The Waseca Federal Correctional Institution (FCI Waseca), a low-security prison for female offenders in Minnesota, was established in 1995 and currently houses approximately 728 inmates. On paper, it appears to be just another facility within the vast U.S. federal prison system—a place where individuals serve their time and, ideally, work toward rehabilitation. But behind the walls of this so-called “low-security” prison lies a reality that is anything but secure for the women confined there.
Despite its relatively small population, FCI Waseca has become a breeding ground for corruption, abuse, and unchecked criminal activity. From drugs to sexual coercion, from staff complicity to outright brutality, this facility has reportedly fostered an environment where power is abused, silence is enforced, and justice is routinely ignored.
In this upcoming tell-all livestream interview, several former inmates will speak on their experiences, revealing the harrowing realities of what truly happens behind the gates of Waseca. This presentation serves as a prelude to their testimonies, an exposé on the dark underbelly of America’s prison system, and a brutal assessment of how a facility designed to “correct” has instead become a haven for corruption.
The Prison Pipeline: A System Built for Exploitation
Prisons in the United States, regardless of their official security level, are often structured in a way that enables the very behaviors they claim to prevent. Waseca FCI is no exception. While labeled as “low-security,” it is not low in violence, abuse, or illicit activity. The very people who are supposed to protect the incarcerated women—correctional officers, medical personnel, administrative staff—often become their worst tormentors.
Drugs flow into the prison through hands that should be enforcing the law. Contraband is smuggled in, not by inmates who have no outside access, but by those in uniform who turn a profit by endangering the very lives they are tasked with overseeing. Inside these walls, the power dynamics are heavily skewed. The women locked within FCI Waseca find themselves at the mercy of those who abuse their authority, trading privileges for silence and exploiting vulnerability for personal gain.
Sexual Abuse: The Hidden Currency of Control
Prison walls do not keep out the worst of human nature—they conceal it. At FCI Waseca, as in countless other correctional institutions, sex is a weapon, a bargaining chip, and a means of asserting dominance. Reports of coercion and assault have long haunted the corridors of women’s prisons, yet justice for the victims is often nonexistent.
Correctional officers, aware of the lack of oversight, prey on incarcerated women who have no power to fight back. Those who resist are met with retaliation—thrown into solitary confinement under false pretenses, denied basic necessities, or labeled as troublemakers. Others, out of desperation, succumb to the manipulation, engaging in forced relationships for protection, access to contraband, or the mere hope of better treatment.
The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was meant to put an end to this, yet in facilities like Waseca, the rules mean nothing when those enforcing them are the very perpetrators of abuse.
Drugs, Smuggling, and Staff Complicity
Drugs are not manufactured inside prison walls—they are brought in, and in most cases, it is not the inmates orchestrating the operation. In FCI Waseca, allegations suggest that correctional officers and outside contractors facilitate the flow of illicit substances.
Women battling addiction before incarceration often find that prison does not offer rehabilitation but rather a continued cycle of dependency. Instead of receiving treatment, they are given access to the very substances that landed them behind bars in the first place. This is not an accident. It is not incompetence. It is business.
For some officers, the trade in drugs and contraband is more lucrative than their government paychecks. Phones, narcotics, even weapons—items that should never make it past security screenings—end up in the hands of inmates because someone in power allows it to happen. And when overdoses occur, when lives are lost, the official narrative is always the same: “The inmate made a bad choice.” But how did they get the choice in the first place?
Deaths That Never Make the Headlines
People die in prison every day. Some from natural causes, some from violence, and others from the sheer negligence of a system that sees them as expendable. At FCI Waseca, the deaths of inmates are rarely reported, and when they are, the truth is often buried beneath bureaucratic indifference.
Medical neglect is rampant in correctional facilities across the country, and Waseca is no exception. Sick inmates are ignored, given inadequate treatment, or accused of exaggerating their symptoms until it’s too late. Women who enter prison with minor health concerns often leave in body bags, victims of a system that values cost-cutting over human lives.
When violence erupts, it is quickly covered up. Officers who go too far in their use of force are shielded by falsified reports, internal investigations that lead nowhere, and a culture of silence that ensures the truth never reaches the public.
A Culture of Fear and Silence
One of the most effective tools of oppression within Waseca and prisons like it is fear. Fear of retaliation, fear of solitary confinement, fear of losing what little privileges one has left. Women who witness wrongdoing—be it staff misconduct, sexual abuse, or corruption—know better than to speak up.
Those who do attempt to seek justice often find themselves punished instead. Their grievances disappear. Their abusers remain in power. The system, designed to uphold law and order, instead functions to protect itself at all costs.
The Stories Yet to Be Told
This livetream tonight is merely an introduction, a starting point and a small but powerful glimpse into what will soon be revealed when the women of FCI Waseca come forward to share their firsthand accounts. These are not isolated incidents. They are not rare occurrences. They are part of a widespread pattern of abuse, corruption, and human rights violations within the American prison system.
Waseca FCI may be labeled as a low-security facility, but for the women trapped inside, it is anything but. When the testimonies are finally heard, when the veil of secrecy is lifted, the hope is that the world will no longer be able to ignore what happens behind these prison walls.
The voices of our Sisters here will speak the truth. And when they do, the world must listen.
