| Location | Kelly Township, Union County, near Lewisburg, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | High Security Penitentiary(USP) and Minimum Security Camp (CAMP) |
| Capacity | USP: 1,019 & CAMP: 533 as of September 01, 2009.[1] |
| Managed by | U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons |
| Director | Troy Williamson, Warden |
The United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg (USP Lewisberg) is a male inmate high security federal penitentiary (USP) and satellite minimum security prison camp (CAMP) housing some 1,000 and 500 respectively, just outside Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.[2] The Lewisburg Penitentiary was opened in 1932.[3] This penitentiary is one of four federal prisons in the county and ten prisons within Union County and the adjacent counties.[4]
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Lewisburg Penitentiary had a prison riot in November 1995. Although started by only 10 prisoners, more than 20 visited the hospital that November 1, with one prisoner recording multiple broken bones and missing teeth. Many were sentenced to the "hole" and over 400 were transferred.[5] This incident thrust the Penitentiary into the national spotlight, where it gained much of its current notoriety.
A local non-profit group, the Lewisburg Prison Project, assists prisoners here and in the surrounding area with issues of conditions of confinement.[6]
USP Lewisburg was the focus of a 1991 Academy Award-nominated documentary titled, Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House, by filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond. The one hour long film described conditions inside the prison and focused specifically on the abolition of parole within the federal system and the fears held by many prisoners about re-integrating into society upon their eventual release from prison.[7]
As of 2009, USP Lewisburg was designated as a Special Management Unit intended to house the most violent and disruptive inmates in the Bureau of Prisons. Although most USP Lewisburg inmates are housed in the SMU, there remains a work cadre of appoximately 200 inmates in the USP's general population.
In July 2008, the Correctional Officers at Lewisburg Federal expressed concerns about underfunding. Over the past four years, union leaders and other officials had been lobbying in an attempt to quell staff reductions and cutting costs. The Federal Bureau of Prisons had proposed $143 million in possible spending cuts, including not replacing vehicles and equipment, eliminating overtime, reducing corrections officer training, and a possible cut in officer staff positions.[8] Under such conditions, many of the Correctional Officers expressed concerns about their own safety.
Lewisburg Penitentiary has housed many infamous criminals, such as:
It was also home to Bayard Rustin, a civil rights activist during his period of incarceration,[11] and Leonard Peltier, Native American civil rights activist.