Will County Gazette

The Joliet City Council recently received an update on community features.

“I would just add to that, that’s kind of what we discussed that the further improvements that we do and the improvements that we've committed to already kind of put us in a better position to renegotiate a long-term lease agreement, as we've kind of demonstrated to the state of Illinois, our intention and our capacity to be able to maintain the property,” councilmember Cesar Guerrero said during the meeting. “So we're working toward a better negotiation resolve, as the chairwoman said, it's just very slow.”

The council uploaded a livestream of its public meeting to the city’s YouTube channel.

At their March 21 council meeting, city officials from Joliet received a committee update on all things historical and old prison from council member Bettye Gavin. She shared that the prison was continuing to get great attendance and tour numbers along with the rest of the historical center and museum. The prison is looking for some bids for some stabilization efforts for the old structure, and is searching for some $4 million in grant funding for the future project. The prison did receive a $3.5 million grant with a $3 million appropriation grant, which was awarded to the prison a year ago but is still in process and has not been received yet.

The Old Joliet Prison was built in 1831 as an insane asylum, but transitioned to being a full-time prison in 1858 when 53 prisoners were brought in. Just 20 years later, they had over 2,000 inmates. Despite calls for closure coming as early as 1905, and another state penitentiary being built in the late 1920s, the Old Prison did not fully close to inmates until 2002. It then sat empty until the city of Joliet took it over in 2017 and made it a part of their Historical Center and opened it up to the public for tours.

Tours of the Old Joliet Prison can be purchased for all of 2023 now. There are guided tours, self guided tours and even tours after dark hours for an added spooky bonus. The city currently leases the building from the state, and their current lease agreement is good through the end of the calendar year. They are in discussions about a renewal of the lease, especially with all the improvement projects they have done on the building in the past few years and the ones they are looking to start this year, but there are no final answers yet.

The council will meet again at 6:30 p.m. on April 4 at City Hall at 150 West Jackson St.