The Menard Correctional Center , known before 1970 as the Southern Illinois Penitentiary, is an Illinois state prison located in the town of Chester in Randolph County, Illinois. It houses maximum security and security of middle-high adult men. The average daily population in 2007 was 3,410.
Menard Correctional Center opened in March 1878; it is the second oldest operating prison in Illinois, and, by a large margin, the state's largest prison. Menard was once a place of execution; However, on January 10, 2003, the Condemned Unit was closed when former Governor George Ryan granted clemency to all the prisoners in Illinois. This is part of the Illinois Improvement Department.
The average age of detention Menard Correctional Center is 34 years. Each average annual cost of inmates reaches $ 19,190.00.
Video Menard Correctional Center
Current facility
In 2006, Menard Correctional Center had a total of 2,600 acres (11 km 2 ), 41 of which were in the field.
The land consists of six housing units. The South Lowers Housing Unit and South Uppers Housing Unit are prisoners of moderate aggression and those who currently have job duties. The North I Cell House contains a Protection Unit, a Step-Down Unit, and a Public Population. The North II Cell House contains inmates in the segregation of discipline, administrative detention, and the general population. The East Cell House is closely monitored. Prisoners assigned here are classified as E, High, or Medium. The West Cell House houses high-risk or escaped prisoners and is classified as High Aggressive Prisoners.
In the land there is also the Prisoners' Dining Room, Chapel, Health Care Unit, Reception and Classification Unit, Educational Building, Maintenance and Telecommunications Department, Menard Division in Illinois Correctional Industry, and Randolph Hall, serving as a Menard training complex for prison officials..
Illiterate prisoners attend school. Other inmates can register voluntarily. Menard has courses for elementary school and some high school subjects.
Current industry in Menard includes meat processing, knitting and sewing, floor treatment and cleaning products, waste disposal, and recycling operations.
Menard, in 2006, employed about 854 detainees. It has a daily population of about 3,410 inmates. The racial details are 62% black, 28% white, and 9% Hispanic. Of the inmates housed in Menard, 51% of the offenders were imprisoned for murder, 21% of inmates had life sentences, and 33% served over 20 years. The average age of inmates at Menard is 34 years.
Maps Menard Correctional Center
Death penalty
In 1931, Menard was one of three sites where executions were conducted with electricity in Illinois. Between 1928 and 1962, the electric chair was used 18 times here for those sentenced to death in the southern county of the state. Other state electricity demands were made at the Stateville Correctional Center at Crest Hill and at the County Cook Prison in Chicago.
Prior to 11 January 2003, the death sentence was sentenced to death in prison centers at Menard, Pontiac and Tamms penitentiaries. After the turn, only Pontiac continues to detain death row convicts.
History
19th century
The first Illinois correctional institution was founded in Alton, Alton Military Prison, in 1833. Reformer Dorothea Dix visited the site and was very critical of the dirty conditions there in 1847 to the Illinois General Assembly. He noted, among many other things, that Alton was the only prison in the United States where inmates were made to stand while eating. This 1858 Alton prison was replaced by Joliet Prison and closed.
Twenty years later the Southern Illinois Penitentiary was opened, taking prisoners from the southern district of the state. Founded in 1878 overlooking the Mississippi River. It receives 200 prisoners next year. The original building was completed in 1889, comprising the North and South Cell Houses and the Administration Building. Closed walls 11Ã,½ acres from the base of the prison. The back wall stretches over a hill which is one of the prison stone quarries.
Menard also has mines outside the walls. All the original buildings were built by prison workers. The original North and South Cell houses each contain 400 cells on four levels. Inmates live together in a cell. None of these cells have pipes. Buckets are used instead.
The exterior includes columns and tents that illustrate key skeletons and the scale of justice. The entrance has two stone lions. Christie Thompson and Joe Shapiro of The Marshall Project wrote that the exterior "looks more like an ornate university building than a maximum security facility.
20th century
In 1928, the prison suffered an enormous density. Designed to accommodate 800 people, the agency has about 2,000 people. Thus, an additional five enclosures are built on each side of the cell house corridor. This enclosure, each of which holds two people, has a steel wall with the top and sides consisting of iron bars.
The old buildings in the prison courtyard were also used as dormitories, housing detainees until about 1930 when a new cell house was built to combat the excess population of prisoners. The new cell house contains 500 cells, each accommodating two inmates. All these cells have pipes. In 1928, the bathhouse was located in the basement of one of the old buildings. It contained 76 bathrooms. In 1931, the baths were moved to the basement of the commissioner, which contained 84 concrete showers. During this time, inmates were given bath time once a week during winter and twice a week in summer.
In 1927, of the 484 inmates who arrived in prison in 1927, 406 were white, and 78 were black. In 1928, there were 1974 detainees and 96 guards, a ratio of about 1 to 20. In 1931, the inmate population had increased 2,285 with four yard offices, and 130 guards, or about one guard for every 17 inmates. Of the 2,285 inmates, 1,844 were white and 441 were black.
In 1928, Menard had 1,100 acres (4.5 km 2 ) from farmland outside the yard. These farms include milk and pig farms that contribute to the prison diet. The cellar was one of the largest and most intricately designed of any institution at the time. All of the industries inside the prison are housed in old buildings which, in 1928, have been renovated to suit better working conditions. Major industries include clothing manufacturing, mining, and agriculture. The products are sold on the open market. However, no compensation is given to inmates. In 1931, agriculture grew to 1,500 hectares (6.1 km 2 ) and brick factories and machine shops were added to the main prison industry.
The advantages, rules, and rules
Not specifying penalties
In 1897, Illinois adopted an unspecified punishment. In 1931, eighty percent of inmates served unspecified punishment.
Achievement system
In 1903, the "class system" was adopted for inmates. This went on until 1920, when the "Progressive Merit System" was adopted. By using this system, "good times" can be given to or taken away from inmates based on their behavior. In addition, inmates are divided into classes, A, B, C, D, and E, by behavior. The disciplinary staff, comprised of the warden and his deputy, decided on promotions and grade reductions. For example, men in class A and B are allowed to write two letters a week. Those in C can only write once a week. Prisoners D and E can only write with special permission.
Rules and regulations
Silence is mandatory in the hall and in marching rows. Smoking is allowed in cells and dormitories. The prison commissioner, around 1930, allowed prisoners to buy tobacco, candy, toiletries, canned food and fruit. No restrictions are set on purchase.
Punishment
Around 1930, punishment involved the loss of privilege. For a more serious offense, people were placed in punitive cells, large cells located in the building behind the deputy offices. For some offenses, men are handcuffed to the bar during working hours. In 1931, this practice was discontinued.
Large incident
In the 1970s, a significant increase in prison populations, not only in Menard but also across the country, may have been the cause of two incidents so far. In May 1973, thirty-eight inmates took over the commissioner and detained a hostage for sixteen hours. In May 1974, sixty inmates detained four guards, this time demanding trial rights in the prison courtyard and some changes in administrative procedures.
In March 1994, Menard made headlines when Michael Blucker, 24, took the country to court after contracting HIV while in jail. Blucker stated that the prison staff helped gang members rape him. Although the jury found the staff irresponsible, the case found the issue of sexual violence and gang activity inside the prison.
There are two deaths detained in isolation cells with other prisoners in their cells. Around 2004, 28-year-old Corey Fox, serving a life sentence for murder, killed Joshua Daczewitz, 22, a man from a Chicago suburb convicted of arson and robbery. On November 29, 2014, David Sesson killed Bernard Simmons; both are also placed in a joint isolation cell.
Leading Prisoner
- Nathan Leuthold, a missionary, was sentenced to 80 years in Peoria County for the murder of his wife, Denise.
- Hubert Geralds, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of six prostitutes on the southern side of Chicago.
- Kenneth Allen, sentenced to death (changed to live) for the murder of Chicago police officers William Bosak and Roger van Schaik.
- David Hendricks, was sentenced to four life sentences in a row for the murder of his wife and children in 1983, but was released after a 1991 birthday trial showed his innocence.
- Richard Honeck, released after serving a life sentence of 64 years for murder & amp; - regarded as the longest ever punishment that ended with the release of prisoners.
- Homer Van Meter, bank robber and criminal associate John Dillinger.
- John Wayne Gacy, a famous serial killer. Sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 33 boys and young men.
- Robin Gecht, serving 120 years for the mutilation and rape of an 18-year-old prostitute in the Chicago area during the early 1980s.
- Chester Weger, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 3 women at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, Illinois.
- James Degorski, serving a life sentence without parole for the deaths of seven people at the 1993 Brown Chicken Massacre at Palatine Illinois.
- Robert Ben Rhoades, truck driver, serial killer, and rapist. Allegedly killing and raping 100 women on the street in the 1980s and early 1990s.
- Drew Peterson, a former police sergeant, was sentenced to 38 years for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Jack McCullough was sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2012 for the murder of December 3, 1957 against Maria Ridulph who was seven years old, fifty-five years after the murder, but this conviction was canceled on April 15, 2016 and he was subsequently released.
- Reginald Potts Jr., was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the murder of 28-year-old Nailah Franklin in 2007. The story is profiled on NBC's Dateline.
- Clint Massey, Chicago rapper better known by his stage name RondoNumbaNine, was sentenced to 39 years for the murder of a 2014 introduction driver, Javan Boyd.
- Couertney Ealy, Chicago rapper better known by his stage name Cdai, was sentenced to 38 years for the 2014 killing of Javan Boyd.
- Fred Hampton - is an American activist and revolutionary, chairman of the Black Panther Party in Illinois.
- Stuart Heaton, was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a teenage girl in 1991.
In popular culture
In the 1993 film The Fugitive , Dr. Richard Kimble (played by Harrison Ford) was sent to prison in Menard to await execution, but fled after a bus-train collision on the way.
See also
References
External links
- Menard Correctional Center - Illinois Department of Correction
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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