Our Mission

Jail bars behind text.

Working to protect the health, safety, and dignity of all incarcerated people

Graphic of two hands making a heart.
A counselor taking notes during a group session.

We Monitor & Mediate

The Society is the sole organization in the Commonwealth with legal authority to visit any prison or jail.
We put our unique access to good use to resolve individual requests for assistance and report without bias on what happens behind bars.

We Connect

In a prison system that causes isolation by design, we believe in a better way.
We help to mitigate the isolation inherent in the prison experience with meaningful support, services, and programs for incarcerated people and their loved ones. Being behind bars should not equate to losing access to your personal support network, and it doesn’t have to.
A man in an orange jump suit talks on the phone.
Two inmates playing basketball.

We Make It Human

Because it is.
Empathy and impartiality are at the forefront of how we advocate for the improvement of the conditions inside our prisons. We shine a light on the experience of incarceration in Pennsylvania to enact larger systemic change.