The story
The Old Joliet Correctional Center rose from 1858 in convict-quarried limestone north of Joliet, Illinois, its castellated walls becoming the state's most notorious address: Leopold and Loeb passed through, riots and escapes marked its decades, executions and deaths in custody belong to its record, and closure came in 2002 after nearly a century and a half — by which time 'Joliet' Jake Blues had made its gatehouse world-famous in The Blues Brothers, one of many films shot here. Left to decay and arson for years, the site was stabilised by a preservation partnership that now runs history tours, film programmes and seasonal haunted events through the cellhouses and yards. Telling from guards' eras, film crews and tour visitors describes cell doors and voices on empty tiers, figures in the chapel and solitary block, footsteps, touches and shadow shapes on the catwalks — accounts layered on real suffering that the record tells soberly, prisoners' deaths included. Access is by official tour only; schedules and event details from the preservation organisation's pages.