Fairbanks Correctional Center

A medium-security state correctional center in Fairbanks, Alaska — the Interior Alaska regional facility, holding both pretrial and sentenced men and women in Alaska's unified jail-and-prison system.

Overview

Fairbanks Correctional Center is a state correctional center operated by the Alaska Department of Corrections. It is in Fairbanks, the seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, in Interior Alaska. The facility houses men and women in medium custody and holds both pretrial (unsentenced) and sentenced people.

Alaska runs a unified corrections system: the state operates both jail and prison functions because Alaska has no county jail system. Most of the state’s correctional centers hold a mix of people who are awaiting trial and people who are serving sentences, and a person can be moved between facilities based on classification and bed space. Alaska assigns one of four custody levels — Community, Minimum, Medium, or Close — and the custody level and housing unit a person is in affect whether a visit is contact or non-contact, so families confirm the arrangement that applies to the specific person before a first visit.

What Makes the Fairbanks Correctional Center Different

Fairbanks Correctional Center is the regional facility for Interior Alaska, serving Fairbanks and the surrounding communities. As with most facilities in Alaska’s unified system, it holds both pretrial people who have not yet been sentenced and people who are serving sentences, and it holds both men and women. Newly arrested people from the Interior region are typically booked here, and classification then determines where a person is housed longer term; people may be transferred to other facilities in the state depending on custody level and available beds.

Visiting

The statewide AK DOC rules above — the approved visitor list, the dress code, ID, and item limits — apply at the Fairbanks Correctional Center. The facility’s own arrangements:

Getting There and Parking

Fairbanks Correctional Center is at 1931 Egan Avenue in Fairbanks, in the Fairbanks North Star Borough in Interior Alaska. Fairbanks is on the state’s road system and is reached by way of the Parks Highway from the Anchorage area to the south and the Richardson and Steese highways. Fairbanks International Airport offers regular commercial air service for visitors traveling from elsewhere in Alaska or out of state.

Confirm current entry procedures, the visitor check-in location, and what may be brought onto the grounds with the facility before arriving, because electronic devices and most personal items are not permitted inside the visiting area.

Nearby Services

Fairbanks is a regional hub with a range of lodging, dining, and fuel options, including locations near the airport and along the Airport Way and Cushman Street corridors. Emergency and hospital medical care is available locally. Visitors traveling from outside the Interior generally find the most services concentrated within the city of Fairbanks.

Mail

Alaska DOC does not use an off-site mail vendor. Incoming personal mail goes directly to the facility, where mail staff open and inspect it for contraband before delivery. Address personal mail with the person’s full name and prisoner number, the facility name, and the facility’s mailing address:

[Prisoner’s full name and number] Fairbanks Correctional Center 1931 Egan Avenue Fairbanks, AK 99701

Use a plain white envelope and white paper, and write only in blue or black ink or pencil. Mail without a complete return address that includes the sender’s name is destroyed. Greeting cards must be commercially produced, single-fold, on standard card stock, and no larger than 6 by 8 inches. Photographs must be printed on plain white or photographic paper and unaltered. Stickers, labels, glitter, tape, and anything attached with adhesive are not allowed (postal-service labels are an exception), and sexually explicit material is prohibited.

Legal and other privileged mail (for example, mail with an attorney) goes to the facility marked “Privileged” and is handled separately. Books, magazines, newspapers, and other publications must be ordered from an approved vendor and shipped directly to the facility — a family member can place the order, but the person must have funds to pay for it in advance. Packages are accepted only from approved vendors through the commissary; friends and family cannot send gift packages. Contact the facility for its current approved-vendor list.

Learn More

• Visiting an Alaska prison — Approved visitor lists, the per-facility scheduling and appointment norms, dress code, ID, and what to expect at remote facilities.
• Sending mail in Alaska — How to address personal mail to the facility, the white-envelope rules, and how to order books, publications, and packages from approved vendors.
• Phone calls and video in Alaska — Setting up a Securus AdvanceConnect account, how calls are billed, free monthly calls, and the rules on three-way and forwarded calls.
• Sending money in Alaska — How to put money on an Offender Trust Account in person or by mail, who is allowed to deposit, accepted forms, and the monthly limit.
• Medical care in Alaska prisons — How health, dental, and mental-health care work in DOC facilities, co-pay amounts, and how to request care.
• Intake, classification, and transfers in Alaska — The booking process, the four custody levels, and how people are housed in Alaska’s unified jail-and-prison system.