FCI Schuylkill (minimum-security camp)
FCI Schuylkill is a minimum-security satellite camp for men in Minersville, Pennsylvania, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It held about 242 people as of November 2025. 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does FCI Schuylkill allow conjugal visits?
No. FCI Schuylkill does not allow conjugal visits. The Federal Bureau of Prisons does not permit conjugal visits at any facility regardless of security level. This includes all minimum-security federal prison camps, low-security FCIs, medium-security facilities, and high-security USPs. Only four state prison systems (California, Connecticut, New York, and Washington) allow conjugal visits for state prisoners. Federal inmates have no access to conjugal or extended family visits anywhere in the BOP system.
Q: What types of visitation are allowed at FCI Schuylkill?
FCI Schuylkill allows contact visits during designated visiting hours, typically on weekends and holidays. Contact visits permit brief embraces at the start and end of visits, but prolonged physical contact is not allowed. All visits occur in supervised visiting rooms. Visitors must be pre-approved through a background check process and must follow dress code requirements. For full details, see the Visiting Policies and Procedures page.
Daily life and programs
Operated by the federal Bureau of Prisons, FCI Schuylkill is a medium-security prison for men that opened in 1991 near Minersville in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, located off Interstate 81. Attached to the main facility is an adjacent minimum-security Satellite Prison Camp, which houses low-risk male offenders. This camp is referred to in BOP documents as SPC Schuylkill, though it is known informally as FPC Schuylkill. BOP staff describe the camp as the first building on the left as you enter the grounds, and like all federal camps, it operates with no perimeter fence or walls. An April 2025 independent inspection by the District of Columbia Corrections Information Council recorded a rated capacity of 1,340 and a population of 1,207 across the whole complex. However, details regarding the camp population vary; the BOP's own FAQ places the camp portion at roughly 226 men, while Wikipedia's infobox lists a camp figure near 340. Camp residents are typically within about two years of release and have demonstrated good institutional conduct, which qualifies them for the lowest custody level in the federal system.
At the Schuylkill camp, daily life revolves around work, and housing is dormitory-style, with men sharing small two-person cubicles rather than locked cells. Documented accounts describe job assignments such as laundry, food service, groundskeeping, and support labor for the main institution. Workers are paid on the federal scale, which starts around six cents an hour and rises to roughly twelve cents for skilled details like tailoring. Phone time is limited to about ten minutes a day, and visiting occurs on alternating weekends and some holidays. Because cash is prohibited, commissary goods such as mackerel and tuna pouches circulate as informal currency. Even in this low-security setting, residents report nighttime security counts that interrupt sleep, serving as a reminder that the camp is still a federal prison.
Educational programming across the complex features literacy, GED, and English-as-a-Second-Language classes, as well as parenting, pre-release, and Adult Continuing Education courses. Recreational offerings documented during the 2025 inspection include a fully equipped weightlifting area, a music room, and classes in ceramics, crochet, and drawing. The psychology department organizes anger-management groups and manages special-population programming for veterans, residents with disabilities, men over 50, and fathers in the parenting program. In addition, medical services facilitate a Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) program. The Bureau's flagship Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) and its UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries) factory are situated at the main medium-security institution rather than the camp. However, camp residents can access non-residential drug education, Alcoholics Anonymous, and 12-step groups, and some are assigned to labor that supports the institution's UNICOR recycling operation.
The camp has been a common destination for white-collar and non-violent federal defendants. Former Qwest Communications chief executive Joseph Nacchio, hedge-fund manager Chip Skowron, and real-estate developer Robert Mericle each served their sentences at the Schuylkill camp. By contrast, the high-profile organized-crime figures frequently associated with the name FCI Schuylkill, such as former Philadelphia mob boss John Stanfa and Westies leader James Coonan, are held at the separate medium-security institution and not the minimum-security camp. The April 2025 inspection documented frequent lockdowns, a Special Housing Unit that regularly reached full capacity, and resident complaints about medical and mental-health access; those findings describe the medium-security FCI rather than the camp, which is a distinct, less restrictive facility on the same grounds.
First-hand accounts
First-person accounts and reporting about life at this facility. Experiences are individual and may not reflect current conditions.
- Former FPC Schuylkill inmate describes a 2-year bid at the camp (r/Felons) - Reddit (r/Felons)
- "FCI Schuylkill camp is solid" in a best-minimum-security-camp thread (r/Prison) - Reddit (r/Prison)
- Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio: Tales From a White-Collar Prison Sentence (daily life at the Schuylkill camp) - InmateAid
Notable inmates
| Name | Sentence | Offense | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Nacchio[1] | 6 years | Insider trading (sold roughly $52 million in Qwest Communications stock on nonpublic information as CEO) | 2009-2013 |
| Chip Skowron | 5 years | Insider trading (FrontPoint Partners hedge-fund manager who traded on confidential Human Genome Sciences drug-trial data) | 2011-2017 |
| Robert Mericle[2] | 1 year | Failing to report a felony in the Luzerne County 'Kids for Cash' scandal (finder's-fee payments to judges Ciavarella and Conahan) | 2014-2015 |
References
- ↑ "Joseph Nacchio". '. Retrieved 2026-07-07.
- ↑ "Robert Mericle". '. Retrieved 2026-07-07.