Federal Medical Center (Lexington-Fayette County, Kentucky)

 prison  Add category

 Upload a photo

The Federal Medical Center, Lexington is a federal prison in Lexington, Kentucky housing 1,464 male inmates at high security and 296 female inmates at a low security camp.

The site opened on May 15, 1935 on 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) under the name "U.S. Narcotics Farm" then changed shortly after to "U.S. Public Health Service Hospital". In 1967 it changed its name again to "National Institute of Mental Health, Clinical Research Center". Its original purpose was to treat people that "voluntarily" were admitted with drug abuse problems and treat them, with mostly experimental treatments; it was the first of its kind in the United States. The 1,050-acre (4.2 km²) site included a farm and dairy, working on which was considered therapeutic for patients.

Among the research advances made at the Addiction Research Center were the characterization of acute and protracted drug withdrawal syndromes, recognition of Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as the active constituent of marijuana, and identification of subtypes of opiate receptors. Treatment advances included methadone to treat heroin withdrawal, opiate antagonist therapy, and recognition of the role of conditioning in drug abuse relapse.

In 1974 the institution became a federal prison but maintained a "psychiatric hospital" title until 2 inmates killed another in 1998 with a fire extinguisher and most of those patients were moved to other federal medical centers.