Pennsylvania has 26 state correctional institutions spread across a state that is larger than most people who are not from Pennsylvania realize. The incarcerated population comes primarily from Philadelphia in the southeast and Pittsburgh in the southwest. The prisons are in Appalachian Pennsylvania: in Forest County near the New York border, in Luzerne County in the Pocono region, in the Allegheny Plateau, in the mountain counties of the north-central interior where the population is sparse and the county economy sometimes relies on the prison.
I went into the federal system, not the Pennsylvania DOC. I went in when my kids were 9, 11, 12, 15, 18, and 20. What I know from 66 months is that what both parents do with the access they have is more important than the distance between the facility and the family home. Pennsylvania's distances are real. The choices available to both parents are the same choices that appear in every state in this series.
How mail, phone, and email work in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania's communication system for incarcerated individuals has three separate components, each with a different provider.
Phone calls: Pennsylvania state prisons use Securus Technologies for phone calls. The inmate adds the family member to their telephone list. The family member then creates a Securus account to receive calls. Securus calls may appear as spam on some phones; storing the number in contacts or alerting your carrier will prevent missed calls. FCC rate caps effective April 6, 2026, limit calls to $0.11 per minute at prisons and large jails plus a facility fee.
Email: Pennsylvania DOC uses ViaPath Technologies for email communication. Families and friends create a ConnectNetwork account at ConnectNetwork.com to send emails to inmates. All emails are reviewed for appropriate content. ViaPath Friends and Family Customer Service: 1-877-650-4249.
Mail: All physical mail to Pennsylvania state inmates goes to a centralized mail processing facility, not to the institution directly. The mail address for all Pennsylvania DOC inmates is: Smart Communications/PADOC, [Inmate Name/Inmate Number], [Institution], PO Box 33028, St Petersburg, FL 33733. Do not send mail directly to the SCI where the inmate is housed. It will not be received correctly.
This three-provider structure means a Pennsylvania family needs a Securus account for phone, a ConnectNetwork account for email, and must use the Smart Communications address for physical mail. Set up all three as early as possible.
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh families in the mountains of Pennsylvania
SCI Phoenix in Collegeville, Montgomery County, is about 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia. It is one of the few major facilities in the Commonwealth that Philadelphia families can reach without a long drive. Phoenix replaced SCI Graterford in 2018 and holds 3,830 people, making it one of the largest in the system.
Beyond Phoenix, the distances grow. SCI Chester is in Delaware County, near Philadelphia. SCI Laurel Highlands in Somerset County is in the Laurel Highlands, 75 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. SCI Dallas is in Luzerne County in the Pocono region, 120 miles northwest of Philadelphia through the mountains. SCI Forest is in Marienville, Forest County, one of the most sparsely populated counties in Pennsylvania and roughly 200 miles from Philadelphia through Appalachian terrain that is beautiful and largely inaccessible by public transit.
For a family in North Philadelphia whose parent is at SCI Forest, the drive is over three hours each way through mountain roads. For a family in Pittsburgh whose parent is at SCI Dallas, it is a similar drive in the opposite direction. The SCIs in the remote interior of the state were largely built as economic anchors for rural counties, which means their placement reflects local politics as much as correctional geography.
The practical reality: for families without cars, many of Pennsylvania's state facilities are essentially unreachable by public transit. There is no Amtrak to Marienville. There is no bus to the Allegheny Plateau that runs on a visiting schedule. The Securus call, the ViaPath email, and the physical letter through Smart Communications are not supplements to the visit. For many Philadelphia and Pittsburgh families, they are the relationship during the sentence. The three-provider structure is an inconvenience for families with resources. For families without resources, navigating Securus and ConnectNetwork and Smart Communications correctly is the whole infrastructure of staying connected.
Classification, Camp Hill, and the waiting period
All male inmates entering the Pennsylvania DOC are processed through the Diagnostic and Classification Center at SCI Camp Hill in Cumberland County, near Harrisburg. All female inmates are processed through the DCC at SCI Muncy in Lycoming County. Classification takes anywhere from weeks to months.
During classification, the DOC evaluates health care needs, psychological needs, and programming needs, and determines security level and home facility assignment. There are 21 male facilities and 2 female facilities: SCI Muncy and SCI Cambridge Springs in Crawford County.
Pennsylvania DOC officials do not discuss inmate transfers to home facilities before they take place. Families must use the Inmate Locator at pa.gov/cor to track where the person has been assigned.
The period between initial incarceration and home facility assignment is a period of uncertainty for families. The practical guidance: contact Camp Hill or Muncy during classification. Start the Securus account setup and ConnectNetwork account setup now, even before the home facility is determined. Once transfer occurs and the permanent SCI is assigned, everything is in place.
The decision Pennsylvania's mountains do not make for either parent
My wife never said a word against me to our six children during 66 months. She had every reason. She had six kids in a situation I had created. She chose to let them love me without penalty. What I have with my adult children today is the direct result of that choice.
The parent inside a Pennsylvania SCI carries the same obligation. The Securus call, the ViaPath email, the Smart Communications letter: all of those are the contact the child gets. Use them to be genuinely present. Ask what happened at school. Remember what the child said last time. Ask about it by name this time. Show the child that you are paying attention from Camp Hill or Forest or Dallas or wherever in Pennsylvania's mountains the classification process has placed you.
What the ages mean in Pennsylvania
My children were 9, 11, 12, 15, 18, and 20 when I went in.
The 9-year-old in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh or Allentown whose parent is at a facility in the Pennsylvania interior needs the same thing every 9-year-old in this series needs: to hear directly and often that none of what happened is their fault. Children under 10 build private, silent explanations for a parent's absence. The explanation they most often reach is that they caused it. That belief settles in quietly. Set up the Securus account. Call on a consistent schedule. Say it on every call: this is not your fault. I love you. I am still your parent.
The 11 and 12-year-old in Pennsylvania is navigating middle school in a state that includes some of the most economically stressed urban neighborhoods in the Northeast, particularly in North Philadelphia and the Mon Valley outside Pittsburgh, alongside rural mountain communities that have their own challenges. A parent's incarceration at this age carries weight in all of those contexts. The incarcerated parent who uses Securus to call consistently, who sends ViaPath emails between calls, who writes letters through Smart Communications with specific content about the child's specific life, is doing the parenting that the 200 miles to Forest County are working to interrupt.
The 15-year-old evaluates every call for authenticity. A parent who calls from Forest County to lecture is losing the teenager's attention before the call is over. A parent who calls to ask and listen will keep the teenager. Ask more than you tell.
The 18 and 20-year-old is an adult making a choice. Show up as someone worth the choice.
What the outside parent carries in Pennsylvania
The outside parent in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh is managing children, a household, and the logistics of incarceration in a state where the drive to a facility may be three or more hours through mountain terrain with no practical public transit option. They are setting up accounts with Securus and ConnectNetwork and learning the Smart Communications mail address. They are navigating the Keystone Login visitation system and tracking the inmate through classification.
What they need from the incarcerated parent is acknowledgment. One Securus call where the person inside names specifically what they see the outside parent carrying and says thank you for it, in direct and genuine terms, is worth more than any instruction delivered from inside a Pennsylvania SCI. My wife carried six children through 66 months. She deserved to hear that I saw it. I said so as often as the access allowed.
For the outside parent: the children will carry what they hear you say about the incarcerated parent. Pennsylvania's three-provider system creates friction. The mail goes to Florida before it reaches the SCI. The visits require Keystone Login credentials and advance scheduling. The phone provider and the email provider are different companies. Navigate all of it. Speak carefully about the parent inside the mountain facility in front of the children who are listening. My wife never said anything against me. What I have now is what that made possible.
How communication works in Pennsylvania
PHONE: Securus Technologies. Inmate adds family to telephone list; family creates Securus account. FCC cap $0.11/min + facility fee effective April 6, 2026.
EMAIL: ViaPath Technologies/ConnectNetwork. Create account at ConnectNetwork.com. ViaPath customer service: 1-877-650-4249. All emails reviewed before delivery.
MAIL: Smart Communications centralized processing. Address all mail to: Smart Communications/PADOC, [Inmate Name/Inmate Number], [Institution Name], PO Box 33028, St Petersburg FL 33733. Do NOT send directly to the SCI.
VISITATION: Inmate Visitation System (IVS) at pa.gov/cor; requires Keystone Login identity verification. In-person and video visitation both available. For questions: ra-crdocinmatevss@pa.gov. Every visitor regardless of age is subject to search. No waiting area at facilities; only those who will visit should come.
CLASSIFICATION: Males processed at SCI Camp Hill (Cumberland County) for weeks to months. Females processed at SCI Muncy (Lycoming County). Use pa.gov/cor Inmate Locator to track facility assignment.
PA DOC headquarters: 1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg PA 17050. Main phone: 717-728-2573. Website: pa.gov/cor.
Federal inmates in Pennsylvania, including those at FCI Loretto and FCI Schuylkill, fall under BOP jurisdiction. BOP communication uses TRULINCS for email via CORRLINKS and TRUFONE for phone. FCC rate caps apply; First Step Act programming offers 300 free minutes per month.
Where this leaves you
Pennsylvania has 26 SCIs, a three-provider communication system, a centralized mail address in Florida, and some of the most remote maximum-security facilities in the Northeast. The friction is real. The distances are real. The three-hour drive to Forest County for a Philadelphia family is real.
None of that changes what both parents owe the children waiting at home. Set up Securus. Set up ConnectNetwork. Learn the Smart Communications address. Use all of it. Call on a consistent schedule. Say what the 9-year-old needs to hear. Track the middle schooler. Listen to the teenager. Name what the outside parent is carrying and say thank you.
Pennsylvania built 26 prisons in its mountains and filled them with people primarily from its two largest cities. The system creates distance. The choices both parents make about what to do across that distance determine what the children experience during the years of the sentence and what they have when the sentence ends.