Menard Correctional Center

Prison in Illinois, United States

Menard Correctional Center, known prior to 1970 as Southern Illinois Penitentiary, is an Illinois state prison located in the town of Chester in Randolph County, Illinois. It houses maximum security and high medium security adult males. The average daily population as of 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 once housed death row; however, on January 10, 2003, the Condemned Unit closed when then Governor George Ryan granted clemency to all Illinois death row inmates. It is a part of the Illinois Department of Corrections. Menard Correctional Center's average prisoner age is 34 years old. Each inmate's average annual cost totals, as of fiscal year 2018, $27,364.

As of 2006, Menard Correctional Center has a total of , 41 of which are inside the grounds. The grounds are composed of six housing units. The South Lowers Housing Unit and the South Uppers Housing Unit house inmates with moderate aggression levels and those who currently have job assignments (though they closed for repairs in October 2018). The North I Cell House contains the Step Down Unit, and General Population. The North II Cell House contains inmates in disciplinary segregation, administrative detention, and the general population. The East Cell House is heavily monitored. Inmates assigned here are classified as either Level E, High, or Moderate escape risk. The West Cell House holds inmates that are either high or moderate escape risk and are classified as High Aggressive Inmates, as well as the Protective Custody Unit. Within the grounds are also the Inmate Dining Hall, Chapel, Health Care Unit, Receiving and Classification Unit, Education Building, Maintenance and Telecommunications Departments, Menard Division of Illinois Correctional Industries, and Randolph Hall, which acts as Menard's training complex for prison employees. Inmates who are illiterate attend school. Other inmates can enroll voluntarily. Menard had courses for elementary schooling and several high school subjects.

The first Illinois penitentiary was founded in Alton, the Alton Military Prison, in 1833. Reformer Dorothea Dix visited the site and was sharply critical of the filthy conditions there in an 1847 address to the Illinois General Assembly. She noted, among many other things, that Alton was the only prison in the U. S. where inmates were made to stand while eating meals. In 1858, the Alton prison was replaced by the Joliet Correctional Center and closed. Twenty years later, the Southern Illinois Penitentiary opened, taking prisoners from the southern counties of the state. It was established in 1878, overlooking the Mississippi River. It accepted 200 prisoners the next year. The original buildings were finished by 1889, consisting of the North and South Cell Houses and the Administration Building. The rear wall runs over the top of a hill that was one of the prison's rock quarries.

In 1928, the prison suffered from massive overcrowding. Designed to hold 800 men, the institution had approximately 2,000. There had been a previous uprising on September 22. A month later, prisoners took a prison lieutenant and six guards as hostages when a more serious riot broke out. Stevenson, backed up by between 100 and 200 state troopers, stood inside the prison yard and delivered the ultimatum over the prison public address system. He said, "We are going into the cells with state police armed with guns and with whatever force necessary." while the state troopers fired shots into the cell blocks held by the prisoners before entering the parts of the prison under the control of the rioters. All seven guards were recovered unharmed.

In the 1970s, a significant increase in inmate population, not only at Menard but also around the country, may have been the cause of two incidents during that time. In May 1973, thirty eight inmates took over the commissary and held a guard hostage for sixteen hours. In May 1974, sixty inmates held four guards hostage, this time demanding congregation rights in the prison yard and several changes in administrative procedures. There were two deaths of prisoners who were housed in solitary confinement with other prisoners inside their cells. Around 2004, 28 year old Corey Fox, who was serving a life sentence for murder, killed 22 year old Joshua Daczewitz, a person from a Chicago suburb who was convicted of arson and robbery. On November 29, 2014, David Sesson killed Bernard Simmons; the two were also placed in a solitary confinement cell together. John Wayne Gacy was a notorious serial killer. Sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 33 boys and young men. Hubert Geralds, serial killer who murdered at least six women in Chicago's south side. Robin Gecht is serving 120 years for the mutilation and rape of an 18 year old prostitute in the Chicago area during the early 1980s. Fred Hampton was an American activist and revolutionary, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. Lester Harrison, serial killer who murdered at least four women at Grant Park in Chicago between 1970 and 1973. He was previously incarcerated at Menard, where he killed an inmate in 1951. Stuart Heaton was sentenced to life in prison for the 1991 murder of a teenage girl. David Hendricks was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences for the 1983 murders of his wife and children. Released after a 1991 retrial showed his innocence. Richard Honeck was paroled after serving 64 years of a life sentence for murder—reputedly the longest sentence ever served that ended in the prisoner's release. Milton Johnson was a serial killer convicted of ten murders. Jack McCullough was sentenced to life in prison in September 2012 for the December 3, 1957, murder of seven year old Maria Ridulph, 55 years after the murder, but this conviction was overturned on April 15, 2016, and he was subsequently released. Drew Peterson, former police sergeant, was sentenced to 38 years for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Robert Ben Rhoades, former truck driver, serial killer and rapist. Suspected of killing and raping 100+ women while on the road in the 1980s and early 1990s. Kevin Taylor was a serial killer convicted of killing four women. Homer Van Meter was a bank robber and criminal associate of John Dillinger. Chester Weger was sentenced to life after being convicted of murdering three women at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, Illinois. Granted parole in November 2019.

In the 1993 movie The Fugitive, Dr. Richard Kimble (played by Harrison Ford) is sent to the prison at Menard to await execution, but escapes following a bus train collision en route.