Jerry Sandusky Put in Solitary at SCI Laurel Highlands as Case Moves Toward Federal Court
Coincidence? The week his case left Pennsylvania's courts, Jerry Sandusky went into the hole.
Prisoner: Jerry Sandusky
Age: 82
Facility: State Correctional Institution – Laurel Highlands
Discipline: 15 days of solitary confinement
Additional restriction: 30 days of cell restriction
Restrictions described: no phone calls, no Zoom calls, no television, no visits
Court development: Sandusky withdrew the recantation claim from his post-conviction petition to proceed to federal court
Jerry Sandusky is, in my opinion, one of the great tragedies of the 21st century: an innocent man swallowed by a justice system that failed him, then kept failing him long after the verdict.
Jerry Sandusky in Solitary at SCI Laurel Highlands
Jerry Sandusky spent the week his lawyers pulled his case out of Pennsylvania's courts locked in a cell for 23 hours a day.
He is 82.
Altogether, he has been in state custody fourteen years in four prisons, the last eight and a half at Pennsylvania’s State Correctional Institution – Laurel Highlands since 2018.
It is a minimum-security facility used largely to accommodate elderly and sick men.
Now at Laurel Highlands, he's in disciplinary custody. Prison inside prison.
A hearing examiner on Thursday imposed 15 days of solitary confinement for conduct Sandusky denies.
The punishment was added to 30 days of cell restriction he was already serving after entering a shower room to retrieve a T-shirt and shorts he had left there.
That's how the time adds up.
No phone calls.
No Zoom calls.
No television.
No visitor sitting across from him.
Every visit and video call scheduled for September was canceled. The facility even canceled a Sept. 28 visit, three days after the hole is supposed to be over.
Sandusky appeared by video at Monday's Centre County court hearing and told Senior Judge Maureen Skerda that he was withdrawing the recantation claim from his post-conviction petition so he could proceed to federal court.
CLOTHES IN THE SHOWER
The first misconduct came on a Sunday morning.
Sandusky had showered before chapel and later realized he had left a T-shirt and shorts behind.
When he returned, a sign said showering was not permitted at that hour. It did not say entry into the room was prohibited. He was not going back to shower. He was going back for his clothes.
An officer cited Sandusky for entering the room. The penalty was 30 days of cell confinement.
THE ROOM HE SAYS HE NEVER ENTERED
The second misconduct came last week.
Sandusky left his cell to get water to mix powdered milk for his cereal.
An officer told him he would be cited for entering a numbered room on the unit. Sandusky said he had not entered the room and did not know where it was.
There are cameras in the prison. Somewhere, there may be a picture showing whether he entered the room.
No one has said whether anybody looked. Other inmates said they'd testify he didn't do it.
At Thursday's disciplinary hearing, the examiner imposed 15 days of solitary confinement. He remains in the cell for 23 hours a day.
He eats in the cell.
For one hour he is let out. He is escorted to shower.
A letter written to him goes to Florida, gets scanned, then comes back as a printout in two or three weeks.
AFTER EIGHT QUIET YEARS
Sandusky has spent more than eight years at Laurel Highlands, most of that time in a unit for older prisoners.
Until this year, he had accumulated only two minor misconducts.
Then something changed.
In 2026, the disciplinary write-ups increased.
Dottie Sandusky said another inmate recently removed Sandusky's belongings from his cabinet. A different inmate identified the person responsible.
The property was returned.
The inmate who took it was not disciplined.
Guy who took it?
No ticket.
No hole.
Nothing.
Sandusky shares his living area with three other inmates, two of whom are significantly younger than he is.
On the day prison officials expected to transport him to SCI Benner for the Centre County hearing, his medication was removed in preparation for the trip.
The court ultimately did not order the transport.
Sandusky went a full day without the medication.
Two former inmates familiar with Laurel Highlands said they believe Sandusky is being singled out.
They also said the officers involved have previously drawn complaints from prisoners.
That is an allegation, not proof.
But men who have lived behind those doors notice things people outside do not.
THE TIMING
No evidence shows anyone outside Laurel Highlands directed the disciplinary actions.
Sandusky's lawyers have not accused the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office of involvement.
The Department of Corrections, not prosecutors, handles prison discipline.
But after eight years, suddenly he's getting written up. And it happens at the same time his case starts moving again. Just when he needs contact with his attorneys and others to move the case forward, from state to federal court.
You don't have to call it a conspiracy to call it strange.
His case finally gets a hearing after years. Same year, the tickets start coming.
At Tuesday’s hearing, with many members of the state and national press in attendance, it got a little raucous.
Before the hearing, the AG's office put out a press release insisting it would "proceed as scheduled.” Prosecutors tried to put in evidence the judge said no to.
Then they complained about press coverage in open court.
The 15-day solitary term was imposed three days after Sandusky told the court that he no longer believed Pennsylvania could provide a fair hearing and that he intended to pursue his remaining claims in federal court.
No one has proved the two things are connected. But they happened in that order. Perhaps it is coincidence.
Perhaps famous prisoners attract special attention.
Maybe the answer is something nobody outside those walls can see.
Either way, he's still in the hole.
TWO WEEKS OF SILENCE
Days before he found himself in the hole, Sandusky made this public statement, quoted in ESPN and other outlets.
“I have instructed my lawyers to cancel the September 8 evidentiary hearing and ask the Centre County court for a final order on my PCRA petition so that I can take my case to federal court.
“Over the years I have brought fifteen serious issues before Pennsylvania's courts, each one showing I deserve a new trial. Every one was swatted down. I have no faith this one would be treated differently, no matter how compelling the evidence.
“In federal court, every one of those issues can be heard together, by judges who have not already made up their minds about me. That is overwhelmingly more important than any single hearing in Centre County, and I need to get there as fast as possible.
“I am 82 years old. I am innocent. I intend to be alive when the truth is heard.”
For the next two weeks he cannot call his wife or anyone who can help him with the transition. He cannot even pick up a phone and call his lawyers when he wants to.
He cannot sit across from a visitor.
So he waits.
Attorneys on Sandusky's approved list can still contact him. His lawyers are expected to do so this week.
His wife, Dottie, is also investigating whether a minister may visit, since Department of Corrections rules appear to permit clergy visits during disciplinary custody.
There are always rules. Sometimes there are exceptions to the rules. When someone you love is behind a door, you learn all of them.
Dottie said Sandusky is reading.
Before the hearing, she sent him Joe Manchin's book about government corruption. He stopped reading it when the legal filings demanded his attention.
This week, in the hole, he picked it back up.
There was time now.
