Most inmates sentenced to death by the U.S. federal government are housed in USP Terre Haute prior to execution.

The U.S. Public Works Administration issued a $3 million grant to pay for construction of USP Terre Haute in 1938.

In 2004, the new USP was built on adjoining property, with the old penitentiary becoming the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute.

The inmates housed here can work at UNICOR, which is a prison industry that makes towels and other accessories for the military.

On June 18, 1993, the director of the BOP designated USP Terre Haute as the site where executions under federal death sentences would be carried out.

The Bureau of Prisons modified USP Terre Haute in 1995 and 1996 so it could house death row functions.

On July 13, 1999, the Special Confinement Unit at USP Terre Haute opened, and the BOP transferred male federal death row inmates from other federal prisons and from state prisons to USP Terre Haute.