FCI Petersburg Medium is the newer of the two institutions that make up FCC Petersburg, located in Prince George County near Hopewell, Virginia, about 25 miles southeast of Richmond. It opened in 2002, roughly seventy years after its sister facility, FCI Petersburg Low, which traces back to a 1930s-era federal reformatory on the same general grounds. The Medium facility was built to add higher-security capacity to the complex as the Bureau of Prisons modernized and expanded its infrastructure in Virginia, and it operates as a standard medium-security institution for male inmates. Because it's a comparatively recent addition rather than a legacy building with decades of colorful institutional history, there isn't much dramatic historical lore attached specifically to the Medium facility the way there is with the older Low facility next door. For families, it helps to keep straight that "Petersburg" actually refers to two separate institutions on adjoining land, so confirming whether a loved one is at the Low or the Medium facility matters for visiting, mail, and other logistics.