Dr. Kermit Gosnell. Credit: Metro file photo
Kermit Gosnell was transported Thursday from federal custody to a Pennsylvania state prison located in Montgomery County, a Department of Corrections spokeswoman confirmed today.
Gosnell was transported to a state correctional institution in Graterford, Montgomery County, said Department of Corrections deputy press secretary Susan Bensinger in an email. There he will serve out three back-to-back life sentences for the murder of three babies on whom he allegedly performed illegal abortions at his West Philadelphia clinic.
Gosnell was charged by a Philadelphia grand jury in January 2011 with murder and a host of other charges related to substandard and illegal medical activities at his clinic, the Women’s Medical Society, formerly located at 3801 Lancaster Ave. He was convicted in May.
But Gosnell also faced federal criminal charges for selling illegal prescriptions for an estimated 700,000 pills of drugs such as Oxycontin and Vicodin.
On Dec. 16, Gosnell was sentenced to 30 years in prison on federal drug charges.
U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe, before handing down the sentence, noted that a February 2010 raid by federal authorities related to the drug investigation led to the discovery of Gosnell’s illegal abortion practices and the state’s murder case against him.
The state court system has primary jurisdiction in the Gosnell case, Judge Rufe said, since Gosnell was convicted there first, and thus he technically must serve the three life sentences in state prison back-to-back before he can serve the 30 years in a federal prison.
He was previously in custody at the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center while his federal charges were pending.
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