Old Joliet Prison set to get $3 million for rehab

The Old Joliet Prison restoration project is set to get its biggest financial boost since it began four years ago.

A federal spending bill moving through Congress and expected to be signed by President Joe Biden next week contains $3 million for restoration of the former Joliet Correctional Center on Collins Street.

“This is by far the biggest investment ever for very much-needed capital investment in the site,” said Greg Peerbolte, executive director of the Joliet Area Historical Museum.

The museum manages the prison for the city of Joliet, which has leased it from the state since December 2017. The city took out the lease to protect the historic prison from vandals and arsonists while launching an effort to create a tourist destination.

Peerbolte said restoration of the administration building at what is now called the Old Joliet Prison likely will be the first use for the restoration money. Other candidates are the cellblocks, hospital and chapel.

A 2019 engineering analysis concluded that $10 million in repairs were needed just to stabilize six prison structures.

Work will begin this year, Peerbolte said.

Peerbolte said the federal funding for the prison restoration efforts added credibility to the cause.

“It does feel good to know that this resonates at very high levels and people get it,” he said.

There was recognition for the historic prison in Congress, said U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville. Foster included the prison among community projects he submitted for funding in the spending bill that was approved Wednesday night.

“Almost all of them knew it from ‘The Blues Brothers,’” Foster said. “That’s the way I explained it to them.”

“The Blues Brothers,” now a classic movie, begins with a scene filmed at the old Joliet Correctional Center when it still functioned as a state prison. The state closed the facility in 2002, and the property languished with very little protection as trespassers vandalized it and even set fires.

There was little maintenance of the prison after its closing, leading to the deterioration of buildings that the museum and city hope to rectify with the help of the federal funding.

Foster said community pride in the prison preservation efforts helped make the case for the federal funding.

Building trades unions and others have volunteered labor and materials for prison restoration. Foster and Peerbolte said they expect the $3 million in federal funding will be stretched further with continued volunteerism.

Some consultation with engineers will determine what to do next, Peerbolte said. But the museum is ready to get started.

“While we have been advocating for funding,” he said, “we’ve also have been planning for what to do if and when we get the funding.”