Joliet Correctional Center (colloquially known as
Joliet Prison) was a
prisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
in
Joliet, IllinoisJoliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from 1858 to 2002. It is featured in the motion picture
The Blues BrothersThe Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...
as the prison from which Jake Blues is released at the beginning of the movie. It is also the location for the first season of Fox Network's
Prison BreakPrison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...
television show and the movie
Let's Go to PrisonLet's Go to Prison is an American comedy that was released in theatres November 17, 2006, starring Dax Shepard, Will Arnett and Chi McBride, and directed by Bob Odenkirk....
.
Joliet Correctional Center (colloquially known as
Joliet Prison) was a
prisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
in
Joliet, IllinoisJoliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from 1858 to 2002. It is featured in the motion picture
The Blues BrothersThe Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...
as the prison from which Jake Blues is released at the beginning of the movie. It is also the location for the first season of Fox Network's
Prison BreakPrison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...
television show and the movie
Let's Go to PrisonLet's Go to Prison is an American comedy that was released in theatres November 17, 2006, starring Dax Shepard, Will Arnett and Chi McBride, and directed by Bob Odenkirk....
.
History
Joliet Correctional Center, which was a completely separate prison from
Stateville Correctional CenterStateville Correctional Center is a maximum security state prison for men in Crest Hill, Illinois, USA.-History:Opened in 1925, Stateville was built to accommodate 1,506 inmates. Parts of the prison were designed according to the panopticon concept proposed by the British philosopher and prison...
,
Crest Hill, IllinoisCrest Hill is a city in Will County, Illinois, United States. The population was 13,329 at the 2000 census and the 2010 census population estimate was 20,867.-Geography:Crest Hill is located at...
, opened in 1858. The prison was built with convict labor leased by the state to contractor Lorenzo P. Sanger and warden Samuel K. Casey. The
limestoneLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
used to build the prison was
quarriedA quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
on the site.
. The first 33 inmates arrived from Alton in May 1858 to begin construction; the last prisoners were transferred in July 1860. Both criminals and prisoners of war were confined there during the
Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The first corrections officer to be killed there was Joseph Clark in 1865. By 1872 the population had reached 1,239, a record number for a single prison. From the 1870s the prison had work contracts with local businesses.
The prison was slow to modernize. There was no running water or toilets in the cells in 1910. The construction of the nearby
Stateville Correctional CenterStateville Correctional Center is a maximum security state prison for men in Crest Hill, Illinois, USA.-History:Opened in 1925, Stateville was built to accommodate 1,506 inmates. Parts of the prison were designed according to the panopticon concept proposed by the British philosopher and prison...
begun in 1917 and opened in March 1925 was meant to lead to the swift closure of Joliet. This did not happen, and both prisons operated simultaneously for the rest of the 20th Century.
A women's prison was added across the road from the main structures in 1896 but closed in 1932 when the female prison in Dwight, Illinois was opened. It then became an annex for the male prison and later the male reception unit for northern Illinois.
In 1924,
Nathan Leopold and Richard LoebNathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr. and Richard Albert Loeb , more commonly known as "Leopold and Loeb", were two wealthy University of Michigan alumni and University of Chicago students who murdered 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks in 1924 and were sentenced to life imprisonment.The duo were...
were given life sentences to be served at Joliet (after their successful defense -- from the death penalty -- by
Clarence DarrowClarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
). Their case was known as "the crime of the century" at the time after kidnapping and murdering Robert Franks.
From at least the early 1960s, the prison included a reception and classification center for northern Illinois, holding new prisoners for less than a month before their final assignments and processing over 20,000 a year. In addition to the prisoners temporarily held in the R&C unit, Joliet maintained a large population of permanent inmates.
In 1973, members of the Black P. Stone Nation and other Chicago street gangs took over a cell block and held several corrections officers hostage. The warden at the time, Fred L. Finkbeiner, spoke to the inmates through a bullhorn and promised they would not be harmed. Their primary grievance was the fact that they were being transferred to other prisons because they had too much control over other inmates at Joliet. One former gang member, Herbert "Cadillac" Catlett, had reformed and been cooperating with the administration to bring about positive change. He tried to reason with the rioting inmates and was murdered. Warden Finkbeiner was standing in Catlett's blood as he spoke to the inmates, and the hostage situation was resolved. The warden later eulogized Catlett at an African-American church in Chicago Heights.
The number of inmates peaked at 1,300 in 1990 and was still 1,156 in 2000, although capacity had been raised to 1,300 over 1999–2000, from 1,180 previously. In 2000 there were 541 staff.
Closure
Joliet Correctional Center closed as a holding prison in 2002. Budget cuts and the obsolete and dangerous nature of the buildings were the cited reasons. All inmates and most staff were transferred to Stateville Correctional Center.
Poetry
Joliet is referenced in the "
Spoon River AnthologySpoon River Anthology , by Edgar Lee Masters, is a collection of short free-form poems that collectively describe the life of the fictional small town of Spoon River, named after the real Spoon River that ran near Masters' home town. The collection includes two hundred and twelve separate...
" written by
Edgar Lee MastersEdgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist...
. In the poem "Silas Dement" it reads:
- When I came back from Joliet
- There was a new court house with a dome.
- For I was punished like all who destroy
- The past for the sake of the future.
Fiction
In the Left Behind series of apocalyptic novels, Joliet Prison has been turned into a "loyalty enforcement" facility, and heroine
Chloe SteeleChloe Steele, a fictional character from the Left Behind series of novels, was a Junior at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California until the disappearance of millions of people worldwide.-Fictional Biography:...
is guillotined there.
Music
Rapper
CashisRamone Johnson, better known by his stage name Cashis , is an American rapper who was born and raised in Chicago, but moved to Irvine, California. He was featured on the Shady album Eminem Presents: The Re-Up and released the County Hound EP in 2007...
tells the story about the life of a gangster, and a man who is stuck in Joliet for 20 years for murder, in his song "Life of a Rider."
- "My nigga owerkella, He a fucking killa,
- He doin' 20 years, Cuz he a fucking killa,
- I love that nigga to death, But can he really know it,
- He stuck in Joliet, How can I really show it"
Memphis MinnieMemphis Minnie was an American blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the only female blues artist considered a match to male contemporaries as both a singer and an instrumentalist.-Career:...
recorded the song "Joliet Bound" with
Kansas Joe McCoyKansas Joe McCoy was an African American Delta blues musician and songwriter.-Career:McCoy played music under a variety of stage names but is best known as "Kansas Joe McCoy". Born in Raymond, Mississippi, he was the older brother of the blues accompanist Papa Charlie McCoy...
in 1932, which was most likely derived from the same source as Noah Lee's "Viola Lee Blues." Perhaps the most well-known version of the tune was by
Rory Block-Festival appearances:*Long Beach Blues Festival - 1993*San Francisco Blues Festival - 1999*Notodden Blues Festival - 2006-See also:*List of blues musicians*List of contemporary blues musicians*List of Austin City Limits performers-External links:****...
on
When a Woman Gets the Blues. The third verse runs:
- Now the judge he pleaded, clerk, he wrote it down
- Mmmm mmmm
- Judge he pleaded, clerk, he wrote it down
- That if I miss jail sentence now, must be Joliet bound
Bob Dylan'sBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
Percy's Song"Percy's Song" is a song written by Bob Dylan. It was an outtake from the 1963 sessions for Dylan's third album, The Times They Are A-Changin. It was not officially released until 1985, on the compilation Biograph...
tells the story of the singer's attempt to have a friend's ninety-nine year sentence in Joliet Prison commuted. The second verse runs:
- Tell me the trouble,
- Tell once to my ear,
- Turn, turn, turn again.
- Joliet prison
- And ninety-nine years,
- Turn, turn to the rain
- And the wind.
The song, an outtake from the sessions that produced Dylan's album
The Times They Are a-Changin'The Times They Are a-Changin opens with the title track, one of Dylan's most famous songs. Dylan's friend, Tony Glover, recalls visiting Dylan's apartment in September 1963, where he saw a number of song manuscripts and poems lying on a table. "The Times They Are a-Changin'" had yet to be recorded,...
, has been covered by
Fairport ConventionFairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
and
Arlo GuthrieArlo Davy Guthrie is an American folk singer. Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice...
.
The humorous
Steve GoodmanSteve Goodman was an American folk music singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. The writer of "City of New Orleans", made popular by Arlo Guthrie, Goodman won two Grammy Awards.-Personal life:...
song "Lincoln Park Pirates" centers on an infamous Chicago firm called Lincoln Park Towing. One of its lines is:
- Our drivers are friendly and courteous
- Good manners you always will get
- For all are recent graduates
- Of the "charm school" at Joliet
Television and film
Joliet Prison was featured in the 1980
John LandisJohn David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...
film
The Blues BrothersThe Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live...
both as a filming location and as the namesake for "Joliet" Jake Blues (
John BelushiJohn Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
).
Some characters from
Saw IISaw II is a 2005 Canadian-American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and co-written by Bousman and the first film's co-writer Leigh Whannell. It is a sequel to 2004's Saw and the second installment in the seven-part Saw film series...
were ex-Joliet Prison inmates.
- 1988 - Red Heat
Red Heat is a 1988 buddy cop film directed by Walter Hill. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, as Moscow narc Ivan Danko, and James Belushi, as Chicago detective Art Ridžić...
, a 1988 film which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi
- 1999 - the Columbia Tristar show Early Edition
Early Edition is an American television series that aired on CBS from September 28, 1996 to May 27, 2000. Set in the city of Chicago, Illinois, it follows the adventures of a man who mysteriously receives each Chicago Sun-Times newspaper the day before it is actually published, and who uses this...
, season 3 episode 13 (The Last Untouchable). Fictional mobster Antonio Birelli played by Ernest BorgnineErnest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...
is released from the prison.
Since its closure, Joliet Prison has been used much more as a set for various film and television projects.
- 2005 - Derailed
Derailed is a 2005 British-American thriller film based on the novel of the same name by James Siegel. The film is directed by Mikael Håfström and stars Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, Vincent Cassel, Melissa George, Addison Timlin, Giancarlo Esposito, RZA and Xzibit. This film was the first to be...
, a 2005 film which starred Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston
- 2005-06 - the Fox Network
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
shot the first season of its show Prison BreakPrison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...
on location in the old facility. This prison was known as Fox River State PenitentiaryFox River State Penitentiary is a fictional level five maximum-security prison featured prominently in the first season of the television series, Prison Break. The real-life representation of the prison is Joliet Prison, which is located in Joliet, Illinois...
on the show
- 2006 - Let's Go to Prison
Let's Go to Prison is an American comedy that was released in theatres November 17, 2006, starring Dax Shepard, Will Arnett and Chi McBride, and directed by Bob Odenkirk....
, a 2006 film which starred Dax ShepardDax Randall Shepard is an American actor.- Early life :Shepard was born in Milford, Michigan and attended Muir Junior High and Walled Lake Central High School, before enrolling in The Groundlings school. He later received a degree in anthropology at UCLA...
and Will ArnettWilliam Emerson "Will" Arnett is a Canadian actor and comedian best known for his role as George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II on the Fox comedy Arrested Development. He is also known for his role as Devon Banks on the NBC comedy 30 Rock. Since his success on Arrested Development, Arnett has landed major...
.
- 2007 - the Fox Network
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
show BonesBones is an American crime drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent...
, season 2 episode 12 (The man in the cell). The prison where serial killer Howard Epps was held was known as 'Bay View Federal Penitentiary' on the show
- 2011 - Breakout Kings on A&E featured T-Bag from Prison Break escaping from Fox River, again.
The Joliet Prison collection of photographs by inmates is maintained at jolietprison.com
See also
- List of Illinois state prisons
- Fox River State Penitentiary
Fox River State Penitentiary is a fictional level five maximum-security prison featured prominently in the first season of the television series, Prison Break. The real-life representation of the prison is Joliet Prison, which is located in Joliet, Illinois...
External links
- "Joliet Correctional Center" Illinois Department of Corrections (Archive)
- Joliet Prison at Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
Information on Joliet Prison at the bottom of the page.