Old Joliet Prison Cleanup Needs More Volunteers

JOLIET, IL - First the good news. This weekend marks the city of Joliet's inaugural community volunteer days at the Old Joliet Prison. Other recent cleanup efforts behind the limestone walls along Collins Street were geared toward skilled labor and tradesmen. This weekend's cleanup effort, set for Saturday and Sunday (May 19-20) is open for anyone in the area who is at least 18 years old who wants to roll up their sleeves and help with Joliet's ongoing restoration efforts of the prison property.

Now the bad news. Organizers are still in need of lots more volunteers. People who want to work a three-hour shift, or longer, need to preregister in advance. You can do that by visiting the Joliet Area Historical Museum website link right over here.

At Tuesday night's Joliet City Council meeting, Quinn Adamowski, co-chairman of the museum committee, reminded the council to spread the word about this weekend's community volunteer days. The museum has arranged for volunteer shifts 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, he said.

"So what we're trying to do is have about 100 people sign up per shift," he told the council. "At this point, we have about 200 people who have signed up for various shifts so we're about halfway to where we want to be."

It's imperative that people who want to help out this weekend inside the Old Joliet Prison fill out the online form, Adamowski said. "We need people to register. There is a waiver," he said. "We're hoping people arrive a good half hour beforehand ... so we can sign them in."

Also during the meeting, City Economic Development Steve Jones remarked how this weekend's cleanup geared for area residents is another step forward for the city's grand plans of turning the Old Joliet Prison site into a major international tourism draw.

"We're getting closer to those first tours. That's the goal here, so sometime this summer we've got folks coming in touring that prison and seeing what we've been talking about the last several years," Jones said.

RECENT: Joliet Trade Unions Hit Grand Slam At Prison Cleanup

RECENT: Joliet Officials Tour Ohio's Shawshank Redemption Prison

Images via John Ferak/Joliet Patch Editor