The 10 Most Dangerous Prisons In Pennsylvania House The Worst Inmates

10 - State Correctional Institution Houtzdale

SCI Houtzdale broke ground in 1994 and officially opened its doors in January 1996 at a cost of roughly $70 million as part of a state-wide initiative to combat severe overcrowding in Pennsylvania’s older penitentiaries.

The facility sits on a 277-acre site and features 11 housing units that frequently house over 2,100 individuals.

Over its three decades of operation, SCI Houtzdale has faced significant challenges involving staff assaults, prison riots, contraband smuggling, and a highly publicized mental health crisis.

The most high-profile security breach occurred on April 28th, 2015, when a standard afternoon turned into a full-scale riot in the recreation yard after a group of inmates refused orders to return to their housing units.

When corrections officers intervened to break up an ensuing fight and attempted to handcuff a prisoner, they were violently ambushed by a larger group of inmates.

Five staff members were injured and treated at a nearby hospital and several inmates were convicted of riot and aggravated assault, resulting in decades of consecutive time added to their sentences.

Only one notorious inmate on the list for SCI Houtzdale, Warren McGlone, also known as "Steady B," was a prominent 1980s Philadelphia hip-hop artist who, along with fellow rapper Cool C, robbed a PNC Bank in Philadelphia in 1996.

During the botched heist, a Philadelphia police officer was shot and killed with McGlone convicted of second-degree murder and served a portion of his life sentence at SCI Houtzdale before later being transferred to SCI Phoenix.

9 - SCI Forest

Built to address the state's ongoing need for maximum-security beds to house high-risk and disruptive inmates, this prison sits on a 113-acre site, with 45 acres enclosed by a high-security perimeter fence.

It features 28 operational structures, including 11 housing units and a special needs unit designed for inmates with chronic mental illness or significant intellectual disabilities who require a more structured environment.

Because of the high-security classification of its population, assaults on corrections officers and support staff have been a recurring challenge, however one of the most notable inmates actually involved a staff member.

One of the most notable inmates to be held at the prison, is Andrew Jerome Wurst who brought a gun to the Parker Middle School graduation dance in Edinboro, Pennsylvania and killed 48-year-old science teacher John Gillette and wounded two students.

Wurst was tried as an adult, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, and was sentenced to 30 to 60 years. He has spent a significant portion of his sentence at SCI Forest.

The facility frequently houses individuals like Robert Jeffery Bailor who was convicted of a brutal, unprovoked 2020 attempted murder and stabbing, and various individuals serving time for severe felony escape attempts.

8 - SCI Dallas

Designed by architect Clarence Littchfield, SCI Dallas officially opened in January 1960 and initially housed individuals with intellectual disabilities who committed crimes and could be held indefinitely.

SCI Dallas transitioned into a standard state correctional institution for adult male felons serving sentences of two years or more in 1966 when those with specific intellectual disabilities were moved to hospital accommodation.

The secure perimeter covers 26 acres, while the state owns over 1,300 acres surrounding the facility and the prison currently houses around 2,100 inmates.

On April 29, 2010, six inmates housed in the prison's Restricted Housing Unit covered their cell door windows with bedding and tied their doors shut and claimed widespread systemic abuse within the unit.

Prison officials ordered the men to clear their windows, but they refused and tactical cell-extraction teams armed with electro-shock shields, tasers, and pepper spray forcibly breached the cells.

Several high-profile and notorious figures have spent time here and include cult leader George Feigley, who operated a pseudo-religious group in Pennsylvania during the 1970's and was involved in several escape attempts.

A legendary figure in the American Mafia, Harry "The Hunchback" Riccobene was a high-ranking member of the Philadelphia crime family and survived a number of assassination attempts.

In the early 1980s, he instigated the bloody "Riccobene War" against tyrannical mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo for control of the city's rackets.

Riccobene was convicted of first-degree murder in 1984 for the assassination of a Scarfo associate and spent the remainder of his life sentence at SCI Dallas, where he died of natural causes in 2000.

7 - SCI Rockview

Originally established as a branch of the Western State Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, SCI Rockview opened in 1915 and was designed as a massive agricultural "honor farm" sprawling across more than 7,000 acres.

It is one of the oldest, most massive, and historically significant institutions in the state, famously serving as the home of Pennsylvania's execution chamber.

Well-behaved prisoners, known as "trustees," worked the vast farms, forests, and pastures completely outside the main complex fences and escape was near impossible due to the punishing mountains and forests surrounding the prison.

With over 110 years of history, Rockview transitioned from its peaceful agricultural roots into a more modern, crowded medium-security facility in the 1980s and 1990s, bringing institutional violence and heavy federal scrutiny.

Following a massive riot at the Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, a major mutiny broke out at Rockview with inmates taking control of a cellblock and holding several guards hostage for several days.

One notable incident at the prison involved John Carter, who was serving a life sentence and had been kept in indefinite solitary confinement for over a decade.

Following a dispute over his meals, a tactical cell-extraction team in full riot gear forcibly breached Carter's cell using massive amounts of pepper spray and electroshock weapons, with Carter killed in the process.

Long-term notable residents at the facility include Antonio Rodriguez, also known as The "Kensington Strangler," a notorious serial killer convicted of murdering three women in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood in 2010.

Another Philadelphia serial killer and former hospital worker to serve time here is Juan Covington, who embarked on a targeted shooting spree, killing three people and wounding several others before his capture in 2005.

6 - SCI Graterford

The State Correctional Institution at Graterford is arguably the most famous, volatile, and culturally impactful maximum-security prison in Pennsylvania history, Graterford served as the state's primary holding facility for violent offenders from 1929 until July 2018.

Graterford was built as a massive, imposing concrete fortress with a perimeter that was defined by a towering, 30-foot-high concrete wall stretching over a mile in length, enclosing 64 acres of land.

Because of its proximity to Philadelphia, it became the primary pipeline facility for individuals convicted of serious felonies in the southeastern region of the state, and, at its peak, the facility was chronically overcrowded, routinely housing more than 3,500 inmates.

The most infamous security breach in Graterford's history occurred on October 28th, 1981, orchestrated by inmate Jo-Jo Bowen and several accomplices who attempted a daring escape that was intercepted by guards.

Bowen and his crew barricaded themselves inside a kitchen storage area, taking three corrections officers and three civilian kitchen workers hostage and a tense 5-day standoff ensued before ending peacefully.

In late October 1995, simmering tensions over overcrowding, poor medical care, and food quality boiled over into an multi-day riot that damaged several housing blocks and required hundreds of state troopers to take back control.

Graterford has housed many of the most dangerous and culturally significant public figures in Pennsylvania's legal history, with Gary M. Heidnik, America's most infamous serial killer, spending a decade on death row at the prison.

While at Graterford, Heidnik was kept under maximum security, heavily targeted by other inmates who despised the nature of his crimes which included the murder of two women at his home, he later moved to SCI Rockview.

5 - SCI Fayette

Opened in September 2003, this $125 million facility holds the unique distinction of being the only prison in the Commonwealth where Pennsylvania license plates are manufactured and was built to replace other, less energy-efficient state prisons.

Unlike many other state facilities whose histories are defined primarily by inmate riots, Fayette is historically notorious for a massive environmental health crisis and intense litigation over its treatment of mentally ill inmates.

The 238-acre facility was constructed directly on top of and adjacent to what was once one of the largest coal processing operations in the world with hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic fly ash and smokestack scrubber waste dumped at the site.

While the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and environmental regulators maintained that toxicity levels fell within "acceptable legal limits," the prison became known nationally in human rights circles as a textbook case of environmental injustice.

SCI Fayette houses a highly secretive and heavily restrictive solitary confinement block known as the Security Threat Group Management Unit and it is used to house both high-level security threats or gang leaders.

SCI Fayette is designed to hold some of the state's most dangerous, violent, and disruptive offenders including Adam Leroy Lane, nicknamed The "Highway Killer," who worked as a cross-country trucker and killed women he visited.

Caleb Fairley, another murderer who killed two, is housed at the prison and was sentenced to consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Gilbert Newton III is also serving time at this facility and was convicted of a brutal domestic violence murder that drew widespread attention in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Number 4 - USP Canaan

One of the most dangerous prisons in the USA, USP Canaan has developed a reputation as one of the most violent and troubled high-security penitentiaries in the federal system.

Constructed at a cost of $141 million and opened in March 2005, this facility houses 1,088 high-security inmates that are housed in six V-shaped housing blocks surrounding a central yard with a main watchtower.

The perimeter is lined with six additional guard towers and a lethal electrical double fence that houses inmates convicted of international terrorism, organized crime, and high-level narcotics trafficking.

On February 25th, 2013, Correctional Officer Eric Williams was blindsided by inmate and down a flight of concrete stairs, before being slashed more than 200-times with a homemade shank.

The murder sparked national outrage and massive union protests which led directly to the passage of the Eric Williams Correctional Officer Protection Act, which mandated that BOP officers be equipped with non-lethal pepper spray.

One of the most infamous international terrorists in recent history, Alexanda Kotey was a member of the four-man British ISIS execution cell dubbed "The Beatles" and was placed under highly restrictive custody here to serve his life sentence.

Another dangerous inmate, high-ranking Somali pirate leader Mohammad Shibin was convicted in federal court for his mastermind role in the 2011 hijacking of an American yacht, is serving multiple concurrent life sentences.

3 - SCI Phoenix

Named after the bird of the same name, this prison cost $400 million to construct, making it the most expensive prison to be constructed in Pennsylvania history with a capacity of 3,830 prisoners.

The prison is currently one of two that house the States Death Row and the prison sits only about one quarter mile from SCI Graterford, even built on some of its land.

When Graterford closed in 2018, most of the prisoners were transferred to Phoenix during a chaotic, highly secured one-week period.

Unlike traditional singular-block penitentiaries, Phoenix is divided into two distinct, symmetric sub-facilities that share centralized administrative, medical, and athletic services.

It features a design capacity of 3,830 beds, making it a primary hub for long-term sentences and maximum-security containment on the East Coast.

Furthermore, many prisoners who held coveted single-occupancy cells at Graterford due to life sentences were forced into double-bunking arrangements at Phoenix, simmering territorial tensions within the housing blocks.

One notorious inmate to be held here was anti-government survivalist Eric Frein, who perpetrated a deadly ambush attack on the Pennsylvania State Police barracks in Blooming Grove in September 2014.

Joseph Ligon held the historic distinction of being America’s oldest and longest-serving "juvenile lifer" after his arrest at 15-years old, for participating in a string of robberies and stabbings, he spent over 68 years behind bars.

Finally, Danilo Cavalcante, a Brazilian national convicted of brutally murdering his ex-girlfriend, became one of the most infamous figures in modern Pennsylvania law enforcement history.

He made international headlines in August 2023 when he executed a daring "spider-walk" escape out of Chester County Prison, successfully evaded hundreds of local, state, and federal tactical officers and served his remaining sentence at Phoenix.

2 - SCI Greene

Designed with high-tech security features of its era, this prison featured automated controls and central air conditioning to manage some of the state's most high-risk inmates.

For years, it served as the primary housing facility for the majority of Pennsylvania's capital death row cases inmates and opened on November 9, 1993.

One of the facility's former guards, Charles Graner was later convicted of prisoner abuse after the 2003–2004 Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal was revealed by photos leaked to the media.

Former Penn State assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, was transferred to SCI Greene in 2012 to serve his 30-to-60-year sentence and he was placed under strict protective custody within the maximum-security facility to ensure his physical safety.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, the political activist and former Black Panther was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and spent a significant portion of his decades on death row isolated at SCI Greene.

Finally one of the most dangerous inmates, Cosmo DiNardo, was convicted of the horrific 2017 murders of four young men on a farm in Bucks County and placed into maximum security at Greene.

1 - USP Lewisburg

Playing a prominent role in the history of the American federal prison system, USP Lewisburg's fortress-like design and strict administration have earned it the nickname "The Big House."

In 2024, the Bureau of Prisons officially re designated the facility from a United States Penitentiary to a medium-security Federal Correctional Institution, but the USP name has always stuck.

Opening in November 1932 as the Northeastern Federal Penitentiary, Lewisburg was built to relieve overcrowding in other federal prisons and was designed to look like a grand medieval fortress.

Complete with towering brick walls and an imposing visual presence, it operated as a maximum-security prison for most of its life and housed the Special Management Unit, designed to hold the worst of the worst.

On November 1st, 1995, a major riot erupted within the facility that had been sparked by a small group of about 10 prisoners with over over 20 inmates requiring hospital treatment,

Lewisburg became notorious for cellmate violence during its time hosting the Special Housing Unit, and rival gang members were frequently locked in tight cells together for 23-hours a day.

Robert Lee Johnson, a former U.S. Army sergeant convicted in 1965 of spying for the Soviet KGB, was stabbed to death inside USP Lewisburg in 1972 by another inmate.

For decades, Lewisburg was famous for its "Mafia Row," housing a dense collection of the mid-20th century’s most infamous organized crime bosses and public enemies.

Many former high profile inmates have been residents here with famous American gangster Al Capone spending a very brief, highly publicized stint at Lewisburg in 1939 during his transfer and release from Terminal Island.

Long before he became the "Dapper Don" and boss of the Gambino crime family, John Gotti served time at Lewisburg from 1969 to 1972 for his involvement in massive cargo theft and hijacking rings out of JFK Airport.

The notorious Boston mob boss and FBI informant Whitey Bulger spent time at this prison from 1963 to 1965 early in his criminal career when he was primarily a bank robber.

Finally, Lookaysee crime family associate Henry Hill, whose life inspired the movie Goodfellas, was incarcerated at Lewisburg from 1972 to 1978 for extortion and several scenes filmed were a throwback to life inside.

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