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Federal Prisons in Pennsylvania

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By Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., and Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA

Federal prisons in Pennsylvania at a glance

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates 9 institutions in Pennsylvania, four of them with a satellite camp, holding 8,900 people as of September 2026. All nine sit in the Bureau’s Northeast Region, which is run from the U.S. Custom House in Philadelphia.

InstitutionType and securityHoldsPopulationCamp or satelliteCityJudicial district
USP AllenwoodU.S. Penitentiary · HighMen351—AllenwoodMiddle District of Pennsylvania
USP CanaanU.S. Penitentiary · HighMen1,222Camp: 91WaymartMiddle District of Pennsylvania
FCI Allenwood MediumFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen1,070—White DeerMiddle District of Pennsylvania
FCI LewisburgFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen581Camp: 484LewisburgMiddle District of Pennsylvania
FCI McKeanFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen899Camp: 181Lewis RunWestern District of Pennsylvania
FCI SchuylkillFederal Correctional Institution · MediumMen987Camp: 275MinersvilleMiddle District of Pennsylvania
FCI Allenwood LowFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen1,037—AllenwoodMiddle District of Pennsylvania
FCI LorettoFederal Correctional Institution · LowMen781—LorettoWestern District of Pennsylvania
FDC PhiladelphiaFederal Detention Center · AdministrativeMen and women941—PhiladelphiaEastern District of Pennsylvania
Total9 institutions7,8691,031
Federal Bureau of Prisons facility roster and population statistics, September 2026.

Two rows carry a history the roster no longer shows. On April 4, 2024 the Bureau renamed seven facilities whose missions and security levels had already changed, and USP Lewisburg became FCI Lewisburg. At FCI Loretto the camp is gone, confirmed by the Bureau on December 6, 2024, and the population report now gives Loretto one figure and no camp line.

How many federal prisons are in Pennsylvania?

Nine, counting institutions on the Bureau of Prisons roster. Two are high security, USP Allenwood and USP Canaan; four are medium, two are low, and FDC Philadelphia is administrative. Four carry a minimum-security satellite camp, counted inside that institution’s row, so no camp here has a row of its own. Three share one campus on U.S. Route 15 in Union County that the Bureau lists as FCC Allenwood, the state’s only complex: the penitentiary, FCI Allenwood Medium and FCI Allenwood Low. Our guide to security levels explains the ladder and the Bureau of Prisons directory the national picture; the closures section covers one former contract prison.

What is each federal prison in Pennsylvania like?

Each of the nine, in the table’s order.

USP Allenwood

High security for men, the only penitentiary on the Allenwood complex, and no camp. All four housing units are program units: the District of Columbia’s inspectors, touring in January 2024, recorded a Transitional Care Unit, a Secure Mental Health Step-Down unit, two Reintegration Units and no general population. See USP Allenwood.

USP Canaan

High security for men outside Waymart in Wayne County, with a satellite camp, and the Northeast Region’s only standalone penitentiary: no complex, no shared warden, its own inspection record. The Justice Department’s Inspector General spent four days inside unannounced in June 2025 and published its report on May 21, 2026. See USP Canaan.

FCI Allenwood Medium

Medium security for men on the same Route 15 campus, and the largest of the three Allenwood prisons. Its own handbook calls it plainly FCI Allenwood, so a court record using that name may mean any of the three; the facility code in the locator settles which. See FCI Allenwood Medium.

FCI Lewisburg

Medium security for men, with the largest satellite camp in the state, and the Bureau’s transport hub for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, so many people here are spending a night or two on the way elsewhere rather than serving a sentence. It was USP Lewisburg until 2024. See FCI Lewisburg.

FCI McKean

Medium security for men at Lewis Run, in the far north of the state between Bradford and Kane, with a satellite camp. Two things catch families out here: mail for a person in custody goes to a box in Bradford, not Lewis Run, and visiting runs Sundays, Mondays and federal holidays. See FCI McKean.

FCI Schuylkill

Medium security for men at Minersville, in the anthracite coal country off Interstate 81, with a satellite camp beside it. Institution and camp share one highway address and no mailbox: separate boxes, handbooks, visiting rooms and administrators. The District of Columbia’s inspectors were last inside in April 2025. See FCI Schuylkill.

FCI Allenwood Low

Low security for men, the third prison on the Allenwood campus, and the only one of the three that opens its visiting room on a Friday. It is also an immigration hearing site, so for a man who is not a citizen the road out runs through immigration court. See FCI Allenwood Low.

FCI Loretto

Low security for men on a hill in Cambria County, west of Altoona, in a compound that was a Catholic seminary before it opened as a prison in 1984, which is why it has dormitories where most prisons have cells. Its camp closed after the December 2024 announcement. See FCI Loretto.

FDC Philadelphia

The Bureau’s detention center at 700 Arch Street in Center City, the only federal facility in Pennsylvania that holds women and the only one where most of the people inside have not been convicted of anything. Since February 2025 the building has also held immigration detainees. See FDC Philadelphia.

Which federal prisons in Pennsylvania hold women?

One of the nine. FDC Philadelphia holds men and women; the other eight, and every camp here, are for men. The state has no federal prison for women, so a woman sentenced by a Pennsylvania court serves it out of state. See women’s federal prisons.

Which Bureau of Prisons regional office oversees Pennsylvania?

The Northeast Regional Office, which is itself in Pennsylvania. All nine belong to the Bureau’s Northeast Region, whose office occupies the seventh floor of the U.S. Custom House at 200 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. A family meets it on a BP-10: Program Statement 1330.18 provides at pp. 6–7 that an inmate not satisfied with the Warden’s response may appeal on that form to the Regional Director within 20 calendar days. Before it comes our guide to filing a BP-9.

Which RRM office handles halfway-house placement from Pennsylvania?

Two offices, divided by judicial district. Under 28 U.S.C. § 118 the state has three federal judicial districts, Eastern, Middle and Western. The Bureau’s page for RRM Philadelphia prints Eastern Pennsylvania and Middle Pennsylvania; its page for RRM Pittsburgh prints Western Pennsylvania. Each district is listed once, by one office.

Which office takes a case turns on the district a person is going home to, not the one the prison stands in. Program Statement 7310.04 tells the Warden at p. 12 to consider “contacting the Chief USPO in the release district.” So a man at FCI McKean, in the Western District, going back to Scranton is an RRM Philadelphia matter. Referral timing is on our page about federal halfway houses.

How do I find, write to, visit or send money to someone in a Pennsylvania federal prison?

Start with the national search: there is no Pennsylvania directory of federal prisoners. The inmate locator takes a register number, or a first and a last name together.

Mail needs the exact block the institution publishes, and blocks differ within one campus: the three Allenwood prisons use three boxes in White Deer. See writing to someone inside.

Visiting runs on each institution’s own supplement, never a state-wide rule: McKean on Sundays and Mondays, FCI Allenwood Low with a Friday, FDC Philadelphia by appointment. See visitation.

Money goes through national channels — the lockbox by mail, Western Union Quick Collect and MoneyGram — never to the prison itself. Program Statement 4500.13 sets posting times at p. 79: ordinarily within two hours of a transfer started between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. EST. See sending money.

Which federal prisons in Pennsylvania are closing or have closed?

None is closing and none has closed; no Pennsylvania institution was named in the Bureau’s closure announcement of July 1, 2026. The nearest thing to one was at FCI Loretto, where the satellite camp — not the prison — shut permanently after the announcement of December 6, 2024.

One former contract prison keeps a page here: Moshannon Valley, a former contract facility at Philipsburg, privately owned and never a Bureau institution, which is why it is not among the nine. On December 1, 2022 the Bureau said it “has ended all contracts with privately-managed prisons” and that the last, McRae Correctional Facility in Georgia, ended on November 30, 2022; the Moshannon Valley contract ended no later than that. The wider pattern is in our explainer on major federal prison closures.

How many federal prisons does the Bureau of Prisons run in Pennsylvania?

Nine on the roster behind this page: two high-security penitentiaries, four mediums, two lows and one detention center. Four of them also run a minimum-security satellite camp, which the Bureau records inside that institution rather than as a prison of its own.

What is the largest federal prison in Pennsylvania by population?

USP Canaan, outside Waymart, at 1,222 people as of September 2026. Its camp holds 91 more on a separate line of the population report, so Canaan leads whichever way that is counted. FCI Allenwood Medium, at 1,070, is the largest with no camp.

Does Pennsylvania have a high-security federal penitentiary?

Two. USP Allenwood in Union County and USP Canaan in Wayne County are the only institutions the Bureau rates high security here, and both hold men. Canaan stands alone, with its own warden and camp; Allenwood shares a campus with a medium and a low.

Where are women held in federal custody in Pennsylvania?

In one building. FDC Philadelphia, the detention center in Center City, is the only Bureau facility in the state that holds women, and most people inside it await trial or sentencing. There is no federal prison for women here, so a sentence is served in another state.

How do I look up someone held in a Pennsylvania federal prison?

Use the Bureau’s inmate locator, which searches the whole federal system rather than one state. A register number returns one record; a name search needs a first and a last name. Until a release date is recorded the screen gives the facility and its type.

Which reentry office handles halfway-house placement for someone releasing to Pennsylvania?

One of two, depending on the district the person is going home to. The Bureau’s page for RRM Philadelphia lists Eastern and Middle Pennsylvania; its page for RRM Pittsburgh lists Western Pennsylvania. The release district governs, not the one the prison sits in.

What can a federal defense firm do for a Pennsylvania family?

Three problems recur at these institutions, each on the record at the prisons themselves. Movement: the Bureau’s transport hub is FCI Lewisburg, and transfers through it interrupt programming, visits and legal mail. Camp placement: Loretto’s camp is gone and Allenwood has none, so a minimum-security score in the west of the state no longer points at a bed near home, which makes designation and transfer requests some of the problems we work on inside. Programs: the residential drug program runs at the McKean camp but not behind the fence, and not at Loretto, so program access and First Step Act time credit disputes are early release work.

Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. is a federal criminal defense and post-conviction firm based in Columbia, South Carolina, practicing nationwide. Mentions of Pennsylvania places on this page do not imply an office or a lawyer there.

Call 843-620-1100 or contact us to arrange a paid one-hour consultation about a specific situation. Calls are answered 24 hours a day.

Sources and currency

Bureau of Prisons documents

Court records and statutes

  • 28 U.S.C. § 118, Office of the Law Revision Counsel. The three Pennsylvania districts.

News and other sources

Sources reviewed September 2026.

Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026

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