USP Terre Haute is the high-security penitentiary within the Terre Haute federal complex in Indiana, and it holds a distinct, weighty place in U.S. history as the site of the federal government's execution chamber. In 1993, the Bureau of Prisons designated the facility for this purpose, in part because of its central location and because it was already a high-security institution equipped to handle the most serious cases. A dedicated Special Confinement Unit was built out between 1993 and 1996 to house inmates under federal death sentences, along with a separate execution building completed a few years later. The chamber became internationally known in June 2001, when Timothy McVeigh, convicted for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, was executed there — the first federal execution carried out since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s, drawing massive media attention at the time. It has remained the sole site where federal executions take place since. Beyond its death row and execution facilities, USP Terre Haute also functions as a general high-security prison for male inmates, with an adjoining minimum-security camp on the same complex.