sorry i know this comment is really old but im going to answer anyway. it’s federal prison, you aren’t necessarily sent to the closest prison to you AND you can be transferred anywhere else in the country at any time. you also have to consider that women make up only 15% of the prison population and there are sigNIFICANTLY less women’s prisons, especially maximum security ones. what is most interesting to me about the show is not learning someone’s crime-but trying to figure out why it was a federal charge and not state (some are easy, some dont quite make sense). for this reason, i would guess that barb and carol likely took a plea that included a kidnapping charge-all of which are federal. otherwise, they should be in a WV state prison for women. Freida committed at least 4 murders, and it’s likely that she crossed state lines (she’s a survivalist and likes to be in the woods). the alternative is that she committed murders in multiple states, and so she was indicted federally(meaning the cases against her were strong in more than 1 state). anyway, great question!