Inmate Programs

Venango County Prison has set up a variety of programs to help inmate, including:

  • Alcoholics Anonymous
  • Anger management
  • General Equivalency Diploma (GED) tutoring and testing
  • Mental health counseling
  • Narcotics Anonymous
  • Prison ministry

Many of the inmates who come into the Prison have drug or alcohol problems and mental health issues. We can not always provide individual sessions to help these inmates, but do provide group sessions so that they can get some help if they so choose.

Adult Crossroads / Cognitive Life Skills

This group provides cognitive life skills is designed to help you develop a personal plan to achieve your potential as a positive, law-abiding, contributing citizen of society. This program can help you define your future and establish a plan to achieve it.

Anger / Stress Management

Instruction in anger and stress management is given by a Mental Health / Mental Retardation Specialist. Inmates are instructed how to recognize anger, its origin, and how to constructively deal with it in an eight week course utilizing games and workbooks in a group therapy format. Inmates are given a Certificate of Completion at the conclusion of the course.

Community Service Programming

The community service program is designated to assist county agencies and non-profit organizations with special work assignments. Inmates can offset any fines and costs that they owe and may also receive credit for time off of their minimum sentence if they are serving a sentence in the prison.

For more information, contact Court Supervision Services by phone at 814-432-9620.

Drug & Alcohol Education

These programs are to help the many inmates who have drug and alcohol issues and are conducted by Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous as well as the Venango County Substance Abuse Program. When an inmate is paroled from the prison, they may parole to a drug and alcohol in-patient or out-patient program as part of their parole

For more information, contact the Venango County Substance Abuse Program at 814-678-6580.

GED Programs

The Adult Education Program is run by the Venango County Area Vocational Technical School and consists of GED Preparation courses.

Juvenile Education / Special Education

The Juvenile Education Program is run by the Franklin Area School District and offers the opportunity for continuing high school curriculum in both regular and special education. The school district employs a staff member for both types of students under the age of 21. Several inmates are actively involved in this program on a monthly basis.

Mental Health

The Venango County Prison is fortunate to have a board certified psychiatrist come into the prison on a weekly basis to treat inmate who have mental health issues that need to be treated. This program is funded by the County's Mental Health / Mental Retardation department.

Parenting / Life Skills

This course is designed to educate and counsel the female population on good parenting skills. Conducted in small group settings, this course allows women to address individual problems in parenting and receive instruction and guidance.

Women's Support Group

This group meets weekly with up to five or six women participating. The women share their concerns, fears and anxieties about being incarcerated, and other issues in their lives. The group is based on mutual support, respect, and trust.