Description
A Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) is a United States Federal government detention facility (prison) operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. There are MDCs throughout the United States.
An MDC, unlike a Federal Penitentiary, is designed to hold prisoners who have not yet been arraigned, have been denied bail, or are awaiting trial. MDCs also hold inmates on their way to their designated 'home' prison.
Convicted prisoners are transferred to one of a series of Federal Prisons, also run by the Bureau of Prisons.
An MDC is considered to be an administrative facility, as defined by the Bureau of Prisons:
Administrative facilities are institutions with special missions, such as the detention of pretrial offenders; the treatment of inmates with serious or chronic medical problems; or the containment of extremely dangerous, violent, or escape-prone inmates. Administrative facilities include Metropolitan Correctional Centers (MCCs), Metropolitan Detention Centers (MDCs), Federal Detention Centers (FDCs), and Federal Medical Centers (FMCs), as well as the Federal Transfer Center (FTC), the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners (MCFP), and the Administrative-Maximum (ADX) U.S. Penitentiary. Administrative facilities are capable of holding inmates in all security categories.
