City Brings Old Joliet Prison TLC Over Weekend

JOLIET, IL - The city of Joliet, with the full support of the Illinois Department of Corrections, got to work bright and early Saturday morning cutting down overgrown trees, bushes and shrubbery around the old Joliet Prison. The empty prison along Collins Street has been a mecca for vandals, trespassers and arsonists over the past year. But Saturday's effort signals that a positive change may finally be in store for the world-famous prison property that dates back to 1858, a limestone fortress that is best known for its role in The Blues Brothers movie.

About 30 members of Joliet's public works division began around 6:30 a.m. Saturday equipped with wood chippers, weed trimmers and other machinery to wipe out the dense overgrowth. One of the city workers told Joliet Patch that crews planned to return on Sunday. Joliet Patch was on hand to capture several photos of Saturday's massive clean-up effort around the prison property.

Department of Corrections Sgt. Michael Evans said the city of Joliet crews were making significant progress on Saturday. "It's amazing the amount of work they've gotten done," he told Joliet Patch. "It was like a forest."

The clean-up aims to make it harder for vandals and trespassers to get onto the prison property late at night to cause mischief and mayhem. The Department of Corrections is now providing round-the-clock security. Secondly, if the Joliet Prison landscaping looks attractive, it will be a lot easier to proceed with long-talked plans around Joliet to turn the empty Joliet Prison property into a national tourism destination, as a number of cities across the country have already done and had success. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Here's our photo gallery from Saturday's clean-up:

Images via Joliet Patch Editor John Ferak