Stateville Correctional Center (SCC) is a maximum security state prison for men in Crest Hill, Illinois, United States, near Chicago. It is a part of the Illinois Department of Corrections.

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 reformer, Jeremy Bentham. Stateville's "F-House" cellhouse, commonly known as a "roundhouse", has a panopticon layout which features an armed tower in the center of an open area surrounded by several tiers of cells. F-House was the only remaining "roundhouse" still in use in the United States in the 1990s. The roundhouse was closed in late 2016 but the structure will remain standing due to its historical significance. A duplicate of the prison, the Presidio Modelo, opened in Cuba in 1936, but has since been abandoned. In 2009 a 40-year-old man from Chicago, Richard Conner, murdered a 37-year-old Will County man named Jameson Leezer, who had originated from Lisle and Bolingbrook. Both were inmates placed in the same solitary confinement cell together. The killing made the state of Illinois change its rules in housing two prisoners together during solitary confinement; the prison authorities now must take into account both inmates' histories of violence.

Execution site

Stateville Correctional Center was one of three sites in which executions were carried out by electrocution in Illinois. The electric chair was first used at Stateville in 1949. Prior to that the electric chair was housed at the Joliet Correctional Center. The state's other electrocutions were carried out at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester and at the Cook County Jail in Chicago. In July 1977, capital punishment was reinstated in Illinois. On September 8, 1983, the state adopted lethal injection as the default method of execution in Illinois, but the electric chair remained operational to replace lethal injection if needed. Eleven executions were carried out by lethal injection at the Stateville Correctional Center between September 1990 and January 1998. In March 1998, the site of executions was moved 305 mi southwest to the Tamms Correctional Center in Tamms, Illinois. On March 9, 2011, Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation ending capital punishment in the state of Illinois.

Current use

Today the prison holds an average of over 3,500, at an annual cost of over $32,000 per prisoner. Stateville's 1,300 employees make it a Level 1 facility; the highest of eight security level designations. There is also a minimum security unit commonly referred to as the Stateville Farm, which is a Level 7 facility, located within the new Northern Reception Center, located just south of the main facility. The Northern Reception Center (NRC), accepts incoming prisoners from the county jails in the northern two-thirds of the state. Stateville is located 2 mi north of Joliet, Illinois (16830 IL Route 53 Crest Hill, IL 60403; (815) 727-3607), on a site of over 2200 acre, of which 64 acre are surrounded by a 33 ft concrete perimeter with 10 wall towers. Stateville is often confused with the former Joliet Correctional Center, which closed in 2002. Located in the nearby city of Joliet, the former Joliet Prison is much older and smaller. It is located about 2.5 mi southeast of Stateville on the corner of Woodruff Rd. and Collins St., across the Illinois and Michigan Canal.

Replacement plans

In May 2021, the Illinois Department of Corrections called for Stateville to be converted from a Level 1 maximum security facility to a multi-level facility focused on returning inmates to society. In March 2024, the State announced plans to temporarily close the prison, demolish it, and construct a new facility on the grounds.

Notable inmates

Executed

Further information