Lewisburg United States Penitentiary

Lewisburg United States Penitentiary is a high security penitentiary with a nearby minimum security satellite camp. The prison is located in Lewisburg of Union County, Pennsylvania. Lewisburg USP, originally called North Eastern Penitentiary, was opened in 1932. The facilities hold male offenders only. The prison population currently consists of 957 inmates at the USP and 486 inmates at the Camp. In July of 2008, Lewisburg USP suffered from funding issues. These past years officials have been working to reduce the amount of spending as much as possible. The Federal Bureau of Prison then proposed $143 million in spending cuts, inclusive of not replacing equipment, eliminating overtime, reducing officer training time, and more.

Lewisburg United States Penitentiary has a history of notable inmates and incidents. In November of 1995, there was a prison riot started by 10 prisoners. As a result of the riot, more than 20 prisoners were sent to the hospital with broken bones and missing teeth, many were sentenced to the "hole", and over 400 inmates were transferred. Lewisburg USP was also the main focus of the documentary Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House. This documentary gives details about life in prison and how inmates adapt when released back into society. This documentary was even a nominee of a 1991 Academy Award.

As for notable inmates, Lewisburg USP has had a variety of well-known criminals. Crime bosses David Thai, Whitey Bulger, and John Gotti have all served time at the penitentiary. David Thai is still imprisoned at the USP after being convicted of murder, extortion, and racketeering alongside a multitude of charges in 1992 by a judge in Brooklyn. Paul Vario, Henry Hill, and Thomas DeSimone, all who have been involved of some sort with a crime family, have all been incarcerated at Lewisburg USP. Other notable inmates include Andrew Caspersen who is a Wall Street swindler, Robert Hansen who is a serial killer suspected of at least 15 murders, and Richard McCoy Jr. who is an American skyjacker that hijacked United Airlines Flight 855 and extorted $500,000 from this flight. McCoy also escaped prison in 1974 by stealing a garbage truck and destroying the gate. McCoy later died after being in a shootout with FBI agents.

Visiting Hours at Lewisburg United States Penitentiary:

Depending on whether someone is visiting the USP or the Camp, there will be different visiting schedules and regulations.

Visits to the USP will be conducted on weekends and federal holidays from 8:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. As for the Camp, visitation will occur at the same time but only on Saturdays and Sundays, not federal holidays.
Prisoners are allowed no more than 5 visits per month.
For the USP offenders, each offender can have up to 5 visitors at once. As for the Camp, a prisoner cannot have more than 4 visitors at a given time. These numbers are inclusive of children.
As the visiting room overcrowds, special visits will be terminated first then visits will be terminated based on distance traveled and time arrived.
Visitors must be 18 years of age or older, otherwise they must be accompanied by an adult who is at least of age 18.
Visitors must have valid identification in order to be permitted into the visiting room.
Vending machines are available, however inmates will not be allowed near this area.
Embracing and other forms of brief physical contact will be allowed at only the beginning and end of each visit.

Physical Address:

Lewisburg United States Penitentiary
2400 Robert F. Miller Drive
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837

Telephone:

(570)-523-1251

Inmate Mailing Address:

For the USP-

Inmate Name, ID Number
Lewisburg United States Penitentiary
P.O. Box 1000
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837

For the Camp-

Inmate Name, ID Number
Lewisburg United States Penitentiary Satellite Camp
P.O. Box 2000
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837