If the person is in immigration detention rather than federal prison, use ICE ODLS instead.
- Open the BOP Inmate Locator.
- Search by BOP register number if known, or search by name.
- Confirm the result by age, race, sex, release date or status, and listed location.
- If the listed location is FCI Mendota, use the facility page for visiting, mail, money, and institution contact details.
The official BOP locator page is the federal source for sentenced federal prison custody.
The locator is not a county roster and does not publish Fresno booking photos. It is built around federal custody identifiers.
FCI Mendota Address and Contact
Use BOP contact information for federal prison questions, not the Fresno Sheriff Records Unit. The county jail can answer county custody questions, and Fresno Superior Court can answer state court case questions, but BOP controls federal prison location, visiting, mail, money, commissary, legal activities, and institution procedures for FCI Mendota. Federal pretrial custody can involve U.S. Marshals arrangements, but a sentenced BOP inmate should appear in the BOP locator.
FCI Mendota
33500 West California Avenue
Mendota, CA 93640
(559) 274-4000
Fax: (559) 274-4223
Visiting Someone at FCI Mendota
FCI Mendota visiting follows BOP procedures, not Fresno County jail visiting rules. The BOP facility page includes visiting information, schedule and procedures, legal activities, an admissions and orientation handbook, and other federal resources. BOP warns that displayed visiting hours are typical and may not cover all cases. The warden can restrict or cancel visits for safety or security, and special housing or modified operations can change access.
Before traveling, confirm that the person is still at FCI Mendota, that the visitor is approved under BOP rules, and that the day's schedule has not changed. The county jail's 30-minute social visit rules do not apply to federal prison visiting. The satellite camp and the medium-security institution may also have different instructions or restrictions, so use BOP's current facility information.
| Day | Hours | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Use current BOP FCI Mendota schedule | Federal prison visiting if approved |
| Wednesday | Use current BOP FCI Mendota schedule | Federal prison visiting if approved |
| Friday | Use current BOP FCI Mendota schedule | Federal prison visiting if approved |
| Saturday | Use current BOP FCI Mendota schedule | Federal prison visiting if approved |
| Sunday | Use current BOP FCI Mendota schedule | Federal prison visiting if approved |
Mail, Phone, and Money at FCI Mendota
Federal inmate mail, money, and commissary rules differ from Fresno County jail rules. BOP facility pages include mail, money, freight and non-USPS parcels, commissary list, and resources for sentenced inmates. The research specifically notes that BOP says not to send money to an inmate at the facility address. Funds mailed for federal inmates go to the central processing center in Des Moines, Iowa. That is a major difference from Fresno County jail TouchPay deposits.
Do not use Fresno County's TouchPay facility number 293721 for FCI Mendota. That number applies to the Fresno County Jail system. Federal prisoners use federal identifiers and BOP money procedures. If a person was recently sentenced federally, use the BOP locator and the FCI Mendota facility page to confirm location and current mailing or funds instructions before sending anything.
| Service | Provider / Detail |
|---|---|
| Mail Address | Use the current BOP FCI Mendota mailing format for federal inmates. |
| Phone / Video | Use BOP institution and inmate communication procedures. |
| Money Deposit | Follow BOP money rules; do not send funds to the facility address or use Fresno jail TouchPay. |
Federal Intake and Custody at FCI Mendota
FCI Mendota does not book ordinary Fresno County street arrests into the county jail system. Federal custody may begin with an arrest, U.S. Marshals custody, federal court process, and later BOP designation after sentencing. Once a person is in BOP custody, the federal locator is the public route for location and release information. County jail profiles, local bail fields, and Fresno Sheriff housing codes no longer describe the federal prison placement.
For court records, use the court that handled the case. For a Fresno County state criminal case, that may be Fresno Superior Court. For a federal case, use federal court and federal custody channels. If a person has only an immigration custody issue, the correct search path is ICE ODLS, not the BOP locator and not the county jail roster.
- BOP Register Number
- The federal custody identifier used by the Bureau of Prisons.
- Satellite Camp
- A minimum-security federal camp adjacent to the main institution.
- Detainer
- A hold or request from another agency that can affect release or transfer.
About FCI Mendota
FCI Mendota is important to Fresno County inmate searches because it sits within the county but is not part of the county jail population. A local searcher may see Fresno County, Mendota, and federal prison in the same result and assume the sheriff roster applies. It does not. The BOP locator, BOP facility page, and federal procedures govern this facility.
The facility page categories captured in the research include visiting information, visiting schedule and procedures, mail, money, freight or non-USPS parcels, resources for sentenced inmates, admissions and orientation handbook, commissary list, legal activities, and PREA reports. Those categories are useful because they show where federal families should look after confirming a person is at FCI Mendota. For local jail booking, bail, and county release issues, return to the Fresno Sheriff roster instead.
Note: Confirm current BOP location, visiting approval, and institution rules before traveling to FCI Mendota.