State Correctional Institution – Cresson was a medium-security, all male correctional facility,[1] located off U.S. Route 22, about 10 miles west of Altoona along Old Route 22 in the Western part of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

[2] The prison closed June 30, 2013 and the land was put up for sale by the state.

[3] Under Executive Order of then-Governor Dick Thornburgh in January, 1983, This facility, formerly the Lawrence Frick State Hospital[4] for the mentally ill, was to be transferred to the Bureau of Corrections for its current use.

Construction/renovation began in 1984, and the design of the new housing units for inmates was prototyped in future institutions across the Commonwealth.

SCI Cresson opened in 1987, becoming a medium-security correctional facility for men.