The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) has filed a formal complaint under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) against the Moshannon Valley Processing Center (MVPC), alleging that a woman detained since November 2024 has been subjected to sexual abuse by the facility chaplain, Mark Melhorn. The complaint asserts that Chaplain Melhorn has historically used his religious position to exploit women and that both ICE and MVPC staff were made aware of his sexual misconduct through multiple prior reports, yet failed to take action to stop the abuse.
The complaint reveals that both ICE and GEO Group, Inc. have been fully aware of a history of sexual abuse at MVPC dating back to August 2022, when the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) conducted a special visit to MVPC following a concerning number of reports of sexual assault and harassment. The resulting CRCL report detailed several critical deficiencies in MVPC’s handling of PREA reporting, investigation, and compliance. Despite these explicit findings, ICE and GEO failed to adequately correct the issues, allowing a dangerous culture to persist.
PILP’s complaint argues that the environment at MVPC—marked by a history of ignored warnings, documented deficiencies, and a failure to address allegations against a repeat offender—created the conditions for the most recent assault, illustrating a profound and alarming culture of complicity.
Read the full advocacy letter below.