Family Rights and Advocacy in Pennsylvania

If someone you love is locked up in Pennsylvania, you have one resource on your side that almost no other state can match: the Pennsylvania Prison Society. Since 1829, state law has given the Prison Society the authority to walk into any prison or jail in the Commonwealth, privately interview the people held there, and report on conditions. It is one of only three nongovernmental prison oversight organizations in the entire country. For families, it runs a support hotline, subsidized buses to the prisons, and programs for children. More on that below, because it is your single most important contact.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PADOC) holds roughly 41,000 people across 23 state prisons. I have been on the inside, and I know the family on the outside carries a load nobody talks about. This guide is written for you. Here is how to stay connected, what your loved one is entitled to, and where to turn when something goes wrong.

What the PADOC System Looks Like

PADOC runs 23 state correctional institutions (SCIs) across Pennsylvania. Everyone goes through intake first:

All men are processed through the Diagnostic and Classification Center at SCI Camp Hill, near Harrisburg in Cumberland County. All women are processed through the DCC at SCI Muncy, in Lycoming County. Classification takes weeks to months and sets the security level, health, mental health, and programming needs before your loved one is sent to a home facility.

Women are housed at one of two prisons: SCI Muncy or SCI Cambridge Springs in Crawford County.

Major men's facilities include SCI Phoenix (Collegeville, the state's largest, near Philadelphia), SCI Greene (Waynesburg, far southwestern corner, holds death row), SCI Fayette, SCI Forest, SCI Huntingdon, SCI Rockview, SCI Mahanoy, SCI Dallas, SCI Albion, SCI Laurel Highlands (medical and geriatric care), and Quehanna Boot Camp.

The geography is hard. Most Pennsylvanians live near Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, but many prisons sit in remote central and western counties. A visit to SCI Greene or SCI Forest can be a long, expensive trip. To find your loved one, use the inmate locator on pa.gov/agencies/cor. PADOC does not discuss transfers before they happen, so locations can change.

Staying Connected: Phone Calls

PADOC uses Securus for phone service under policy DC-ADM 818. Before your loved one can call you, two things have to happen: you set up an account with Securus, and your loved one adds your number to their approved telephone list. Calls go one direction, your loved one calls you, and calls are recorded except properly arranged legal calls.

Pennsylvania has not made prison phone calls free. In 2021, the average 15-minute in-state call from a PA prison cost more than three dollars. In May 2025, state Representative Andre Carroll, whose own father was incarcerated when he was a child, introduced House Bill 1506 to make communication with incarcerated people free and to stop prisons from replacing in-person visits with video. Whether that passes is up to the Legislature, but for now, set up a prepaid Securus account and watch your costs.

Staying Connected: Video and In-Person Visits

This is one area where Pennsylvania is relatively generous. Each incarcerated person may receive up to four in-person visits per month, including one weekend visit, plus six no-cost video visits per month. That free video allowance is genuinely useful when the prison is hours away.

How visits work:

All visits are scheduled through the Inmate Visitation System (IVS). You must create an IVS account and be on your loved one's authorized visitor list to schedule, and visits must be booked at least two days in advance.

In-person visits are guaranteed to last at least one hour, with a maximum of four visitors per visit (only two at Quehanna Boot Camp). All visitors pass security screening and follow the dress code and visiting rules.

Video visits are monitored and recorded except those with legal counsel.

If a facility cancels a visit, you get an email at the address linked to your IVS account, so check it before traveling. For scheduling questions, contact the facility or email Central Office at RA-CRDOCINMATEVSS@pa.gov.

Staying Connected: Mail

Read this carefully, because Pennsylvania changed how mail works. To curb drugs entering facilities, all incoming inmate mail now goes to a central processing facility, not to the institution where your loved one lives. Your letters and photos are processed and scanned there, and your loved one receives copies rather than the original paper. You can register to track your mail through the process.

A few rules:

Always use your loved one's committed name and inmate number.

Legal mail and court documents follow separate rules. Court documents must be served by a sheriff, constable, or process server, not mailed in by family.

Your loved one cannot be sent items of value, such as signed sports memorabilia.

Because policies have changed and continue to change, confirm the current mailing address and rules on pa.gov/agencies/cor before you send anything.

Sending Money

Money you send goes through JPay into your loved one's account for commissary and other needs. PADOC does not allow anonymous funding, so JPay provides your name to the Department with each transaction. Confirm the current options on the PADOC website.

A Note on Emergency Notification

Pennsylvania has a strict rule that surprises many families. At intake, your loved one designates one person as next-of-kin, and PADOC will only share information about an emergency with that single designated person, even if a parent or spouse calls upset. If you need to be the emergency contact, your loved one has to list you. Private citizens can track a person's location through PA SAVIN and VINELink, a free and confidential service.

The Pennsylvania Prison Society: Your Most Important Contact

Pennsylvania Prison Society (PPS)

245 N. Broad St., Suite 300, Philadelphia, PA 19107

(215) 564-6005 or 1-800-227-2307

prisonsociety.org

There is nothing quite like the Prison Society in most states. Under the Official Visitor Act, dating to 1829, the Pennsylvania Legislature gave the Prison Society legal authority to enter any prison or jail in the Commonwealth. Its trained official visitors, more than 250 volunteers, can go into any of Pennsylvania's correctional institutions during working hours, seven days a week, and privately interview any incarcerated person. PPS is one of only three nongovernmental prison oversight organizations in the entire United States.

What this means for you:

If your loved one is being mistreated, denied care, or held in dangerous conditions, you can contact the Prison Society and a trained volunteer monitor may visit the facility to follow up. In 2024, PPS responded to more than 14,000 calls, letters, and emails and conducted over 2,500 official visits. Roughly one in five contacts results in a prison visit.

PPS runs a family support hotline where you can call to get information on facilities, policies, and general questions, and get direct support.

PPS runs a heavily subsidized bus service from Philadelphia to state prisons. A round-trip ticket usually costs about twenty dollars, and it is free for children under 18. If the cost or distance of visiting is your barrier, this is a direct solution.

PPS runs family programs including Support of Kids with Incarcerated Parents (SKIP), a support group for children ages 8 to 12, Inmate Family Services parenting programs, Services to Elderly Inmates (STEP), and reentry services.

Start with the Prison Society. For most Pennsylvania families, it is the most useful single phone call you can make.

Your Rights and Your Loved One's Rights

Most rights inside belong to the incarcerated person, not to family members, but knowing them helps you advocate.

Your loved one has the right to reasonable contact with the outside world through mail, phone, and visits, subject to the rules above and to discipline. They have the right to medical and mental health care, to reasonable accommodations for disabilities, to practice their religion, and to be free from abuse and sexual violence. They have the right to use the grievance system, which is the formal way to raise problems and usually must be used fully before a court will hear most claims.

Pennsylvania has been the site of major litigation over solitary confinement of people with serious mental illness in Restricted Housing Units, over religious meal accommodations, and over medical neglect. These are not hypothetical problems, and there are organizations that take them on.

When Something Goes Wrong: How to Advocate

Start with the Pennsylvania Prison Society. As described above, it has legal authority to enter facilities and investigate. (215) 564-6005 or 1-800-227-2307.

Push the grievance process. Encourage your loved one to file and appeal through PADOC's formal grievance system, document everything, keep copies, and mail a copy to you as backup.

Contact the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP). PILP (pilp.org) is a nonprofit that provides free civil legal services to people incarcerated in Pennsylvania prisons, jails, immigration detention, and state hospitals. It litigates conditions of confinement, including solitary confinement, inadequate medical and mental health care, sexual abuse, disability accommodations, and religious freedom. It does not handle criminal, habeas, sentencing, or parole matters. You or your loved one can request assistance through their website.

Contact Disability Rights Pennsylvania (DRP). DRP (disabilityrightspa.org) is Pennsylvania's federally mandated protection and advocacy organization for people with disabilities, including mental illness. It operates a toll-free intake system and has litigated major prison cases, including the federal lawsuit to end solitary confinement of people with serious mental illness in state prisons. If your loved one has a disability or mental illness and is being denied care, isolated, or mistreated, DRP is a powerful resource. Use the online intake form on their website.

Contact the ACLU of Pennsylvania. The ACLU of PA (aclupa.org) has litigated solitary confinement and disability cases in Pennsylvania prisons for over a decade, often alongside DRP. They focus on systemic issues rather than individual complaints.

Know the other legal resources. The Lewisburg Prison Project assists incarcerated people with conditions of confinement, and the Abolitionist Law Center (Pittsburgh) litigates conditions and solitary confinement cases.

Use national organizations. The Human Rights Defense Center and Prison Legal News (humanrightsdefensecenter.org) cover prisoner rights and prison communication costs. Families Against Mandatory Minimums (famm.org) works on sentencing. Worth Rises (worthrises.org) tracks the prison telecom industry.

Contact elected officials. Pennsylvania's Legislature is actively considering free prison communication (House Bill 1506). A letter to your state representative or senator adds weight and can prompt questions to PADOC that a family member cannot ask directly.

Taking Care of Yourself

Set up your Securus and IVS accounts early, and use those six free video visits every month. If the prison is far and money is tight, look hard at the Prison Society's subsidized buses, free for your kids. Learn the central mail process so your letters are not delayed, and make sure your loved one has listed the right person as next-of-kin. Most of all, connect with other families who understand what doing time on the outside feels like. Staying steady for yourself is part of staying steady for your person.