The old and smallerJoliet Correctional Center, which had opened in 1858 on a site inJoliet 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the south-southeast, was being considered for closure. Construction commenced on the new Stateville facility in 1917, in what was then an unincorporated area ofLockport Township,[a] opening in 1925 with capacity to accommodate 1,506 inmates. While the Stateville Correctional Center was meant to lead to the swift closure of Joliet, both prisons operated simultaneously for the rest of the 20th century.
Parts of the prison were designed according to thepanopticon 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.[3] A duplicate of the prison, thePresidio Modelo, opened in Cuba in 1936, but has since been abandoned.[4][5]
In 2009, a 40-year-old man fromChicago, Richard Conner, murdered a 37-year-oldWill County man named Jameson Leezer, who had originated fromLisle andBolingbrook. Both were inmates placed in the samesolitary 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.[6]
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.[7] The state's other electrocutions were carried out at theMenard Correctional Center inChester and at theCook County Jail inChicago.
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 bylethal injection at the Stateville Correctional Center between September 1990 and January 1998. In March 1998, the site of executions was moved 305 miles (491 km) southwest to theTamms Correctional Center in Tamms, Illinois.[8]
On March 9, 2011, GovernorPat Quinn signed legislation ending capital punishment in the state of Illinois.[9]
The prison held an average of over 3,500, at an annual cost of over $32,000 per prisoner.[10]
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.[citation needed]
Stateville is located 2 miles (3.2 km) north ofJoliet, Illinois (16830 IL Route 53 Crest Hill, IL 60403; (815) 727-3607), on a site of over 2,200 acres (8.9 km2), of which 64 acres (26 ha) are surrounded by a 33-foot (10 m) concrete perimeter with 10 wall towers. Stateville is often confused with the formerJoliet 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 miles (4.0 km) southeast of Stateville on the corner of Woodruff Rd. and Collins St., across theIllinois and Michigan Canal.
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.[11]
By September 30, 2024, inmates housed in units except the health care unit were moved out of Stateville Correctional Center to other correctional facilities in Illinois after a federal judge ordered the inmates to be relocated following a lawsuit.[12]
On March 24, 2025, the last inmates in the facility's health care unit were transferred out of Stateville.[13]
Martin James Durkin – First person to kill a federal agent in the line of duty.
James Files – Sentenced to 50 years for the attempted murder of two policemen, originally at Stateville before being transferred to Danville Correctional Center. Later made false claims of being involved in the assassination of PresidentJohn F. Kennedy.
William Heirens – Convicted of three murders in 1946, referred to in media as The Lipstick Killer. Transferred to Vienna Correctional Center in 1975 and later Dixon Correctional Center.
Mose Jefferson – Convicted of robbery and served 9 months in 1967. Later became a field lieutenant in the Illinois Democratic Party and in 2009 was convicted of bribery in New Orleans.
Nathan Leopold – Transferred fromJoliet. Half of the infamous 1924Leopold and Loeb case. Founded the Stateville Correspondence School with Richard Loeb.
Richard Loeb – Transferred fromJoliet and killed by another inmate. Other half of the infamous 1924Leopold and Loeb case. Founded the Stateville Correspondence School with Nathan Leopold.
Paul Modrowski – Convicted February 17, 1995 of first degree murder of Dean Fawcett.
Richard Speck – Convicted April 15, 1967 of murdering eight women.
Edward Spreitzer – Convicted April 2, 1984 for his participation in the murders of an estimated 18 women at the hands of a satanic cult known as the Chicago Ripper Crew. He was formally given the death penalty on March 20, 1986. GovernorGeorge Ryan granted him clemency in 2003. After 17 years on death row, his sentence was reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Guy Strait – Gay civil rights activist and child pornographer.[15]
Charles Walker – Double murderer who was executed in 1990 after waiving his appeals. He became the first person to be executed in Illinois since 1962.
John Wayne Gacy – Serial killer and rapist convicted in 1980 of the murders and rapes of 33 boys and young men. Transferred from the Menard Correctional Center to Stateville Correctional Center forexecution by lethal injection on May 9, 1994, and declared dead at 12:58 a.m. the following morning. Gacy was the first person involuntarily executed in Illinois since 1962.[16]
Hernando Williams and James Free, both executed on March 22, 1995 for separate murder cases; the first and only double execution conducted on the same date in Illinois in the modern era. Williams was found guilty of the 1978 rape and murder of Linda Goldstone while Free was found guilty of the 1978 rape and murder of Bonnie Serpico.[17]
Charles Albanese – Serial killer who poisoned three relatives with arsenic to obtain their inheritance. Executed in 1995.
Girvies Davis – Serial killer who killed at least four people during robberies. Executed in 1995. Davis's younger accomplice, Richard Holman, is serving a life sentence, avoiding execution since he was a month shy of turning 18.
In the 1940s through the 1960s, the US Army tested malaria vaccines on the prisoners, who in return received good time considerations.[18]See main article,Stateville Penitentiary Malaria Study.
The prison-riot footage and scenes of a prison warden rushing down a hallway in a herd of reporters in the 1994 filmNatural Born Killers were filmed in vacant buildings at Stateville while most of the prison was still in use housing inmates. Actual inmates played extras during the riot scene with rubber knives and guns. After three weeks of shooting the inmates caused an actual riot and the remainder of the film was filmed elsewhere. The roundhouse was featured in the main scenes.
The characters on the ABC soap operasAll My Children,One Life to Live, andGeneral Hospital and the CBS soap operaAs the World Turns are occasionally sent to a fictional version of Stateville (called "Statesville") to serve prison time. Similarly, in the fictional TV and movie universe ofPolice Squad!, characters are regularly sentenced to the Statesville Prison.
The Stateville F-House is featured prominently inCall Northside 777 as the location where Frank Wiecek is held.
The F-House also appears briefly inBad Boys (1983).
