FCI Petersburg Low, near Hopewell, Virginia, has one of the longer and more unusual histories among federal prisons still operating: it dates back to 1932, when it opened as the Petersburg Federal Reformatory, built on former farmland along the Appomattox River. Unlike a standard penitentiary, a reformatory of that era was designed around rehabilitation and vocational training for younger offenders, and inmates themselves largely built and sustained the place, developing alfalfa and vegetable fields, dairy operations, a cinderblock plant, and even a homemade fire brigade, while landscaping the grounds with dogwood and other native plantings. During World War II the population briefly expanded to include Italian prisoners of war, and over subsequent decades the reformatory model gave way to the modern Bureau of Prisons structure, eventually becoming today's low-security institution with an adjacent minimum-security camp that opened in 1978. It's now part of the larger FCC Petersburg complex alongside the newer medium-security facility. For families, it's worth remembering this is genuinely one of the older continuously operating federal institutions in the country, shaped by nearly a century of changing correctional philosophy.