Stateville Correctional Center

The Stateville Correctional Center is a maximum security prison for male inmates located in Joliet, Illinois. It is the parent institution for the Northern Reception and Classification Center and Stateville Minimum Security Unit.

This facility opened in 1925 and has an operational capacity of 3,759. Currently, there are 1,173 inmates at the Correctional Center, 1,302 in the Northern Reception and Classification Center, and 199 in the minimum security unit.

Stateville Correctional Center's mission is to encourage and promote a climate of safe and secure conditions in which offenders and staff can develop positive attitudes and encourage work and program opportunities and experiences that guide offenders toward reintegration into the community.

The facility sits on a total of 2,264 acres of land with a 33-foot wall with guard towers surrounding it. This adult male maximum security facility consists of a 32-bed infirmary in the health care unit and three living units that house general population, segregation, protective custody, and temporary writ inmates. 

The Northern Reception and Classification Center (NRC) functions as the major adult male intake and processing unit for the entire state. The NRC contains 1,800 beds in 24 housing units. Within the NRC is also the minimum-security unit, which can house up to 384 offenders in two units.

History of Stateville Correctional Center

Opened in 1925, the “F-House” cell house or “roundhouse” was designed according to the panopticon concept proposed by the British philosopher and prison reformer, Jeremy Bentham. It 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. It was closed in late 2016, but the structure remains standing due to its historical significance.

The Stateville Correctional Center was one of three sites in which executions were carried out by electrocution in Illinois. Between 1928 and 1962, the electric chair was used 13 times at Stateville, including the state's first electrocutions on December 15, 1928 of three convicted murderers.

When the method was changed to lethal injection, Stateville was the only site where executions were carried out until 1998 when death row was relocated to the Tamms Correctional Center in Tamms, Illinois.

In March 2011, Governor Pat Quinn signed into law legislation ending the death penalty in the state of Illinois.

Notable inmates at Stateville Correctional Center include:

• John Wayne Gacy–Serial killer and rapist convicted of the murders and rape of 33 boys and young men in 1980. Transferred from the Menard Correctional Center to Stateville Correctional Center for execution via lethal injection on May 9, 1994.
• Jordan Hill–One of the four participants in the 2017 Chicago Torture Incident of a mentally disabled man that was captured on Facebook live.
• Richard Speck – Convicted April 15, 1967 of murdering eight women. He shot his famous interview tapes with FBI agents at Stateville, which is documented in the Netflix series Mindhunter.

Stateville Correctional Center is a big part of American pop culture. MSNBC created a documentary about the facility in their MSNBC Investigates Lockup series.

The prison-riot footage and scenes of a prison warden rushing down a hallway in a herd of reporters in the 1994 film Natural Born Killers were filmed in vacant buildings at Stateville while most of the prison was still 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 operas All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital and the CBS soap opera As 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 of Police Squad!, characters are regularly sentenced to the Stateville Prison.

The Stateville F-House is featured prominently in Call Northside 777 as the location where Frank Wiecek is held.

The fictional alleged assassin of George W. Bush in the dramatic mockumentary Death of a President is incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center.

Prison Insights

Visiting Hours and Rules

The visiting hours at Stateville Correctional Center are as follows:

• Maximum security visits are 8:00am to 2:30pm (daily)
• Minimum security visits are 8:00-7:30pm (weekends and holidays)

Visitors must arrive by 1:30 pm weekdays and 12:45pm weekends & holidays.

General population and protective custody inmate visits are limited to two hours on weekdays and one hour on weekends and holidays.  All segregation inmate visits are limited to one hour.

General visiting guidelines

All visitors must be on the offender’s approved visitation list in order to be granted a visit.  Offenders are responsible for arranging their visits and notifying their visitors of their visiting status.  

To check if you are on the offender’s visitor list, you should write a letter to the offender to inquire.  IDOC staff cannot tell you whether or not you are on an offender’s visitation list if you call the facility.  

On the first visit to a correctional facility, adult visitors (age 18 and older) will be required to complete a Prospective Visitor's Interview (PVI) form, called a DOC 0148. This PVI form can be completed and brought in on the first visit.

Visitation is encouraged to help offenders maintain ties with family, friends, and others in the community.  

Visitors must submit to a body search by officers at the Visitor Center.  Visitors who are intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol or drugs will not be permitted entry.

Visitors are expected to be courteous and cooperative with IDOC staff.  Visitors are expected to comply with staff directives and keep the noise down in respect for other visitors and staff.

Visitor Property Policy

Visitors are not allowed to bring electronic devices such as cell phones or pagers, food, drink, smoking materials, currency, packages, purses, bags, sacks, books, magazines, sunglasses, or personal keys into the Visiting Room.   

Visitors may place personal items in small lockers available in the Visiting Center for 25 cents.  The locker key may be carried into the facility after the visitor secures personal responsibility for these items.  The facility will not assume responsibility for these items.

No baby food, except two plastic baby milk bottles are to be taken into the Visiting Room.  Baby items may consist of one baby blanket and two diapers.

Required Identification

All adult visitors will be required to produce photo identification (ID) and verification of his or her date of birth.  Be sure to bring two forms of identification with you; one should be a current state issued photo ID.

Dress Code

All visitors must be dressed appropriately for a prison environment or the visit will not be permitted.  Clothing must be in good taste and not advertise or suggest any items in such a manner to signify a Security Threat Group or other illegal activity.  Visitors should not wear clothing that is sexually explicit, offensive, or degrading. All visitors must wear underwear and female visitors must wear a bra.  Visitors should not wear clothing which reveals the buttocks or breasts.

Examples of inappropriate dress for visitors are: short shirts or dresses, wrap around skirts, see through clothing, see-through or low-cut blouses, tube tops, halter tops, tank tops, swim suits or swim suit tops, short shorts, clothing with “cutouts” or leggings.  Dresses or skirts should extend to the knees.

Contraband

Bringing contraband into an Illinois DOC facility is a criminal offense as specified in the Illinois Criminal Code of 1961.

"Contraband" means items which are prohibited by criminal law, departmental, or facility rules or posted notices.  They are items which an offender has no authority to possess; or property which is in excess of that which is authorized by the facility.

All persons, vehicles and items brought onto State property are subject to search. Failure to  submit to a search will result in denial, suspension or restriction of visiting privileges. 

Information about Vending Machines

The visiting rooms at the facilities offer a variety of products for purchase. Outside vendors own and operate the machines and will differ from facility to facility.

Vending machine items may only be purchased using a debit card.  Visitors may purchase a debit card at the facility, normally at the gatehouse. The price of the debit card will vary by facility depending upon the vendor providing the service.

There are no refunds for unused money remaining on the card for any reason other than a defective card, so only put enough on the card for the single visit. Cards are only good at the facility where purchased. If the offender transfers, a new card at the current facility will need to be used.

Any vending items purchased must be consumed during the visit and may not be carried out of the visiting room.

Video Visits

The Illinois DOC has partnered with Global Tel*Link (GTL) to provide video visitation services for Stateville Correctional Center.

All potential visitors must register with GTL. Registration process will include completing a Prospective Visitor Interview Form; all visitors must fully complete this form with GTL even if they have completed this form at a facility. Any omissions of required information on the form may result in your registration not being accepted, causing unnecessary delays. Adults are encouraged to register themselves first, and then add their minor children or guardians to the system.

All visitors must be on the offender’s approved visitation list in order to be granted a visit. Video visitation hours are Sunday through Saturday from 4:00pm to 8:00pm. Visitors should log on to the GTL 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.

All video visits will be scheduled through the GTL website; do not call the facility to schedule a video visit. The visitor should check before scheduling the video visit of dates and times that are available for the offender. The facility cannot tell a potential visitor if a date or time will work with an offender’s daily schedule. The facility will inform the offender of the pending visit and arrange for the offender to be present.

In order to accommodate all offenders at the Stateville Correctional Center:

• An offender may only receive one video visit per day.
• No more than three approved visitors per video visit for offenders confined in general population or protective custody status.
• An offender may receive only two video visits per week, this is counted against allotted visits.
• Visitors may only schedule one video visit per day.
• All video visits must be scheduled at least seven days in advance.
• Visits may be scheduled up to 30 days in advance.
• Only scheduled visitors may appear in the video visit monitor.
• One visitor on screen at a time, excluding children who need assistance sitting for the visit.

Video Visitation is a privilege and is only available to offenders in general population or in the health care unit. Offenders housed in Segregation, in orientation, or temporarily housed at the facility will not be permitted video visitation. If an offender receives discipline between the time a visit is confirmed and the time of the visit, the visit may be cancelled; the visitor will receive an email of the cancellation. If the facility goes on lock down prior to a scheduled video visit, the visitor will receive an email. 

All visits are subject to monitoring and recording.

All video visits are monitored live and recorded. Any violation of visitation rules, inappropriate conduct, or language may be subject to immediate termination of the video visit with or without warning. 

Your use of video visitation and acceptance of the rules is consent to have both audio and video recorded of the video visit. Attorney/Client privileges do not apply to video visitation, ALL visits are recorded. Dress Code policy below applies to video visitation and the termination of Visit/Loss of Visiting Privileges also applies to video visitation.

How to Call an Inmate

You can’t call an inmate at the Stateville Correctional Center. But, inmates do have access to a phone during assigned times and can make outgoing calls. For complete details on how to call an inmate in Illinois, please click here.

How to Send Money

Inmates may receive money via GTL (ConnectNetwork), JPAY, Western Union or money order.

(A money order must be sent directly to the lockbox, NOT to the facility; see information below regarding money orders.)

Funds up to $5,000 may be sent to inmates via the following methods, except MoneyGram, who has a maximum limit of $3,000.

• GTL (ConnectNetwork) at https://web.connectnetwork.com/facilities/illinois-department-of-corrections/
• JPAY at www.jpay.com
• MoneyGram locations using the Blue MoneyGram Express Payment Formーreceiving code is 7364
• Western Union at www.westernunion.com or at locations using the Quick Collect Form–code, city, and state are ILDOC  IL

For all electronic transfer of funds, the inmate IDOC number and incarcerated last name must be used. Funds sent via GTL, JPAY, and Western Union are anticipated to be applied to the inmate's account within 24-48 business hours.  

Funds sent via Money Gram are anticipated to be applied to the inmate's account within 72 to 96 business hours.  

Money Orders

Inmates may receive money orders not to exceed $999.99. The money orders must be sent with the lockbox deposit slip and must be complete with the inmate name, IDOC inmate number, sender’s name and address.

Deposit slips can be obtained at https://www.jpay.com/moneyorder.aspx. The money orders should be sent with a deposit slip, be made payable to JPay, and sent to the following address:

JPay
PO Box 260250
Hollywood, FL 33026

​Programs For ​Inmates

Academic

• ABE (Adult Basic Education)
• GED (General Education Development)

Vocational

• Barbering

Industries:

• Soap
• Recycling

Volunteer Services

• Creative Art
• Choir
• Religious Bible Studies

Postsecondary Education:

• North Park University–Master of Arts in Christian Ministry and Restorative Arts Degree
• Northwestern University–Bachelor of Arts with Associates of Arts through collaboration with Oakton Community College
• Northeastern University / University Without Walls Program (UWW) – Competency based Bachelor Degree
• DePaul University – Inside Out Program; credit bearing class
• Behavior Modification
• College Think Tanks
• Long Term Offender Program (LTO)/Creative Writing/Creative Art
• Houses of Healing
• Further Learning
• Communication Skills/Math Skills
• Finance Skills/Grief Group
• Twelve Step Program

Other

• Library
• Life Skills
• Anger Management
• Substance Abuse
• Lifestyle Redirection
• Chaplaincy/Religious Programming
• Veterans Group
• Community Work Crews
• Counseling

Pictures of Stateville Correctional Center

Careers at Stateville Correctional Center

If you are interested in a career with the Illinois Department of Corrections at the Stateville Correctional Center click here.