Prisons & Prisoners

Web Sites

• 360degrees: Perspectives on the American Criminal Justice System
  This website, a production of Picture-Projects (producers of documentaries) tells first-person stories of inmates, corrections officers, victims of crime, judges and others. Presented with a unique combination of Real Audio and QTVR panoramas, visitors to the site can pan around prison cells, judges chambers, squad cars, living rooms and street corners while listening to audio diaries.
• American Civil Liberties Union: Prisoner's Rights
  A "tough on crime" approach to criminal justice induced a trend of overcrowded prisons and jails with deteriorating structures and prisoner violence, overwhelmed correctional officers who grow younger and more inexperienced because of accelerated burnout and turnover, and inadequately financed medical care systems, work, education, and drug treatment programs.
• American Correctional Association
  A multi-disciplinary organization of professionals representing all facets of corrections & criminal justice, including federal, state, and military correctional facilities and prisons, county jails and detention centers, probation/parole agencies, and community corrections/halfway houses.
• Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
  A private non-profit organization whose mission is to reduce society's reliance on the use of incarceration as a solution to social problems. Headquartered in San Francisco, California.
• Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons
  On June 8, 2006, the Commission released Confronting Confinement, a report on violence and abuse in U.S. jails and prisons, the broad impact of those problems on public safety and public health, and how correctional facilities nationwide can become safer and more effective.
• Correctional Education Association
  A non-profit, professional association serving educators and administrators who provide services to students in correctional settings.
• Corrections.com
  This commercial site shows the industry developed around prisons. Check here for "The Industry's Leading Organizations" including food services and health services.
• Death Penalty Curricula for High School
  This Web site and its accompanying materials are designed to assist both teachers and students in an exploration of capital punishment, presenting arguments for and against its use, as well as issues of ethics and justice that surround it. The site was principally designed by the Michigan State Communications Technology Laboratory; factual content was provided by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), a non-profit organization that conducts research on issues related to capital punishment; funding for the project was provided by grants from the Soros Foundation and the Columbia Foundation.

• The Nation: Death Trip: The American Way of Execution
  A December 21, 2000 article by Robert Sherrill, which claims that Capital Punishment is a waste of money and doesn't achieve many of the things that its backers promise.
• Pew Public Safety
  Launched in 2006 as an operating project of The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Public Safety Performance Project seeks to help states advance fiscally sound, data-driven policies and practices in sentencing and corrections that protect public safety, hold offenders accountable, and control corrections costs.
  • Public Safety, Public Spending: Forecasting America’s Prison Population 2007-2011
    This report is the first known attempt to determine the future growth of the nation’s state and federal prison systems as a whole. Its findings show that America’s prison population will continue its extraordinary growth in the coming years, with more than 192,000 prisoners added by 2011. This growth will carry a heavy fiscal burden, estimated at up to $12.5 billion in new prison construction and $15 billion in operations costs.
• Prison Fellowship International
  Prison Fellowship (PF) is a Christian ministry responding to the needs of prisoners, ex-prisoners, victims and those affected by crime. Prison Fellowship International (PFI) is the global association of national Prison Fellowship organizations and operates through a General Secretariat located in Washington DC, USA and five regional offices located in Switzerland, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Singapore, and Peru.
• Prison Fellowship Ministries
  Prison Fellowship Ministries is a not-for-profit, volunteer-based organization with one mission: exhort, equip, and assist the Church in its ministry to prisoners, ex-prisoners, victims, and their families, and to promote biblical standards of justice in the criminal justice system.
• The Sentencing Project
  An independent source of criminal justice policy analysis, data and program information for the public and policy-makers. Their 1998 report, "Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States ," found that "the scale of felony voting disenfranchisement in the U.S. is far greater than in any other nation and has serious implications for democratic processes and racial inclusion."
• UNICOR
  UNICOR is the trade name for Federal Prison Industries, Inc., a self-sustaining enterprise, that sells services products made by inmates of federal prisons.
• US Department of Justice: Federal Bureau of Prisons
  The Federal prison system is a nationwide system of prisons (96 institutions) and detention facilities for the incarceration of inmates who have been sentenced to imprisonment for Federal crimes and the detention of individuals awaiting trial in Federal court. The federal prison population has multiplied six times from 1980 when it was 24,000, to the present when it is 143,000. 58% of the offenses are drug offenses.
• US Department of Justice: National Institute of Corrections
  The NIC is a center of correctional learning and experience that advances and shapes effective correctional practice and public policy that respond to the needs of corrections through collaboration and leadership and by providing assistance, information, education, and training.
• Village Voice: "Roaming Rikers"
  A Two-Part Special Report on Prison and Its Aftermath by Jennifer Gonnerman from the December 13 - 19, 2000 issue. "This year, the United States achieved a dubious distinction: It surpassed Russia as the world leader in imprisonment, with one in every 130 people living behind bars. The U.S. prison population has soared above 2 million, and most of those inmates are locked up for nonviolent crimes."

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Pittsburgh Region

• Allegheny County Jail
  The website includes history of the jail and information on the new jail but with no photos of either the old or new jail. Other information available is Volume of Activity, In-Jail Programs & Activities, Visitor Information, Annual Statistics, and Annual Report.
• Lydia's Place, Inc.
  An interdenominational, interracial, Christian agency dedicated to serving the holistic needs of women offenders. Provides a continum of care - from prison, through transition, to stability.
• Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
  If you view the monthly population report, you will see that almost all Pennsylvania facilities are filled to overcapacity. Below are Southwestern Pennsylvania State Correctional Institutions.
  • SCI Pittsburgh (Closed)
    SCI Pittsburgh, formerly known as Western Penitentiary, was Pennsylvania's oldest (1882) operating correctional institution until January of 2005 when it was closed.
  • SCI Fayette
  • SCI Greensburg
  • SCI Greene

Pennsylvania

• Pennsylvania Board of Pardons
  In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Board of Pardons reviews criminal cases, except impeachment to determine whether clemency should be recommended to the Governor for his approval or denial. Includes "How to Apply for a Pardon"
• Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole
  includes special announcements and general information on the Board's organization and programs. Also available is a website of parole absconders, information on victim services, and the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board (Megan's Law).
• Pennsylvania Correctional Industries
  PCI is a Bureau of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections that operates as a private business, generating its own working capital by selling items that inmates produce. PCI's inmate work program reduces institutional management problems, provides inmates with vocational training and work experience, promotes public safety and contributes to the economy.
• Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
  Provides statistics about the prison population, services for victims, an inmate locator, a state correctional institution locator map, visitor rules, a Handbook for the Families and Friends of prison inmates. Many documents are in PDF format requiring Adobe Acrobat. From 1989 to 1999 the average daily prison population in Pennsylvania increased 68% from 16,379 to 27,650. There's also information about the Department of Corrections History, Policies, and Programs as well as information on the Death Penalty in Pennsylvania.
• Pennsylvania Department of State: Voting Rights of Convicted Felons, Convicted Misdemeanants and Pretrial Detainees
  Certain prisoners and exprisoners can vote. Check here for the regulations.