Joliet Correctional Center

The Joliet Correctional Center is the oldest maximum security prison in Illinois and was for many years the largest penal facility in the United States. Joliet was built to alleviate overcrowding at Alton, the first state prison in Illinois. Joliet opened in May 1858; Alton closed in 1860 with the transfer of the last of the prisoners to Joliet. By late 1872, the Joliet prison population had grown to more than 1,200 convicts, making it, for several decades, the largest in the United States.

This fortress-style prison is an imposing structure that has served as an architectural model for other penal facilities in the United States, including the West Virginia Penitentiary. The stone complex is a Gothic-style facility with towers and battlements. This style is often referred to as the “big house” style of prison architecture, a feature that frequently added to the notorious reputation of prisons constructed in this style.

During the 1960s, half of the inmates at Joliet belonged to one of four Chicago street gangs. Members of each gang claimed certain areas of the prison as their turf and threatened violence against anyone who trespassed. The gangs struggled for influence over Joliet's “Jaycee” program, which sold magazines, soft drinks, and a photo service to inmates and visitors.

In 1974, Fred Finkbeiner was appointed as warden of Joliet prison and began cracking down on the gang problem. In April 1975, he announced an audit of the Jaycees, prompting members of the gang controlling the Jaycees to object. Inmates urged a boycott of Jaycee activities, inciting several incidents of gang violence against those who didn't honor the boycott. Finkbeiner ordered the transfer of three inmates responsible for the violence. On April 22, 1975, the three inmates refused to leave, and a riot ensued at Joliet. Inmates took guards as hostages and swarmed the cellhouse. They demanded that the three inmates not be transferred that day and that other inmates not be physically abused. Finkbeiner agreed to the negotiations, and the hostages were released (Useem and Kimball, 1989).

The capacity of Joliet in 1996 was estimated at 1,500. It is now one of four maximum-security prisons in Illinois and one of three corrections institutions located within the city of Joliet. Half of the population is serving sentences of twenty-five years to life, and it is believed that about 90 percent of the inmates have some type of gang connection. The facility has about 650 employees.

Joliet is also a reception and classification center. Those new to the state corrections system, typically sentenced in Cook County or other courts in northern Illinois, are evaluated at Joliet to determine the facility to which they should be sent. This process takes about two weeks. An estimated 23,000 inmates were processed at Joliet before their transfer in 1999.

Select inmates are employed by Correctional Industries. This work program provides jobs for some eighty Joliet inmates. Most work at making bedding for use throughout the Illinois corrections system.

Although executions are carried out at Stateville Correctional Center, also in the town of Joliet, the Joliet corrections staff assists their corrections officers in conducting these executions. In December 2001, Illinois governor George Ryan announced that Joliet would be closed and replaced with a new facility being built at the Statesville Correctional Center, thereby saving the state $4 million this fiscal year.

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