United States · Colorado · Buena Vista
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Buena Vista Correctional Facility is a state prison located in Chaffee County, Colorado. Rated capacity: 1,234. Reported population: 1,212. Security level: Close. Data sourced from the HIFLD Prison Boundaries open dataset.
The Buena Vista Correctional Facility, also known as Buena Vista Correctional Complex, is a state prison for men located in Buena Vista, Chaffee County, Colorado, owned and operated by the Colorado Department of Corrections. The facility opened as an adult prison in 1978, and houses 871 inmates at medium and close security levels, along with the 288-inmate Buena Vista Minimum Center, and another 100 minimum security inmates within the Colorado Correctional Alternative Program ("Boot Camp"). The Minimum security building is referred to as "The Mods" by the inmates, and the medium security facility is called "The Buildings." The prison is split into 6 Housing units A&O which is an Orientation unit that inmates are placed in when they first arrive to the prison. Segregation is the unit where inmates are placed for disciplinary actions, North Unit, Lower North Unit, East Unit and South Unit which houses the majority of the prisons active gang members and violent offenders. In the late 90s and Early 2000s "The Buildings was referred to as "Gladiator School" because most of Colorado's younger gang members were sent there.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
1,234
Current population
1,212
Occupancy
98%
Year opened
1892
Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 2 Jun 2026 · methodology
Population held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
1892
Region
Colorado
Security level
Close
Death-row facility
No
No conditions summary available yet.
No visiting information available.
No mailing information available.
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
No major issues documented in our database.
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
This facility scores 0. The national average across 7,437 scored United States facilities is 2 — 2 points below national average.
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
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Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
World Prisons. (2026). Buena Vista Correctional Facility. Retrieved July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/buena-vista-correctional-facility
"Buena Vista Correctional Facility." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/buena-vista-correctional-facility.
@misc{worldprisons-buena-vista-correctional-fa,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {Buena Vista Correctional Facility},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/buena-vista-correctional-facility},
urldate = {2026-07-21}
}