FCI McKean (medium-security)

FCI McKean. Public domain photograph, via Wikimedia Commons.

FCI McKean is a medium-security federal correctional institution for men in Lewis Run, Pennsylvania, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It held about 918 people as of November 2025. It does not offer the Residential Drug Abuse Program. The institution's main number is 814-362-8900.

MALE

Gender

MEDIUM

Security Level

918

Population (Nov. 2025)

No RDAP

Location

Physical location: LEWIS RUN, PA 16738

Mailing address: 6975 ROUTE 59, LEWIS RUN, PA 16738

Visitation

There are many specific rules and procedures to be aware of when you're considering visiting the institution. Read more on our Visitation Guide.

For full, current visiting rules and scheduling, always check the institution's official page on the Bureau of Prisons website: Official BOP Page.

Daily life and programs

Operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons since it opened in 1989, FCI McKean is a medium-security federal prison for men situated in Lafayette Township, McKean County. Located in northwestern Pennsylvania, the facility sits off State Route 59 near U.S. Route 219, roughly 90 miles south of Buffalo and near the towns of Bradford, Kane, and Lewis Run. The main institution houses between 900 and 1,050 men and is paired with an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp containing roughly 130 to 330 beds, resulting in a commonly cited design capacity of around 1,500 total. The medium facility is built around four housing units, each designed to accommodate about 312 men in two-person cells, although inmates may also be assigned to larger multi-person rooms. In contrast, camp inmates live in dormitory-style two-person cubicles. Because the prison is located more than an hour from a community medical center, it is designated a Medical (Care) Level 1 institution. Consequently, the facility provides basic on-site care with a $2 co-pay for inmate-initiated sick call and 24-hour emergency coverage.

During its early years, McKean garnered national attention as a model of humane corrections under warden Dennis Luther, who managed the institution for roughly its first several years. Luther displayed plaques outlining his 'Beliefs About the Treatment of Inmates' throughout the prison. The core of this philosophy rested on the principle that people are sent to prison as punishment and not for punishment, establishing that inmates are entitled to a safe and humane environment. Under his tenure, the American Correctional Association rated McKean as 'outstanding' for the overall quality of life provided to inmates and staff. Furthermore, the facility recorded no escapes, homicides, sexual assaults, or suicides in its first six years, achieving an unusually clean record for a prison of its size. This administrative approach was profiled by the Christian Science Monitor in 1992, and management writer Tom Peters later cited the methodology as a case study in respect-based leadership.

Daily routines at the medium institution are governed by required work and structured movement. Except for those enrolled full-time in school, nearly all medically able men hold a job. Standard institutional details pay roughly $0.12 to $0.40 an hour, whereas factory positions through UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries) pay more, providing about $0.23 to $1.15 an hour, and typically carry waitlists. Education offerings feature literacy, GED, and English-as-a-Second-Language classes, in addition to vocational training in culinary arts and NCCER carpentry. The facility also provides apprenticeships such as cook, electrician, housekeeping, and teacher's aide. Recreation involves outdoor basketball, softball, and a jogging track accessible during scheduled call-outs, alongside indoor exercise equipment, table tennis, and both law and leisure libraries. External communication is maintained through scheduled visitation, TRULINCS email, and an allotment of 300 monthly phone minutes. Inmates are also subject to a $360 monthly commissary limit. A meaningful distinction for many inmates is that the intensive Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP), which carries a sentence-reduction benefit, is hosted at the satellite camp rather than the medium institution, though non-residential drug education remains available at the FCI.

Standing in sharp contrast to its 1990s 'model prison' era, the reputation of McKean has been strained in more recent years by the staffing shortages and extended lockdowns common across the federal system. The advocacy platform More Than Our Crimes published a 'Prison Pulse' report referencing a lockdown that began August 14. This report described men being let out of their cells only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for two-hour blocks to take cold showers and clean their bunks. Additionally, phones and email were frequently cut off, and inmates had no access to outdoor recreation, religious services, classes, work, or the law library. The account attributed the restrictions in part to an over-capacity Special Housing Unit (SHU). The institution remains a full medium-security facility with an adjacent camp, and the BOP maintains an Inmate Admission and Orientation Handbook detailing current rules, last updated November 14, 2023.

First-hand accounts

First-person accounts and reporting about life at this facility. Experiences are individual and may not reflect current conditions.

• Inhumane Conditions at McKean (Prison Pulse report) - More Than Our Crimes. A Prison Pulse report from inside/around FCI McKean describing an extended lockdown: cells opened only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for two-hour blocks with cold showers, phones and email frequently cut off, and no access to recreation, religious services, classes, work, or the law library, tied in part to an over-capacity SHU. First-person prison-conditions account about the medium-security institution.

Notable inmates

Name	Sentence	Offense	Dates
Alphonse Persico	Life without parole (sentenced 2009)	Soldier and former acting boss of the Colombo crime family; convicted in the murder of William 'Wild Bill' Cutolo	Register No. 05517-054
Christopher Green	Life	Killed four men, including two postal workers, and wounded another during a 1995 post office robbery in Montclair, New Jersey	Register No. 18486-050
Prabhu Ramamoorthy	9 years; release scheduled 2026	Convicted of sexually assaulting a sleeping woman seated next to him aboard a commercial flight	Register No. 56234-039