The Federal Correctional Institution, Loretto (FCI Loretto) is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Pennsylvania. An adjacent satellite prison camp houses minimum-security male offenders. It is operated by the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

, a division of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

. FCI Loretto is located in Allegheny Township,

Cambria County Cambria County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 133,472. Its county seat is Ebensburg. The county was created on March 26, 1804, from parts of Bedford, Huntingdon, and Somerset Cou ...

, in southwest Pennsylvania, between Altoona and Johnstown, east of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

. , most prisoners have sentences related to illegal drugs. As of that year, the average sentence length is 12 years, and some prisoners have life sentences.

History

FCI Loretto was constructed in 1985 on land which was occupied by St. Francis Seminary from the late 1950s to 1979. Fifteen inmates from the federal prison camp at Allenwood, Pennsylvania, assisted in the construction. These inmates included a US Representative involved in the

ABSCAM Abscam (sometimes written ABSCAM) was an FBI sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members of the United States Congress, among others, for bribery and corruption. The two-year investigation init ...

scandal. By December 2020, nearly 75% of the 856 inmates there were diagnosed with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. Several inmate family members filed lawsuits in response to reports of substandard living conditions during the pandemic and lack of speed in testing and isolating covid 19 positive inmates.

Notable incidents

In December 2012, the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' and several other media sources reported that

Cameron Douglas Cameron Morrell Douglas (born December 13, 1978) is an American actor. Early life and family Douglas is the elder son of actor Michael Douglas and Diandra Morrell Douglas (née Luker), and grandson of actor Kirk Douglas and Bermudan actress ...

, the son of film actor

Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the A ...

, had suffered a broken leg after being assaulted at the prison. Cameron Douglas was serving a 9-year sentence for drug trafficking, and was located in the Central One Unit. It was reported that an unnamed high-ranking

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

figure had placed a $100 bounty on him for agreeing to testify against his suppliers, brothers David and Eduardo Escalera. Douglas was later transferred to the

Federal Correctional Institution, Cumberland The Federal Correctional Institution, Cumberland (FCI Cumberland) is a medium-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Maryland. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justic ...

, a medium-security facility in Maryland.

Facility

FCI Loretto has minimal educational opportunities and a drug-abuse treatment program. Its programs include

English as a second language English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EFL ...

(ESL) and

General Education Development The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...

(GED) classes. As of 2016, 125 prisoners are in the ESL and/or GED programs.

Notable inmates (current)

Notable inmates (former)

References

External links

Bop.gov
{{coord, 40.496, -78.622, region:US-PA_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Cambria County, Pennsylvania Loreto Prisons in Pennsylvania 1985 establishments in Pennsylvania