Pontiac State Reformatory
| Location | 700 W Lincoln Street Pontiac, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Status | open |
| Security class | MID CENTRAL USA |
| Capacity | 2298 |
| Opened | 1871 |
| Managed by | Illinois Department of Corrections |
Pontiac Correctional Center, established in June 1871, is an Illinois Department of Corrections maximum security prison (Level 1) for adult males in Pontiac, Illinois. The prison also has a medium security unit that houses medium to minimum security inmates and is classified as Level 3. Until the 2011 abolition of the death penalty in Illinois, the prison housed male death row inmates, but had no execution chamber. Inmates were executed at the Tamms Correctional Center. Although the capacity of the prison is 2172 it has an average daily population of approximately 2000 inmates.
In May 2008, Governor Rod Blagojevich’s administration proposed to shut down the Pontiac facility, which would phase out the prison between January and February 2009. The inmate population would be transferred to the Thomson facility, a newly built maximum security prison, which is also equipped to house segregated inmates. Thomson has since been sold to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The Pontiac facility is one of the largest employers in the Livingston County community. Governor Pat Quinn cancelled plans to close Pontiac Correctional Center on March 12, 2009.
The prison was originally a boys' reform school from 1872 to 1893, but was then established as the State Reformatory. What later became the administrative offices used to be the buildings of the reform school. Two cell houses were constructed., One was a 4-tier cell house holding 296 cells, each of which measured 8’3” x 7’x 8’. The other was 5-tiers housing 500 cells measuring 8’x5’x 8’. The cells had iron bars in the front and containing a cot or spring bed, a stool and locker. In 1929, there were 1,405 inmates and 57 guards, making the ratio approximately 1 guard to 25 inmates. In 1931, an additional cell house with 440 cells on 5 tiers was built. In this cell house, there were two men to each 8’x10’x8’ cell sharing a bunk bed, a cabinet, a desk and outlet for a radio. With the new cell houses, the prison population grew to 2,504 inmates with 150 guards or approximately 1 guard per 17 inmates. The prison housed 2,504 inmates (1,959 white, 535 black, 10 other).
...
Wikipedia