As Rockview state prison officially closes, here’s a look at its 111-year history
Rockview state prison has been an imposing presence for more than a century in Centre County, a complex symbol representing everything from capital punishment and the agrarian ideal to a steady source of work for hundreds.
Thousands upon thousands have served their time or worked there, offering the former an opportunity to either rehabilitate themselves or spend their final days. Now, it’s the empty prison serving out its final days.
Pennsylvania’s second-oldest state prison is now cleared of inmates, and officially set to cease operations by Sunday. Its history predates World War I and its opening came five years before women gained the right to vote.
Here is a brief look at its 111-year history.
1912: Construction begins
Worried about overcrowding and unsanitary conditions at another facility in western Pennsylvania, the state sought to construct a rural prison for no more than $1.25 million. The state Department of Corrections said a committee surveyed 33 sites before choosing 4,300 acres in Centre County, which were purchased at $50 an acre.
In December 2024, a nearby piece of undeveloped land sold for $400,000 an acre.
1915: Prison opens, first execution carried out
Rockview was originally intended to be a maximum-security prison that took the place of two others, but those plans fell through. By the 1920s, it became a medium-security institution operated as a farm.
It had a capacity of about 1,012, roughly split between maximum- and medium-security cells, the DOC said. Home to Pennsylvania’s only execution chamber, the first was carried out in February.
1931: First woman to die in Pennsylvania’s electric chair
Irene Schroeder, 22, was executed at Rockview for the killing of a corporal in what has since become the Pennsylvania State Police. According to an article published by the New York Times, both she and her accomplice denied firing the fatal shot. She was a mother to a 4-year-old son when she was executed.
1946: Second woman executed, the last in Pennsylvania
Philadelphia housemaid Corrine Sykes, a 22-year-old Black woman, was electrocuted for stabbing her employer. An October 1996 article published by the Philadelphia Daily News compared Sykes’ killing to the O.J. Simpson case for the way it “divided whites and blacks.”
By 1962: Hundreds fatally electrocuted
In less than 50 years, the state executed 350 people in the electric chair at Rockview, according to the Centre County Historical Society. The last of them was electrocuted in 1962.
1978: Prison drama “On the Yard” filmed entirely at the prison
The movie, which used actual inmates as extras in the film, follows a naive inmate who struggles to adapt to the social hierarchy of state prison. In its final credits, the film thanked the inmates for their “untiring support and cooperation.”
1990: State law replaces electrocution, electric chair moved
Pennsylvania changed its execution method to lethal injection and the electric chair was moved to storage at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in Harrisburg.
1995-1999: After renovation, three men executed by lethal injection
The prison’s former field hospital was renovated into a two-story execution complex, where three men were killed in a five-year span. The last to be executed in Pennsylvania was Gary M. Heidnik, whose last meal was four slices of pizza and two cups of black coffee, according to the DOC.
2013: Benner Township state prison opens next-door
The $200 million facility opened in April 2013. It has a capacity of 2,250.
2025: Closing process begins
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration finalized in September its proposal to close Rockview and Quehanna Boot Camp in neighboring Clearfield County, citing dwindling state prison populations and saving taxpayer money. Rockview was the second-oldest in the state prison system.
2026: All inmates transferred out, operations cease
The prison population hit zero in mid-February while the DOC put the finishing touches on the closure. Nearly all union-represented employees were transferred to work at other state prisons.
The future
It’s not yet known what the state will do with the facility. Other closed prisons have sat empty for years before a sale or potential demolition.
Speaking during a state budget hearing Thursday, corrections Secretary Laurel R. Harry told lawmakers the agency is working to reallocate Rockview’s usable equipment to other facilities. She said that process is “going to take a few months.”
Shapiro’s administration also has not yet detailed its plans for Rockview’s vast property between Bellefonte and State College. The DOC has said at least some of the land will remain for Benner Township state prison.
