'World's Toughest Prison,' Rare Stateville Photos

JOLIET, IL - People love their local history and Joliet has plenty of old photographs documenting so many of the area's magnificent and imposing structures. Where are some of these old black and white photo gems, you ask? They are the property of the Joliet Area Historical Museum.

The downtown Joliet museum has a fine collection of assorted historical photos documenting many of Joliet's biggest landmarks. Several months ago, I reached out to museum officials about the idea of republishing some of the museum's historical photos as part of a new regular feature in the Joliet Patch to highlight some of the Joliet area's most historical buildings and places from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Thanks to the help of the museum staff, we'll kick off the first installment with a focus on the Stateville Correctional Center.

But first, some key facts about Stateville, according to the state of Illinois:

Opened: 1925

Land: 2,264 acres

Wall: 33-foot-tall with guard towers

Bed space capacity: 3,759 maximum security adult males, as of April 2017.

Stateville Correctional Center population: 1,109, as of April 2017.

Northern Reception and Classification Center population: 1,323

Stateville's total prisoner population: averaged 2,550 in 2017

Average annual cost per inmate: $31,927, fiscal year 2016

Vocational programs: barbering

Industries: soap, furniture

Academics: Adult Basic Education and General Education Development

Volunteer Services: religious Bible studies, choir and creative art

Did you know? Author James B. Jacobs published a book in 1977 about Stateville, which was called the world's toughest prison by Joseph Ragen, the warden from 1936 to 1961. Ragen's photo is below.

All images courtesy of Joliet Area Historical Museum archives