The State Correctional Institution – Graterford, commonly referred to as SCI Graterford, known prior as Eastern Correctional Institution, Graterford Prison, Graterford Penitentiary, and the Graterford Prison Farm, was a

Pennsylvania Department of Corrections The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PADOC) is the Pennsylvania state agency that is responsible for the confinement, care and rehabilitation of approximately 37,000 inmates at state correctional facilities funded by the Commonwealth of P ...

prison located in Skippack Township, Montgomery County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, near Graterford.SCI Graterford
"

. Retrieved on May 29, 2010. The prison, located on Graterford Road off of

Pennsylvania Route 29 Pennsylvania Route 29 (PA 29) is a north–south state highway that runs through most of eastern Pennsylvania. The route currently exists in two segments, a southern segment and a northern segment. The southern segment runs from U.S. Route ...

, was about northwest of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. The prison, described by Joseph Stefano of ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' as the primary state prison serving the

Philadelphia metropolitan area Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since 1 ...

, once housed a small number of male death row inmates.Murphy, Jan.
Q&A on the death penalty in Pa.: How does someone get put to death, more

. Pennlive.com. January 5, 2015. Retrieved on February 1, 2016. Graterford closed in 2018 and was replaced by SCI Phoenix.

History

The facility, built in 1929, was Pennsylvania's largest maximum-security

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

, holding about 3,500 prisoners. It replaced functions at

Eastern State Penitentiary The Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) is a former American prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at 2027 Fairmount Avenue between Corinthian Avenue and North 22nd Street in the Fairmount section of the city, and was operational from ...

in Philadelphia, which had previously experienced some disturbances. The Graterford grounds include an extensive

prison farm A prison farm (also known as a penal farm) is a large correctional facility where penal labor convicts are forced to work on a farm legally and illegally (in the wide sense of a productive unit), usually for manual labor, largely in the open ai ...

on ; the prison compound itself lies within high walls surmounted by nine staffed towers. An $80 million construction program completed in 1989 added a new administration building, a 28-bed infirmary, and 372 additional cells. As recently as 1978 the prison held only about 1,600 prisoners in 2,000 available cells distributed among five major cellblocks of 400 cells each. The five major cellblocks were supplemented by about 40 cells in a security unit known as BAU (Behavior Adjustment Unit) or RHU (Restricted Housing Unit); this unit included a special death row section (though executions were never carried out at this prison). The original 1929 plan for the facility included eight major cellblocks of 400 cells each, or 3,200 individual cells. An engraving of this plan is found on a brass plaque just inside the facility's double-gated airlock-type main entrance. The prison's two current Restricted Housing Units (RHU) are essentially prisons within a prison and house over 300 prisoners — about 10 percent of the total prison population - who are allowed one hour a day for exercise, remaining confined to their cells the other 23, where they receive three meals a day and are permitted shower visits. The prisoners in RHU are allowed only one visitor per month. SCI-Graterford has a 22-bed Mental Health Unit contracted to MHM Services to facilitate a mental health program. SCI-Graterford Industries provides work and economic activity within the prison, including a garment factory, undergarment factory, shoe factory, weave plant, hosiery factory, carton factory, and a mail distribution center. Prison factories and industries employ 21 civilian staff, 315 inmate staff, and in 20032004 generated revenues of $4,450,940.01. The prison also conducts farming operations and educational programs. In the final period of operations, Cynthia Link, the superintendent of Graterford and the prospective superintendent of Graterford's replacement facility, SCI Phoenix, resigned and retired. Laurel Harry, previously the superintendent of SCI Camp Hill, became the interim superintendent. SCI Phoenix opened in July 2018. The state began moving Graterford prisoners there on July 11, 2018, and Graterford ended operations on July 15, 2018. All Graterford employees became Phoenix employees. Some inmates disliked the move as they feared they would be sharing cells with other inmates, while at Graterford they had single cells. The population of Graterford was reduced so the transfer of inmates to Phoenix would not involve as many people.

Programs

Graterford had a music program for inmates, Songs in the Key of Free, run by volunteers and established in October 2016. A previous musical program ended around 2006. The program ended on May 21, 2018 as a result of Graterford's closure. In addition the stress-reduction and therapy programs from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

professor Nancy Wolff were also terminated as part of the move.

Notable inmates

George Feigley George Feigley (June 23, 1940 – April 13, 2009) was an American church leader. He has been described as a sex cult leader. Feigley served over 32 years in prison for sex crimes against children, from 1975 to 2008. In 1971, Feigley founded an ...

, sex cult leader, was imprisoned at Graterford from 1979-1981. He was transferred to

Western Penitentiary Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

after plans for him to escape by

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

were unearthed. *

Bernard Hopkins Bernard Hopkins Jr. (born January 15, 1965) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2016. He is one of the most successful boxers of the past three decades, having held multiple world championships in two weight clas ...

, future boxing champion, spent several years at Graterford before beginning his boxing career. *

Meek Mill Robert Rihmeek Williams (born May 6, 1987), known professionally as Meek Mill, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he embarked on his music career as a battle rapper, and later formed a short-lived rap group, ...

, popular Philadelphia-native rapper, served time at Graterford from 2017-2018.

References

External links

* -

Songs in the Key of Free music program

interactive aerial perspective photograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:State Correctional Institution - Graterford Graterford Buildings and structures in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Capital punishment in Pennsylvania 1929 establishments in Pennsylvania 2018 disestablishments in Pennsylvania