Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp

Wyoming's fire and conservation work camp north of Newcastle — minimum-custody men plus the women's intensive treatment unit, with visiting days split by population.

Overview

The Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp opened in 1989 north of Newcastle, descended from the inmate fire camps that operated in the Black Hills as far back as the 1960s. Its defining program continues that line: a partnership with the Wyoming State Forestry Division, running 44 years by WDOC’s count, that puts minimum-custody men to work on forestry and conservation crews.

The camp now houses two distinct populations. Three dorms hold 238 minimum-custody men. A separate, double-fenced secure building — formerly the state’s boot camp — holds the women’s intensive treatment unit (ITU), a 56-bed substance-use treatment program, and WDOC states it houses all custody levels for that female ITU population. A woman in Wyoming’s prison system whose locator entry shows WHCC is in that treatment unit, about 85 road miles from the Women’s Center in Lusk.

One historical note that still causes confusion: the boot camp (Youthful Offender Program) that long operated at Newcastle moved in 2021 — the men’s program to the State Penitentiary in Rawlins and the women’s to the Women’s Center in Lusk, per local news reporting. Families of boot-camp participants no longer travel to Newcastle.

What Makes Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp Different

• Visiting days are split by population: men’s visits run Friday and Saturday, women’s visits Sunday and Monday — a family visiting a man and arriving on a Sunday finds no men’s session.
• It is Wyoming’s conservation and fire work camp, one of the system’s two open minimum-custody facilities.
• The women’s intensive treatment unit means this nominally men’s camp houses women as well as men.
• WHCC is one of only two WDOC facilities with a video visiting form posted on the department’s visitation page (the other is the State Penitentiary) — though the posted link has carried the wrong file, so requesting the form from the facility is the reliable path.
• WDOC’s posted visitation-page text and its linked schedule PDF give different time windows for WHCC — the discrepancy is real and unresolved on the department’s own site, which makes calling (307) 746-4436 before traveling more than a formality.
• It sits at the edge of the Black Hills: the nearest cities and airports are Rapid City, South Dakota and Gillette, each well over an hour away.

Visiting Hours and Procedures

The statewide rules above — the inmate-initiated application, dress code, ID, and the full-body scanner — apply at WHCC. What follows is specific to this facility.

As a minimum-security facility, WHCC falls under the policy exception to the statewide first-come-first-served rule, and visits with the women’s ITU population follow treatment-unit procedures. Video visits run on ICSolutions’ “The Visitor” system with free registration and a from-home fee that varies by facility. The full approval process, dress code, and arrival rules are in Visiting in Wyoming.

Getting There and Parking

The camp is on state land north of Newcastle, which sits at the junction of US-16 and US-85 at the southwestern edge of the Black Hills.

No public transit to Newcastle is published — the trip is by car. WDOC publishes no visitor parking details. Black Hills-area highways close in winter storms; wyoroad.info and the Wyoming 511 app carry current conditions.

Nearby Services

Newcastle, a town of about 3,400, has a Maverik station on West Main Street, local restaurants including a Main Street diner, and lodging at the Newcastle Lodge & Convention Center on Highway 85 and a Super 8. Weston County Health Services at 1124 Washington Boulevard in Newcastle runs an emergency department open around the clock.

Learn More

For detailed information about visiting and communicating with someone in a Wyoming state facility:

• Visiting in Wyoming — the inmate-initiated application, dress code, and scanner
• Mail & Packages — the number-after-name addressing rule
• Phone & Video Calls — the ICSolutions system and calling lists
• Sending Money — the visitor-list deposit requirement
• Medical & Mental Health — the 24/7 family crisis line
• Transfers — intake, custody levels, and out-of-state placement