Visiting an Indian

A trip to Moshannon Valley Correctional Center 

New York, July 2018 

author: Ed Kritsky 

William Haskell “The Prairie’s Edge”

I visited Roman at his ‘new place’ in July 2018. He now lives at Moshannon Valley Correctional Center (MVCC), which is closer to New York than all the other places he had been to. I haven’t seen him for a number of years, and since 2015 he hadn’t had a single visitor. My trip from New York took about 5 hours, driving West on I-80.

His facility is located at a small town of Philipsburg, PA. His postal address 555 Geo Drive, Philipsburg doesn’t match a real one, which is 239 Graham Station Rd. This street is marked with a large white and blue sign ‘Moshannon Valley Correctional Center’.

As one drives up the hill, one sees a large area with manicured lawns and high fences, topped with razor wire. Beyond the fences – large cream-colored building that look like warehouses. All this is surrounded by tall forest trees, from all sides.