Spring Creek Correctional Center

{{Short description|Maximum security men's prison in Alaska, United States}} {{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Infobox Prison | prison_name = Spring Creek Correctional Center (SCCC) | image = [[Image:SpringCreekEntrance.jpg|240px]] | location = [[Seward, Alaska]] | coordinates = | status = Operational | classification = Maximum | capacity = 500+ | population = | populationdate = | opened = 1988 | managed_by = [[Alaska Department of Corrections]] | director = {{nowrap|Lynnie Einerson}} (Acting Superintendent) }} '''Spring Creek Correctional Center''' is an [[Alaska Department of Corrections]] [[Incarceration in the United States#Security levels|maximum security prison]] for men located in [[Seward, Alaska]], [[United States]].<ref>"[http://www.cityofseward.net/documents/root/City%20of%20Seward%202020%20Comprehensive%20Plan%20Volume%20II.pdf City of Seward 2020 Comprehensive Plan Volume II] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608214704/http://www.cityofseward.net/documents/root/City%20of%20Seward%202020%20Comprehensive%20Plan%20Volume%20II.pdf |date=2011-06-08 }}." City of Seward. 94/97. Retrieved on August 15, 2010.</ref><ref name="SCCProfile">"[http://www.correct.state.ak.us/corrections/institutions/sccc/sccc.jsf Spring Creek Correctional Center] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826022004/http://www.correct.state.ak.us/corrections/institutions/sccc/sccc.jsf |date=2010-08-26 }}." [[Alaska Department of Corrections]]. Retrieved on August 15, 2010.</ref> The prison is located approximately {{convert|125|mi|km}} south of [[Anchorage, Alaska|Anchorage]]. The prison is located on about {{convert|328|acre|km2}} of land surrounded by [[national park]]s. The prison capacity consists of over 500 inmates and 97 correctional officers. Built as a decentralized campus, the prison construction was completed in 1988 at a cost of $44,678,000.<ref>{{Cite web | title=SCCC History | accessdate=2010-07-20 | publisher=correct.state.ak.us | url =http://www.correct.state.ak.us/corrections/institutions/sccc/sccchistory.jsf}}</ref> A large portion of the prisoner population consists of "hard core" felons who committed violent crimes, such as murder. The Alaska DOC says that these prisoners "will probably spend the rest of their life in prison." Spring Creek also houses prisoners who committed less serious crimes like assault and burglary and usually have sentences from three years to ten years.<ref name="SCCProfile"/>

In the prison's history, there have been two murders inside the prison, one escape and at least one failed escape plot.

===Murders=== In 2004, Spring Creek inmate Carl Abuhl, already incarcerated for another murder, killed his cellmate Gregory Beaudoin. Abuhl was convicted of Beaudoin's murder and sentenced to an additional 30 years in prison.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/101308/new_343523239.shtml |title=Man pleads guilty: Prisoner gets 30 years for killing cellmate {{!}} Peninsula Clarion |website=www.peninsulaclarion.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628080728/http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/101308/new_343523239.shtml |archive-date=2009-06-28}} </ref>

In 2008, convicted murderer John Carlin III was beaten to death in Spring Creek. Carlin was the alleged co-conspirator in the case of [[Mechele Linehan]], a former stripper convicted in the death of her former fiancé [[Death of Kent Leppink|Kent Leppink]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/stripper/story/756965.html |title=Officials didn't protect Carlin, prisoner says: Mechele Linehan murder trial {{!}} adn.com |website=www.adn.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415135839/http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/stripper/story/756965.html |archive-date=2009-04-15}} </ref>

===Escapes and escape attempts=== An escape involving two inmates from Spring Creek occurred in 1994; both were subsequently recaptured.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://touchngo.com/sp/html/sp-4873.htm | title=Van Sandt v. Brown (8/22/97), 944 P 2d 449 }}</ref> A second, unrelated escape plot in 2001 was unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/090201/ala_090201ala0200001.shtml |title=Kenai Peninsula Online - Alaska NewspaperTroopers uncover plan for helicopter escape from Seward prison 09/02/01 |website=www.peninsulaclarion.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727183334/http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/090201/ala_090201ala0200001.shtml |archive-date=2010-07-27}} </ref>

===2015 incident=== In July 2015 a distraught woman from [[North Pole, Alaska|North Pole]] approached the prison gates with a gun and demanded that "murderers" be freed. She proceeded to shoot herself in the head when the prison did not immediately comply. Although prison staff responded and applied [[CPR]], the woman died from the head wound within a few hours. Her exact motivations or possible relationship to inmates at Spring Creek are unknown.<ref>Edge, Megan, [http://www.adn.com/article/20150728/troopers-identify-woman-who-fatally-shot-herself-outside-seward-prison Troopers identify woman who fatally shot herself outside Seward prison] [[Alaska Dispatch News]], July 28, 2015</ref><ref>Oliver, Shady Grove, [http://www.alaskapublic.org/2015/07/29/woman-dead-after-shooting-herself-at-spring-creek-correctional-center/ Woman dead after shooting herself at Spring Creek Correctional Center] Alaska News Nightly, via [[KBBI]]/[[Alaska Public Media]] 7/29/2015</ref>

==Notable inmates== * [[Robert Hansen]], a serial killer convicted of killing numerous women in or near [[Anchorage, Alaska]].<ref>Halpin, James."[http://www.adn.com/2008/09/28/539476/cold-case-warms-up.html Cold case warms up]." ''[[Anchorage Daily News]]''. September 28, 2008. Retrieved on August 15, 2010.</ref> *Evan Ramsey, perpetrator of the [[Bethel Regional High School]] shooting in Bethel, Alaska that occurred on February 19, 1997. His story was profiled on [[A&E Network|A&E]]'s [[Kids Who Kill]].

==MSNBC documentary== Spring Creek was profiled in an [[MSNBC]] [[documentary]] entitled ''[[Lockup (TV series)|Lockup: Spring Creek, Alaska]]''. Numerous Spring Creek inmates were profiled, including Carl Abuhl, John Bright and Cordell Boyd.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Lockup: Spring Creek, Alaska | access-date=2010-07-19 | publisher=NBC News | url =https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna16271118}}</ref>

== See also == {{Portal|Alaska|Law}} {{Commons category|Spring Creek Correctional Center}}

* [[List of Alaska state prisons]] * [[Alaska Department of Corrections]] * [[Seward, Alaska]]

==References==

==External links== * [http://www.correct.state.ak.us/corrections/institutions/sccc/ Official site]

[[Category:Prisons in Alaska]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Seward, Alaska]] [[Category:Government buildings completed in 1988]] [[Category:1988 establishments in Alaska]] [[Category:Prisons completed in the 1980s]]