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Jerry Sandusky moved to high-security prison in Greene County
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Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach who was convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys, was moved Wednesday to the State Correctional Institution at Greene in Waynesburg -- which houses death row inmates -- where he will be kept in a cell by himself for the rest of his life.
The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections on Wednesday announced the move, saying that Sandusky will be held in protective custody, meaning he remain in his cell 22 to 23 hours per day. He will eat his meals there, and be allowed out to exercise for an hour by himself five days a week, and will be able to shower three times per week.
Any religious or counseling services will be provided in his cell, and all of his visits will be non-contact.
Inmates in protective custody must also have additional supervision and escort whenever they are moved out of their cells.
"We make individual decisions based on facts. Given the high profile nature of this individual, coupled with the nature of his crimes, this makes him very vulnerable in a prison setting," said Corrections Secretary John Wetzel.
Sandusky is serving 30 to 60 years in prison after being sentenced last month for 45 criminal counts.
Dennis Giever, a criminology professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, said that pedophiles can be very much at risk from the rest of an inmate population.
Sometimes, he said, other inmates target those offenders to earn crediblity in prison.
"In prison, they are the lowest on the totem pole," Mr. Giever said. "Everybody's going to know him, and everybody's going to want to take a shot at him."
Corrections spokeswoman Susan McNaughton said SCI Greene, specializes in single-celled inmates.
She discounted the idea that Sandusky would be at greater risk in such a setting, saying that the restricted housing unit he will be in is very secure, with only authorized staff working there.
SCI Greene opened in 1994 and houses nearly 1,800 inmates.
First Published October 31, 2012 5:31 pm
