State Correctional Institution – Huntingdon Explained

Prison Name:	State Correctional Institution - Huntingdon
Location:	Smithfield Township, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
Classification:	Close-Security
Opened:	1889
Managed By:	Pennsylvania Department of Corrections

State Correctional Institution – Huntingdon (SCI Huntingdon) is a close-security correctional facility, located near Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny Mountains. SCI Huntingdon was, until the reopening of SCI-Pittsburgh, the oldest-operating state correctional facility in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

History

The facility was opened in 1889^[1] and was modeled after the Elmira Reformatory in New York and was called the Huntingdon Reformatory for Young Offenders. SCI Huntingdon was used for "defective delinquents" until 1960, after that it became a maximum-security prison, housing Capital Case inmates until 1995. SCI Huntingdon is now a close-security institution.

Notable inmates

• George Feigley, sex cult leader, served part of his sentence at SCI- Huntingdon,^[2] from 1983 to 1998.^[3]
• Kermit Gosnell, abortion provider and convicted child murderer^[4]
• Joseph Kallinger, who had initially been held at the state prison at Huntingdon until he attacked another inmate with a razor-studded belt.^[5]
• William Dean Christensen, serial killer known as "America's Jack the Ripper".^[6]
• Norman Johnston Escaped from SCI-Huntingdon August 2, 1999 and was captured 3 weeks later. He was convicted for the 1978 murders of 4 four teenagers to cover up a family burglary ring which were portrayed in the film "At Close Range" starring Sean Penn. ^[7]
• Cosmo Dinardo, 20-year-old serial killer that murdered 4 young men on his family's 90 acre Solebury Township farm in 2017^[8]

See also

• List of Pennsylvania state prisons
• State Correctional Institution - Smithfield

External links

• PA Department of Corrections - SCI Huntingdon

40.4911°N -78.0289°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: Huntingdon. Department of Corrections.
2. Web site: Music From the Old Prisoner's Head. Kestler. Barbara. 2008. prisoners.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20100723095324/http://www.prisoners.com/mastersm.html. 23 July 2010.
3. Web site: Feigley . George . Revenge Of The Clowns . usurped . 2023-07-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20061119091356/http://www.prisoners.com/gfstory1.html . 19 November 2006.
4. Web site: Detective in spotlight as true crime film 'Gosnell' opens. Carl Jr . Hessler. 20 October 2018. AP NEWS.
5. Web site: Triple Murderer Joseph Kallinger Dies in Prison. .
6. News: 10 killings linked to Pa. inmate . . February 17, 1985 . September 29, 2022 .
7. Web site: Killer Captured Nearly 3 Weeks After Prison Escape. .
8. Web site: The Untold Tale of Cosmo DiNardo's Descent Into Murder and Madness. 25 February 2020 .