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Quick Facts

  1. Approximately 2.3 million people are incarcerated in the United States.
  2. Roughly 80,000 people
    are incarcerated in Pennsylvania's state and county correctional facilities.
  3. Ninety percent of those in prison in Pennsylvania will be released back into the community at some point.
  4. Pennsylvania has the fourth-largest death row population in the U.S.
  5. 70 percent of the people on death row in Pennsylvania are people of color.
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Founded in 1787, the Pennsylvania Prison Society is a social justice organization that advocates on behalf of prisoners, formerly incarcerated individuals and their families. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the Prison Society offers direct services and official prison visitation through a network of statewide chapters.

For more information about the Pennsylvania Prison Society, go to ABOUT on this website.

 

Family Transportation Services

The Pennsylvania Prison Society's Family Transportation Services program offers affordable bus service to 24 state correctional institutions throughout Pennsylvania (except SCI Chester and SCI Graterford). For more information, click here.

You can also call 215.564.4775, ext. 119 and leave your name, telephone number, the institution you wish to visit, the date you wish to travel, and the total number of individuals traveling and someone will return your call within 5-10 business days. For the current bus schedule, click here.

Family Virtual Visitation

The Pennsylvania Prison Society's Family Virtual Visitation program brings friends and relatives together with their incarcerated loved ones using the latest videoconferencing equipment. They can "virtually" visit with their incarcerated loved ones at our downtown Philadelphia office if they are located at Albion, Cambridge Springs, Coal Township, Dallas, Greene, Mahanoy, Muncy and Pine Grove. Advance reservations are required. Visits run $20 for 55 minutes.

For more information, click here or call 215.564.4775, ext. 103.

What's New?

 

A Decade Behind Bars: Return to the Farm will air on Tuesday evening, June 16 at 8 p.m. on National Geographic Channel.

This documentary takes place 10 years after the original Oscar award-nominated film, The Farm, where the lives of six prisoners were followed during their stay at Louisiana's Angola Prison. The two-hour special captures pivotal moments and personal revelations from those incarcerated and recently freed, their family members, and, in one case, the alleged victims.

Of the six inmates portrayed in the first film, only four are still living (one died of lung cancer; the other was executed). The intimate and candid words and images of the remaining four powerfully reflect the struggle and humanity that these convicted criminals face behind bars and on the streets.

THE PRISON JOURNAL HONORS THE PRISON SOCIETY

A special issue of The Prison Journal—a forum for studies and discussion on prison issues ranging from confinement to treatment to alternative sanctions, has been published in honor of The Pennsylvania Prison Society. A Sage Publications periodical, The Prison Journal was originally published by the Prison Society (formerly known as the Philadelphia Society to Alleviate the Miseries of Public Prisons) starting around 1848.

Following are the articles featured in the special March 2009 issue (Volume 89 Number 1). To download a copy, click on the link below:

Special Issues Reflections: The History of Prisons and Punishment by William DiMascio

Introduction: The Special Issue on the History of Prisons and Punishment by Marianne Fisher-GiorlandoIntroduction: The Special Issue on the History of Prisons and Punishment

Evolving Function: Early Use of Imprisonment as Punishment by Norman Johnston

Historical Review of Mother and Child Programs for Incarcerated Women by Susan C. Craig

"Hell Exploded": Prisoner Music and Memoir and the Fall of Convict Leasing in Texas by Robert Perkinson

The Rotten Barrel Spoils the Apples: How Situational Factors Contribute to Detention Officer Abuse Toward Inmates: A Review of The Lucifer Effect, by Philip Zimbardo by Arthur J. Lurigio

The Evolution of Community Corrections: The Enduring Influence of the Prison by Eric J. Wodahl and Brett Garland

For an annual subscription to The Prison Journal, e-mail your request to Sage Publications.

CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS:  About 2.5 million children in the United States have a parent in jail or prison, and some have even witnessed their parent's arrest. Confusion, hurt, loneliness, anger, isolation, and shame are just a few of the typical feelings these children experience. The Pennsylvania Prison Society's SKIP program provides a "safe space" for children to discuss their feelings and a venue to better understand and deal with their parent's incarceration. For more information, click here.

Departments and Programs

 

Administrative Office: 215.564.6005

Programs and Services Office: 215.564.4775

 

Communications (Dee Johnson) Extension 112

Controller (Laureta Profka) Extension 115

Development (Catherine Wise) Extension 106

Executive Assistant (Donna Shreve) ext. 116

Executive Director (William DiMascio) ext. 113

Family Transportation Services Program ext. 119

Family Virtual Visitation Program ext. 103

General Information ext. 100

Inmate Family Services Program Manager (Ceciley Bradford) ext. 104

Official Prison Visitors Network (Kelly Golini) ext. 100

Policy (Ann Schwartzman) ext. 117

Prisoner Reentry Initiative Program (Charles Fleming) ext. 109

Program Director (Betty Ann Izenman) ext. 114

Philly ReNew/Reentry Services Program Manager (Pamela Superville) ext. 120

Philly ReNew/Reentry Services Life Skills Educator (Cameron Holmes) ext. 109

Philly ReNew/Reentry Services Case Manager (James Williams) ext. 125

Philly ReNew/Reentry Services Administrative Assistant (Angela Richardson) ext. 121

Support to Kids with Incarcerated Parents Program ext. 104

Working Group to Enhance Services to Incarcerated Women ext. 117