SCI Mercer Release Paths
SCI Mercer is a Pennsylvania DOC minimum-security institution for males. A person may parole from the institution to community supervision or a community corrections setting. Parole is conditional release after the minimum sentence date and a Board decision. It is not the end of the sentence. The person generally serves the balance under PA DOC supervision until the controlling maximum date unless the legal status changes.
A maximum-sentence discharge is different. Full discharge can end DOC custody and supervision, and the person may then cease to appear in either current locator dataset. Transfer to another state correctional institution is not release. Movement to a community corrections center may also remain within DOC custody or supervision. The status, destination, and record date must be preserved rather than reduced to “released.”
Confirm an SCI Mercer Release
The official Inmate/Department Supervised Individual Locator contains two datasets. Search both. Inmate mode covers people under DOC institutional jurisdiction. Department Supervised Individual mode is the more useful public path for a person released to state field supervision.
- Search Inmate mode by name or inmate number. Add committing county, date of birth, age, gender, or location only as needed to separate matches.
- Open the correct detail and note the current and permanent institution. A different SCI means transfer, not community release.
- Search Department Supervised Individual mode by name or parole or inmate number.
- Match the result with date of birth or age and identifiers, then record its Release Date, state, location, and last-update value.
- Compare the result with the sentencing docket, parole Board Action, and PA SAVIN notice. Request a DOC sentence-status or discharge record if the public result is unclear.
The supervised record's “Release Date” is a past or current supervision field. The application does not label it a projected, tentative, minimum, or maximum date. Do not turn it into a forecast. The locator is updated daily, but a daily update is not a real-time exit log.
Note: A person absent from both modes may be fully discharged, misspelled, outside the current datasets, or recorded under another identifier.
SCI Mercer Contact and Records
The official SCI Mercer page provides the institution's identity and contact information. Facility staff can route operational questions, but formal release, discharge, or sentence-status records belong through PA DOC's records process. Use an inmate number and a narrow date range whenever possible.
801 Butler Pike
Mercer, PA 16137
Phone: 724-662-1837
Operator: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
For an existing state record, use the PA DOC Right-to-Know request channel. The agency's Right-to-Know office is at 1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050, phone 717-728-7763, email RA-docrighttoknow@pa.gov. Ask for the specific sentence-status computation, release or discharge record, or movement history. A request should not ask DOC to calculate a new date or explain a court's reasoning.
SCI Mercer Search Fields
The locator's two modes answer different questions. Start broad when spelling is uncertain, then use stable identifiers to distinguish results. Never rely on a photograph alone. Images can age, and the same name may appear in several correctional systems.
| Locator mode | Search choices | What a result supports |
|---|---|---|
| Inmate | Name, inmate number, gender, county, location, citizenship, DOB or age | Current DOC jurisdiction, institution, identity fields, image |
| Supervised individual | Name, parole or inmate number, gender, DOB or age, Release Date, state, location | Current supervision, official Release Date, update time, image |
| Neither mode | Use sentence docket and DOC records | Absence alone proves no release or discharge |
The PA DOC locator interface appears in the research capture below. It supports the distinction between institutional and supervised-person searches.
The live interface should control because fields and displayed status can change after capture.
SCI Mercer Parole Evidence
A minimum sentence date ordinarily marks eligibility for parole consideration, not a promised release. The Pennsylvania Parole Board makes eligible state parole decisions. The institutional exit can occur after a favorable action because release planning, detainers, release-plan approval and processing still matter. A court docket supplies the sentence and credit framework, while a Board Action supplies the parole decision.
PA SAVIN and victim-notification services can add event evidence for a specific state prisoner. A notification is based on the reporting agency's custody change. It does not guarantee freedom from another hold. If a supervised-person record appears, its release date is strong evidence of release from incarceration to supervision, but the record is not proof that every detainer has ended.
- Minimum date
- The point at which parole eligibility may begin, not an assured exit.
- Parole
- Conditional community service of the remaining sentence under supervision.
- Maximum discharge
- Completion of the controlling state sentence when no other authority holds the person.
- Recommitment
- Return to custody or a changed sentence computation after a parole action.
SCI Mercer Reentry Services
SCI Mercer's Reentry Service Office works with people approaching minimum or release dates. PA DOC describes workshops and links to community resources. This office can help prepare for transition, but its services do not establish that a named person has a release date or took part in a program.
PA DOC also uses a debit release-card system for some state releases. That practice is relevant to a community exit, not to a transfer into another correctional facility or a move under a detainer. The destination and status in the movement record remain decisive. Release logistics never replace the legal and custody records.
SCI Mercer Name History
SCI Mercer opened in 1978 as the State Regional Correctional Facility. It initially received short-term male county offenders from 14 northwestern counties and became a state correctional institution in 2008. That history matters when searching old paperwork. A record may use “SRCF Mercer” even though today's official name is SCI Mercer.
Older regional wording does not send the record into the current Mercer County Jail search. The institution's history and later state identity mean the Pennsylvania DOC route remains the sound starting point for those records. Match the event date, facility name used at that time, state inmate number, and sentencing docket.
The official facility profile shown below supports both the present institution and its history.
The historic name explains why a state record can look regional without becoming a county-jail booking.
Resolve SCI Mercer Conflicts
When two official sources differ, keep both observations and compare update times. An inmate result may lag a transfer. A supervised result may reflect the new status before a separate source updates. The sentence docket may show legal authority but not the exact institutional exit. The agency record that created the movement is the best source for correcting that event.
Sentence dates also require care. Credit for prior custody, a later court order, parole recommitment, or a corrected calculation can affect the controlling record. The public locator does not expose all of that computation. When dates matter, request the existing sentence-status record instead of subtracting time from a docket sentence. A minimum date is not an assurance of release, and the displayed supervised Release Date is not a future prediction.
Match the committing county and state inmate number before tying the locator to a docket. The sentencing county need not be Mercer merely because SCI Mercer housed the person. Likewise, physical placement in Mercer County does not turn a state sentence into a county sentence. The court record establishes the judgment; DOC establishes placement, movement, institutional release, and state supervision.
For an older discharge, current locator absence is expected but inconclusive. Request the existing discharge or sentence-status record with the inmate number and date range. PA SAVIN may help with a recent event, but its present public result is not a reconstruction of every old notice. Preserve any Board Action, court order, and DOC response as separate parts of the record chain.
For a complete Mercer County search across county, state, and federal systems, the Mercer released-inmate lookup explains how to choose the right custodian. Do not merge records merely because names match. Use the inmate or parole number, birth information, committing county, and relevant dates.
SCI Mercer Release Labels
A release record should name the event it documents. State parole means release from institutional confinement to supervision. Maximum discharge means the controlling sentence has ended, subject to any other authority. Transfer means continued placement elsewhere. Community corrections may still involve DOC control. These labels are not interchangeable, even when all cause a person to leave SCI Mercer.
Corrections should go to the source that created the field. PA DOC controls the locator, movement, and sentence-status record. The Parole Board controls its decision. The sentencing court controls its docket. Keeping those roles distinct avoids asking one office to certify another office's action.