The State Correctional Institution – Forest is one of two identical correctional facilities in Pennsylvania that were constructed in the beginning of the twenty-first century to hold maximum-security male inmates. SCI Forest is located in the community of Marienville, in remote Forest County.
In December of 2025, Forest held 2,246 inmates against a public capacity of 2,582 individuals, or 87.0%.
Creation of SCI-Forest SCI - Forest and SCI-Fayette, which are identical in size and design, were constructed to accommodate overcrowding at SCI-Pittsburgh and SCI-Waynesburg, which were "mothballed""State Announces Plan To 'Mothball' 'Western Pen'" - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4/19/2004 (Retrieved 5/7/2011) after the opening of SCI Forest. Construction of the correctional facility cost $126 million.
Notable Inmates Inmate NameRegister NumberStatusDetails Andrew Jerome Wurst EA5775 Serving a 30-60 year sentence with possibility of parole in 2028. Perpetrator of the 1998 Parker Middle School dance shooting in which he murdered teacher John Gillette.
See also List of Pennsylvania state prisons
References
External links Penna. Department of Corrections - SCI Forest