Due to the use of community treatment centers and the diversion of offenders to State and local prosecution, the number of offenders in Federal prisons decreased significantly in 1979, and as a result the problem of overcrowding was reduced in most institutions. Some 10,500 inmates participated in community treatment center and halfway house programs during 1979. Also the Office of Inspection was established in 1979, as part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), to maintain the highest standards of staff conduct, honesty, and managerial competence. Moreover, since 1971, 26 percent of all new BOP hirees have come from minority groups. The BOP has also implemented a new security designation system for institutions and offenders designed to place offender in the least restrictive institution necessary for security and to move them as close to their homes as possible. To keep offenders profitably employed, Federal Prison Industries had established 82 industrial operations in 36 institutions at the end of fiscal year 1979. SENTRY, an automated inmate information system, provides a common data base of operation information for the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Parole Commission, and the Federal Prison System. Education services for inmates in 1979 ranged from basic literacy through college-level courses, as well as courses designed to help inmates enhance their social skills. Other prison services included vocational training, chaplaincy service, health care, mental health and counseling services, and witness protection services. Bureau appropriations for 1979 totaled $348,700.00. The article includes a list of Federal correctional institutions, a geographical map of the Federal Correctional System, statistical information on the prison population, and photographs.