Joliet Prison Thread

[Deleted]

It will be hard to get Dan to participate if there are "unlicensed" Blues Brothers acts involved.

[Steam McQueen]

- Aside from Old Joliet Prison hosting a bash for the 40th Anniversary of the movie this August ...

bluesmobiles.proboards.com/thread/3099/blues-brothers-anniversary-joliet-august

The other news out of Joliet is that the former women's prison across the street will soon become one of the growing number of "haunted" places for folks to visit. It will be open by September, details don't really say for sure if it's just for Halloween or to become more permanent but they're doing renovations to the prison for this venture. Must be amazing for the people who live in Joliet to see all this activity and life coming back to the prisons, much better than the fires.

The Joliet City Council has approved a deal to make the old Joliet women's prison, located on Collins Street across from the main prison, into a haunted attraction later this year. The council approved a plan from a company known as "Thirteenth Floor" which would renovate the former women's prison, located on Collins Street across from the main prison, for an opening in plenty of time for Halloween.

- www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/joliet-approves-plans-to-turn-abandoned-prison-complex-into-haunted-house/2205629/

Truth be told I don't think there ain't been no broads in there since 1933.

The penitentiary's original plans included a one-hundred cell "Female Cell House" located inside the male penitentiary. Female prisoners were housed adjacent to men's cells from 1859 until 1870, when they were moved to the fourth floor of the central administration building. In 1896 a separate, one-hundred cellblock "Joliet Women's Prison" was built across the street from the male penitentiary. In design it was an exact mini-replica of the male prison. In 1933 all female prisoners were moved to the Oakdale Women's Reformatory (later known as Dwight Correctional Center) and the facility was used for male prisoners.

- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joliet_Correctional_Center

[Steam McQueen]

- Joliet has been closed for da Corona but it looks like twice in April "young adults" were caught trespassing.

On April 13, Joliet Patch reported that five young adults from suburban Streamwood were arrested on criminal trespassing charges at the Old Joliet Prison.

And then ...



The ages of the five are 19, 22, 19, 19, 18. Criminal trespassing charges for them yutes. That's a file photo above, I'm not sure if those particular windows have been replaced yet?. As we know they've put some money into the prison and that includes security ...

More than a year ago, the city of Joliet made a substantial financial investment in a state-of-the-art, high-tech video camera surveillance system for the Old Joliet Prison grounds. The city's video surveillance system triggers a silent alarm that alerts the Joliet Police Department whenever someone is trespassing on the property along Collins Street.

- patch.com/illinois/joliet/police-5-more-intruders-arrested-old-joliet-prison




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As for the prison itself, it's re-opening for "Self Guided Tours" starting June 1st !

In anticipation of updated public health guidelines via the Governor’s Restore Illinois Program, the Joliet Area Historical Museum will reopen the Old Joliet Prison Historic Site on Monday, June 1st at 9:00 a.m. The Prison will be open seven days per week and offer self-guided tours for the first time since its 2018 reopening.

- www.jolietprison.org/

- www.jolietprison.org/2020/05/20/joliet-area-historical-museum-reopen-old-joliet-prison-june-1/

[Steam McQueen]

- This is Kelli from Chicago Movie Tours and she loves movies and Chicago ! This particular vid of hers, 7 minutes long, is mostly about the prison itself and the women's prison across the street but of course there's some references to, and clips from, The Blues Brothers.

[Elwood]

Jan 12, 2021 19:18:39 GMT -5 Steam McQueen said:

- This is Kelli from Chicago Movie Tours and she loves movies and Chicago ! This particular vid of hers, 7 minutes long, is mostly about the prison itself and the women's prison across the street but of course there's some references to, and clips from, The Blues Brothers.

"Blues music will appear as a theme throughout the movie". So will the car.

[cynot]

I am trying to figure out how to post pics...I havent done it in years...I will post more pics of the Prison movie soon

[flcl64]

Feb 13, 2021 8:35:28 GMT -5 cynot said:

View Attachment

I am trying to figure out how to post pics...I havent done it in years...I will post more pics of the Prison movie soon

Are trying to post pics from the internet? That uses this code without spaces ->> [ img ]image url here[ /img ]

[cynot]

The weather was perfect and the large outdoor screen was easily visible throughout the courtyard.

[cynot]

Inside the Chapel





We were able to look down several cell-blocks but couldn't get inside.

[cynot]

Machine shop





Fire damage





Score board for the baseball field

[cynot]

'Death row' cell-block

[cynot]

[Deleted]

Pretty sweet pictures Tony!

[Steam McQueen]

^ Great pics, Tony. Is that your Blumo ?

The first thing my eye sees in the Chapel pic is, wow look at all that light. Then you quickly realize it's because all the windows are broken. Do you know if that was stained glass windows at one time ? I took a quick search for archive pics and found one from inside the chapel in the 70's but the camera was pointed the other way looking at the prisoners.





It doesn't take long doing a bit of research into this prison and it gets depressing reading about it. There was a time when the overcrowding was brutal, 1,700 men in a prison built for 1,000. Fights, murders, suicides ... just insane. There's gotta be tormented souls/ghosts in there.

[cynot]

Yes, it was blue stained glass...actually plastic I believe. We may or may not have ended up with some souvenirs in our trunks after our self-guided tours. There were areas where we were allowed to go and other areas that were clearly off-limits, but we were able to explore quite freely into many areas of the prison. The chapel and attached school-rooms were blocked off, but we were able to find a way in and explore. We also found our way into the kitchen area and the entrances to several cell-blocks, but the cell blocks were secured with bars, so the only cell-block we could get into was Death-Row, which was open to the public. I have alot more pics, but it says there is no more space available to download pics.