She and the other caretakers keep the space clean and ensure that the cat shelters are maintained. “There’s a certain comfort for the cats to be away from humans.”Įach day after work, Czekaj arrives toting canned and dry cat food.

It provides some privacy and protection for the cats when they are eating or sheltering from the elements. “It’s flat and it’s fairly off the trail,” Czekaj says of the area that has been dubbed Prison Cats Cove. The abandoned Western Penitentiary is believed to have been home to an estimated 400 stray cats over the years. They are third-generation caretakers who have fed, spayed and neutered, and vaccinated more than 400 feral and abandoned cats in a program dubbed TNVR, which stands for trap, neuter, vaccinate and return. They feed and care for the colony that lives inside the prison gates and the surrounding area, including neighboring industrial sites and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail along the Ohio River. “There’s probably a cat colony on every block and people don’t know it,” says Tara Czekaj.Ĭzekaj and two of her Brighton Heights neighbors are the volunteer caretakers for the Pittsburgh Prison Cats.

Most Pittsburghers probably know the North Side’s hulking stone State Correctional Institution - Pittsburgh by its historic name Western State Penitentiary or simply “Western Pen.” Stories about its famous residents and made-for-Hollywood escapes make it one of the most colorful city landmarks.īut not many people know that for the past 40 or so years, it’s also been home to one of Pittsburgh’s incalculable number of homeless cat colonies.

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