Peter DeCoster has been incarcerated in the Federal Medical Center (FMC) at Rochester, MN.
FMC Rochester is a federal prison for male inmates requiring specialized or long-term medical or mental health care. As an administrative facility of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), it holds inmates of all security classifications.
DeCoster, 54, was sentenced to 90 days in federal prison for his role as a responsible corporate official of the family owned Quality Egg LLC, the company that in 2010 owned two Iowa egg production facilities that were implicated in a nationwide salmonella outbreak that sickened thousands.
Austin (Jack) DeCoster, Peter’s father, was also sentenced to 90-days for the same offense, allowing adulterated eggs to reach markets through interstate commerce. The senior DeCoster, 82, is not yet in BOP custody as he is being allowed to serve after his son is released.
Why Peter DeCoster has been placed in one of the federal Bureau of Prisons’ six medical centers is not known. He was allowed to make some information that concerned his sentencing available under seal to the trial court.
“Jack” DeCoster, however, has been entirely public about his medical needs. He’s asked to be assigned to the Satellite Prison Camp at FCI Berlin, NH. He says Berlin is the “closest minimum security facility to his family that would allow for meaningful visitation” and permit “consulting with a cardiologist and having certain cardiac tests performed, as recommended by his primary care provider in response to recent episodes of dizziness and weakness.”
“Jack” DeCoster and his wife permanently relocated to Turner, ME, from Clarion, IA, since he and his son were originally sentenced in 2015. Their sentences were on hold while they pursed appeals, including one to the U.S. Supreme Court.
FMC Rochester is one of three medical facilities that “are clearly the ‘gold standard’” for BOP medical care, according to the DC Prisoners’ Project. The southeast Minnesota facility, located in the same city as the famed Mayo Clinic , is said to provide excellent medical care “sometimes for extremely complex medical needs.”
Among the 656 inmates at FMC Rochester is Jared Lee Loughner, the 26-year old killer of six people in Tucson during a 2012 attempt to assassinate then Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
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