445 New Jobs For Joliet's McDonough Street

JOLIET, IL — Joliet's longstanding history as one of the state's best known prison towns is adding another chapter. This week, politicians and top officials with the Illinois Department of Corrections gathered on McDonough Street to mark the groundbreaking for the $150 million Joliet Inpatient Treatment Center. The new inpatient hospital will provide long-term treatment to incarcerated men and women with mental illnesses.

The new facility will be 180,000 square feet and construction will be done in 2021, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

A press release said that more than 400 people will be employed on a permanent basis at the future Joliet Inpatient Treatment Center once it opens. These jobs will consist of doctors, nurses, psychologists and corrections treatment officers.

One of the groundbreaking ceremony handouts listed the number of new jobs as being 445. The new state prisoner hospital will consist of 200 beds for inmates.

"The project will produce nearly 200 construction jobs in the Joliet area," the Illinois Department of Corrections announced.

State Senator Patrick McGuire, State Rep. Larry Walsh Jr. and Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk were on hand for Monday's event.

"It's a $150 million investment in Joliet that's going to bring over 400 jobs, and that property has been vacant since the Illinois Youth Center closed four or five years ago," O'Dekirk later told Joliet Patch.

"We thank the Department of Corrections for the investment in our city and are really excited regarding the state of the art hospital that is going to be built out at that location."

O'Dekirk singled out McGuire as well as Joliet City Councilman Terry Morris for being instrumental in pushing for the creation of the new jobs at that location.

"My hometown of Joliet has been home to state correctional facilities over a span of three centuries," remarked McGuire in a press release issued by his office. "The oldest facility is the Joliet Correctional Center, built in 1858. In a building there called 'North Seg,' the statement of faith 'It is never too late to mend' is set in tile in the main entrance floor.

"We know that dictum is true for individuals. Today's groundbreaking demonstrates that it is true for our state, as well. Illinois is setting right its treatment of offenders with mental illness," McGuire added.