The State Correctional Institute of Pittsburgh (SCIP)’s intimidating 40-foot stone walls earned it the name “the wall.” SCIP was the first prison of the Atlantic plain as well as a major Civil War prison in 1863-1864. Armed correctional officers constantly manned the walkway atop the Wall, armed with automatic weapons to intervene in the event of an attempted escape. Razor wire, a coiled mesh of metal strips with sharp edges, edged the Wall and further discouraged escape attempts. The facility,once under the Department of Welfare, later fell under the Department of Corrections in 1955, and at that time it was renamed the State Correctional Institute (SCI) of Pittsburgh. In 2005 SCI Pittsburgh was mothballed but then again re-opened in 2007 as the state began preparing for an extensive expansion of the correctional system. It was expected that the prison would be open only for 3-5 years but it remained open until January of 2017, when DOC was announced that it would close that year.
As a penitentiary, SCI Pittsburgh housed inmates sentenced to more than two years in prison, most for violent crimes. Many men did their time quietly and left never to return. Others cycled in and out, the experience of incarceration only worsening their outlook and their inability to lead a productive, law-abiding life. Others exploited and preyed upon fellow inmates and even upon employees and guards. Some, especially those sentenced to decades or life without the possibility of parole – death by incarceration – slipped into despair. Criminologists still struggle to understand why some inmates succeed and others fail or even worsen.