State Correctional Institution – Phoenix

The SCI Phoenix buildings were built on the SCI Graterford land area, and the Phoenix and Graterford buildings are about apart, with SCI Phoenix fencing beginning about 1,100 feet east of SCI Graterford's fencing. The first bidding for construction of this prison occurred in the decade of the 2000s. The prison, originally to open in November 2014, opened late since Walsh Heery Joint Venture, the construction company, and Hill International, a Philadelphia company representing the State of Pennsylvania, had a dispute over whether the prison was ready to open. , the prison's final cost was still not finalized. On June 1, 2018, its dedication ceremony was held, and the prison began operations on July 9, 2018. Graterford's employees now were employees of Phoenix. The population of Graterford was to reduce to 2,588 inmates by June 2018, so that the transfer of inmates to Phoenix would not involve as many people, and Phoenix eventually opened, with 2,633 prisoners. Initially, prisoners with life sentences who had single cells at Graterford would continue to have single cells at Phoenix. ==Composition==

Many prisoners are two to a cell, and most cells have the dimensions by . Phoenix has 3,422 beds. It has inmates convicted of capital murder, many from the Philadelphia area and most of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment but with some under death sentences, housed in a dedicated section of the prison, called the "Capital Unit." That section is larger than the previous capital case section that was in Graterford. The PADOC stated that the prison hoped to move inmates with death sentences from SCI Greene, where most death row and capital murder inmates in Pennsylvania resided, to SCI Phoenix so that the prison system can more easily transport them to court proceedings. ==Notable inmates==

• Cool C, rapper and murderer. Sentenced to death. • Danilo Cavalcante, escaped prisoner who led police on a 14-day manhunt throughout Chester County, imprisoned for killing his girlfriend. • Bill Cosby, actor, comedian, and formerly convicted sex offender who was released on June 30, 2021 after his conviction was vacated by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. • Eric Frein, ambushed 2 Pennsylvania State Police, murdering Corporal Bryon K. Dickson Jr., in September 2014. Sentenced to death. • Melvin Knight, one of the murderers of Jennifer Daugherty. Sentenced to death. Currently incarcerated in SCI Mahanoy. • Joseph Ligon, America's oldest and longest-serving juvenile lifer. Originally sentenced to life in prison without parole, released on February 11, 2021, after the United States Supreme Court declared life sentences without parole for juveniles unconstitutional. • Harvey Miguel Robinson, serial killer. Sentenced to death. • Ricky Smyres, one of the murderers of Jennifer Daugherty. Sentenced to death. ==References==