Built by the men it held
In the 1850s, Illinois’ first state prison, at Alton on the Mississippi River, was crowded and in poor condition, and the state decided to build a new one in Joliet, southwest of Chicago.
The new prison was built largely by the people it would hold. In 1858, prisoners brought from Alton began building it, using limestone quarried right beside the site. The design was by architect William W. Boyington. The result was a fortress of pale stone walls and towers, long known as the Collins Street prison, that still stands today.
Life inside the walls
By the late 1870s it held nearly 2,000 men, far more than it was built for. Life inside was hard. The original stone cells were tiny, often shared by two men, and for roughly the first hundred years they had no running water. Plumbing did not arrive until around the middle of the 1900s.
In the mid-1920s, Illinois built a newer prison, Stateville, a few miles away. It was meant to replace the old one. Instead, the two prisons ran side by side for most of the century. The Joliet prison kept holding inmates until it closed in 2002, when budget cuts sealed its fate.
Over nearly 150 years, many thousands of men passed through. A few became nationally known, among them Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, convicted in a notorious Chicago murder case, and Baby Face Nelson, the Depression-era bank robber. They are part of the record, but they are not the point of the place. Most of the men held there are long forgotten, and so are many of the guards and workers who spent their lives inside the walls.
Closing, and a second life
After 2002 the empty prison began to fall apart. Roofs leaked, paint peeled, and vandals and arsonists did serious damage. For years there was talk of what to do with it.
The Joliet Area Historical Museum took the lead in saving it. With the city’s backing and hundreds of volunteers, it helped stabilize the buildings and open the site to visitors. Guided tours began in 2018. Today the museum runs the Old Joliet Prison as a historic site, with tours that focus on the prison’s real history: how it was built, how people lived inside, and how ideas about prisons changed over time.
That work is ongoing. The buildings are old and some are badly damaged, so saving them is a long, slow job that depends on volunteers and community support.
Many people know the prison without realizing it. It appears in the opening scenes of the film The Blues Brothers, and much of the early television series Prison Break was filmed there.
Legend and record
With its dark cell blocks and long history, it’s no surprise the old prison has a reputation as haunted. Paranormal investigators have long been drawn to it, and some say they have seen or heard spirits inside. Night tours have been held there in the Halloween season. One tour guide told WBEZ in 2024 that during his first tour there, in 2018, he felt an intimidating presence behind him.
Those are stories, and they are told here as legend. There is no evidence that anything supernatural happens at the old prison. What is real is heavy enough: generations of people lived in those cells, some died there, including men put to death by the state, and the walls they built still stand.
Visiting the Old Joliet Prison
The Old Joliet Prison is a closed prison, not an active one. It is open to visitors only through the Joliet Area Historical Museum, which offers seasonal tours. Dates change from year to year, so check the official site before you go. Parts of the grounds are unsafe or off-limits, so please stay in the areas open to visitors and never go onto the property outside a tour.
Joliet is southwest of Chicago, across the state line to our west, and its story makes an interesting comparison with Indiana’s own old prison in Michigan City. For more history, see our La Porte County history page and La Porte After Dark.
Questions
Who built the Old Joliet Prison?
Prisoners did. Starting in 1858, they built it from limestone quarried nearby.
When did the Old Joliet Prison close?
It closed in 2002, even though the newer Stateville prison had opened nearby in the mid-1920s to replace it.
Is the Old Joliet Prison haunted?
Paranormal investigators and at least one tour guide have said so, but that is legend. There is no evidence of anything supernatural there.
Can you tour the Old Joliet Prison?
Yes. The Joliet Area Historical Museum runs seasonal tours. Check its official site for current dates.
Sources: Old Joliet Prison (Joliet Area Historical Museum): History · WBEZ Curious City: Old Joliet Prison ghost stories and prison reform (2024) · FOX 32 Chicago: Behind the walls of Old Joliet Prison (2026) · CBS Chicago: Officials looking to turn Joliet prison into tourist attraction (2014) · Associated Press via Lawrence Journal-World: Prison break (2005) · ABC7 Chicago: Hunt for ghosts at Old Joliet Prison (2018) · Wikipedia: Joliet Prison · FBI Famous Cases: Baby Face Nelson (archived) · ABC7 Chicago: Old Joliet Prison opens for tours (2018) · WBEZ: The Old Joliet Prison is back in business, for tourists (2018)