FCI Schuylkill (medium-security)
FCI Schuylkill is a medium-security federal correctional institution for men in Minersville, Pennsylvania, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It held about 963 people as of November 2025. It does not offer the Residential Drug Abuse Program. The institution's main number is 570-544-7100.
Location
Physical location: MINERSVILLE, PA 17954
Mailing address: INTERSTATE 81 & 901 W, MINERSVILLE, PA 17954
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
Operating as a medium-security federal prison for men, FCI Schuylkill is located roughly 46 miles north of Harrisburg in Minersville (Butler Township), Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. The Bureau of Prisons announced the approximately $40 million facility in April 1987, and it officially opened in 1991. An adjacent minimum-security satellite camp, SPC Schuylkill, shares the complex and holds men who are nearing release. According to the September 2025 DC Corrections Information Council (CIC) inspection, the total population was 1,207. The main institution is designed with eight general-population housing units comprising sixty cells each, and inmates are housed in two-person cells. An inspection of a general-population unit by the CIC in 2025 revealed that the space held 114 men against a 120 capacity, with eight showers, five phones, and six TRULINCS email terminals available for the unit.
Regarding facility programming, FCI Schuylkill runs a Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP), contrary to some secondary prison-guide sites that state it does not. The 2025 CIC inspection documented an RDAP unit housing 96 men in two-person cells. The program lasts 9 to 12 months and requires 500 hours across three phases, which involve three hours daily of community meetings, journal writing, and support groups; successful participation can earn a nonviolent participant up to a twelve-month sentence reduction. Additionally, UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries) operates an electronics-recycling line, where roughly twenty of the surveyed DC-code residents worked. The education department was fully staffed with seven teachers, including a special-education instructor, offering GED, literacy, ESL, and Adult Continuing Education (ACE), alongside parenting and pre-release programming. Institution jobs pay only cents per hour; former inmate accounts describe laundry work at six cents and belt or pants work at twelve cents an hour, whereas UNICOR pays more.
Daily life follows a structured medium-security schedule of work, meals, recreation, and programming, although the 2025 inspection surfaced persistent problems tied to understaffing. Residents reported frequent lockdowns and 'modified operations' that repeatedly interrupted GED classes and other programming, with some men noting they were confined to their units and cells for weeks at a time. Because of short staffing, a cold breakfast was distributed the evening before alongside dinner, and hot dinners reportedly arrived cold at the units. Medical services drew heavy dissatisfaction, as many survey respondents reported a slow sick-call response and the medical unit carried four vacancies. Furthermore, a dentist visited one week per month, and the psychology department, consisting of a chief psychologist and three staff psychologists, also ran anger-management and other therapeutic groups. The facility offers Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), and all staff are trained to administer Narcan. The Special Housing Unit frequently reached capacity, and some DC-code residents reported racist or unprofessional language and perceived bias from staff, which CIC relayed to management.
The camp-versus-main-institution distinction matters for attributing notable inmates. The medium FCI has held organized-crime figures serving long or life terms, including Philadelphia mob boss John Stanfa and 'Westies' leader James Coonan, while the adjacent minimum-security satellite camp has housed prominent white-collar and celebrity offenders. For example, former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio served his insider-trading term at the satellite camp (2009 to 2013), which he described as having no bars and no perimeter walls, not the medium institution. Any Prisonpedia entry should keep camp names separate from main-institution names to avoid misplacing them.
First-hand accounts
First-person accounts and reporting about life at this facility. Experiences are individual and may not reflect current conditions.
- FCI Schuylkill Inspection Report (September 5, 2025), first-hand resident survey accounts of conditions, lockdowns, food, medical, and RDAP - DC Corrections Information Council (official inspection report; summarizes residents' own first-hand accounts). On-site inspection (April 2025) with interviews and surveys of DC-code residents held at FCI Schuylkill. Residents describe frequent lockdowns interrupting GED and programming, cold meals, dissatisfaction with medical and mental-health care, RDAP participation, UNICOR electronics-recycling work, and reports of unprofessional staff conduct. Not a Reddit thread, but a citable primary source carrying incarcerated people's own words about this specific facility.
Notable inmates
| Name | Sentence | Offense | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Stanfa | Life | Boss of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra (Bruno-Scarfo) family; convicted 1995 of racketeering and conspiracy involving murders, kidnappings, extortion, and illegal gambling; held at the main medium-security FCI | Register 18048-037 |
| James Coonan | 75 years (projected release ~2030) | Leader of the 'Westies' Irish-American gang of Hell's Kitchen, New York; convicted of racketeering, seven murders, kidnapping, extortion, gambling, and drug dealing; held at the main medium-security FCI | Register 13874-054 |
| Gurmeet Singh Dhinsa | Life | Former gas-station magnate convicted of racketeering and multiple murders; held at the main medium-security FCI | Register 53546-053 |
| Jose Adan Martinez Castro | 235 months | Former MS-13 leader in the Boston area; convicted of racketeering enterprise conspiracy; held at the main medium-security FCI | Register 89600-083 |
| James Ida | Life | Consigliere of the Genovese crime family; convicted of two murders and charity fraud; later transferred to FMC Devens | Register 43064-054 |
| Bob Menendez[1] | 11 years | Former U.S. Senator (New Jersey) convicted of bribery and corruption; reported to FCI Schuylkill June 17, 2025, and was later reported transferred to FCI Allenwood Low | Reported June 2025 |
| Beanie Sigel (Dwight Grant) | Approximately 2 years | Philadelphia rapper convicted of federal tax evasion; served at FCI Schuylkill (camp-versus-medium security level not clearly documented in public sources) | Released December 2014 |
References
- ↑ "Bob Menendez". '. Retrieved 2026-07-07.