How We Help
Prison Monitoring
Recognizing the importance of how people in prison are treated is why our nation's founders started the Prison Society in 1787. On any given day, there are approximately 62,000 people incarcerated in Pennsylvania, at an annual cost of $5 billion dollars.
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What happens behind bars matters.
We work to end abuse and mistreatment in prisons. When prisons and jails are unsafe, communities are unsafe. When residents and staff in correctional facilities are degraded, the community is degraded.
As the only independent oversight body with statutory access for Pennsylvania’s prisons and jails, we work directly inside all 85 state and county correctional facilities to monitor conditions, escalate problems we witness, and surface issues before they become a problem.
Through our statewide network of trained volunteers, we respond to individual requests for assistance from incarcerated people and their families, and work to resolve issues on a case-by-case basis. To provide effective oversight of individual institutions and the correctional system at-large, we track key issues and identify trends through data collection, walkthroughs, and in-depth regular communication with people living and working in prison.
We use this information to effectively partner with prison administrators and government officials to help ensure our shared goal of safer, more humane prisons. We make this information publicly available to advance understanding, transparency, and accountability on the government's third-largest expenditure.
“Thank you for your help thus far. I seriously thought I was alone in this....I’m trying to take care of everything and it’s so stressful” INCARCERATED PERSON, SCI COAL TOWNSHIP
Read Our Latest Reports
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REPORTS
11.18.2024
2023 Annual Report
This year, the Pennsylvania Prison Society made a profound difference in the health, safety, and dignity of people living behind bars and their families. This report shows the impact we made in 2023 by assisting incarcerated people, by exposing and addressing issues behind bars, and by helping families build and maintain connection through the distance and isolation of prison.
REPORTS
12.9.2022
2022 Annual Report
At its core, the Prison Society embodies the principles of neighbors helping neighbors, citizens holding the government to account, and the entitlement of all Americans to pursue happiness. Our report shares how this year, more than ever, Prison Society staff and volunteers are on the ground working to protect the health, safety, and dignity of the 62,000 Pennsylvanians living in confinement. It also highlights the power of family and friends whose essential contact through incarceration makes all the difference to a successful return home.
REPORTS
3.10.2022
In-Cell Dining During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of People in Pennsylvania State Custody
The Prison Society conducted this survey April 20, 2021 – August 22, 2021 to better understand the impact of the in-cell dining policy on the health and wellbeing of people confined to Pennsylvania state prisons.
REPORTS
2.22.2021
Report on COVID-19 in PA State Prisons, Winter 2021
This report of findings from a survey of people incarcerated in Pennsylvania prisons sheds light on their experience during the explosive second wave of the pandemic. The findings add to what we learned in our first round of surveys completed in September, and document the first-hand experience of people in state custody during the explosive second wave of the pandemic.
REPORTS
11.19.2020
2020 Annual Report
For 234 years, the Prison Society has borne witness to injustice and inhumane treatment behind bars. We have never looked away. The overlapping crises of a once-in-a-century pandemic, decades of mass incarceration, and renewed urgency to address systemic racism have brought into stark relief fundamental truths about prisons. This year's annual report shares some of the lessons of these crises—lessons that make our work at the Prison Society all the more important—and celebrates the progress we've made in this unprecedented year.
REPORTS
9.24.2020
Report on COVID-19 in PA State Prisons, Fall 2020
The Prison Society has been monitoring the spread and mitigation of COVID-19 as it relates to Pennsylvania prisons and jails. In order to get a first-hand perspective, the Prison Society conducted its first ever survey of incarcerated people. Some 345 people in Pennsylvania state custody filled out the Prison Society survey between April 15 and September 8, 2020. This report contains preliminary findings and recommendations to the State for improved response to the pandemic.
REPORTS
11.19.2019
2019 Annual Report
2019 was a year of extraordinary gains—bringing light to the inside and the darkness on the inside to light. Your support enabled us to expose institutional cruelties and to step in and stop human suffering. We helped thousands of families stay connected. With our affiliates, we raised awareness and advocated for the end of life sentences and solitary confinement. We inspired more people to show love above bars and put an end to the culture of punishment.
REPORTS
12.1.2018
2018 Annual Report
We are on the move. Over this past year, we have realigned our programming, resources, and staffing. We have undertaken significant new partnerships and stepped up into new opportunities, modernized our governance structure, freshened our branding and attracted many new funders and supporters.
REPORTS
11.18.2024
2023 Annual Report
This year, the Pennsylvania Prison Society made a profound difference in the health, safety, and dignity of people living behind bars and their families. This report shows the impact we made in 2023 by assisting incarcerated people, by exposing and addressing issues behind bars, and by helping families build and maintain connection through the distance and isolation of prison.
REPORTS
12.9.2022
2022 Annual Report
At its core, the Prison Society embodies the principles of neighbors helping neighbors, citizens holding the government to account, and the entitlement of all Americans to pursue happiness. Our report shares how this year, more than ever, Prison Society staff and volunteers are on the ground working to protect the health, safety, and dignity of the 62,000 Pennsylvanians living in confinement. It also highlights the power of family and friends whose essential contact through incarceration makes all the difference to a successful return home.
REPORTS
3.10.2022
In-Cell Dining During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of People in Pennsylvania State Custody
The Prison Society conducted this survey April 20, 2021 – August 22, 2021 to better understand the impact of the in-cell dining policy on the health and wellbeing of people confined to Pennsylvania state prisons.
REPORTS
2.22.2021
Report on COVID-19 in PA State Prisons, Winter 2021
This report of findings from a survey of people incarcerated in Pennsylvania prisons sheds light on their experience during the explosive second wave of the pandemic. The findings add to what we learned in our first round of surveys completed in September, and document the first-hand experience of people in state custody during the explosive second wave of the pandemic.
REPORTS
11.19.2020
2020 Annual Report
For 234 years, the Prison Society has borne witness to injustice and inhumane treatment behind bars. We have never looked away. The overlapping crises of a once-in-a-century pandemic, decades of mass incarceration, and renewed urgency to address systemic racism have brought into stark relief fundamental truths about prisons. This year's annual report shares some of the lessons of these crises—lessons that make our work at the Prison Society all the more important—and celebrates the progress we've made in this unprecedented year.
REPORTS
9.24.2020
Report on COVID-19 in PA State Prisons, Fall 2020
The Prison Society has been monitoring the spread and mitigation of COVID-19 as it relates to Pennsylvania prisons and jails. In order to get a first-hand perspective, the Prison Society conducted its first ever survey of incarcerated people. Some 345 people in Pennsylvania state custody filled out the Prison Society survey between April 15 and September 8, 2020. This report contains preliminary findings and recommendations to the State for improved response to the pandemic.
REPORTS
11.19.2019
2019 Annual Report
2019 was a year of extraordinary gains—bringing light to the inside and the darkness on the inside to light. Your support enabled us to expose institutional cruelties and to step in and stop human suffering. We helped thousands of families stay connected. With our affiliates, we raised awareness and advocated for the end of life sentences and solitary confinement. We inspired more people to show love above bars and put an end to the culture of punishment.
REPORTS
12.1.2018
2018 Annual Report
We are on the move. Over this past year, we have realigned our programming, resources, and staffing. We have undertaken significant new partnerships and stepped up into new opportunities, modernized our governance structure, freshened our branding and attracted many new funders and supporters.
Interested in becoming a volunteer Prison Monitor?
We recruit committed volunteers on an ongoing basis. As a volunteer Prison Monitor, you'll help address the often-overlooked needs of people living behind bars, while contributing to making a difference in our prison system at large.
