State Correctional Institution - Rockview

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The Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution (SCI) at Rockview is located off Pennsylvania Route 26 north of State College, at the foot of Mount Nittany in the Nittany Valley. SCI Rockview opened in 1915. It was a branch prison housing lesser security risk prisoners employed in Rockview's extensive farm program outside the gates. It now is a medium-security institution for men. Pennsylvania's execution chamber is located on the grounds of SCI Rockview however there is no "death row" there. Condemned prisoners are transported to Rockview from death rows in maximum security prisons across the state several days before their scheduled execution.[1]

Penn State began a research seminar class held in Rockview (The Inside/Out Program lead by Dr. Thomas Bernard). The first class ever was made up of 15 Penn State students in the Spring of 2007. These students were taken right into the heart of the institution every week to attend class alongside of 15 low-security, hand chosen, Rockview inmates. The inmates and the students would work side by side discussing assigned criminology theories to rate their validity and discuss ways in which policy and programs can reduce crime.

Many at nearby Penn State like to call this the State Penn, a word play with the synonym penitentiary.