
Alton Illinois State Penitentiary - Alton, Illinois
Posted by:
BruceS
N 38° 53.479 W 090° 11.373
15S E 743754 N 4308471
Quick Description: Ruins of the first state penitentiary in Illinois.
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 9/26/2006 8:38:30 PM
Waymark Code: WMRH6
Views: 123
Long Description:
Constructed
in 1830-31 the Illinois State Penitentiary in Alton was persistently criticized
for its unsanitary conditions by Dorothea Dix, a pioneer in prison reform. The
prison was closed in 1860 when the last prisoners were transferred to the new
state penitentiary in Joliet. With the advent of the Civil War, the prison was
reopened as the Alton Federal Military Prison. The prison was used to
incarcerate Confederate prisoners with the first prisoners to arrive February 9,
1862. Over the next three years over 11,764 Confederate prisoners would enter
the prison. The conditions at the prison were harsh and deaths averaged six to
ten a day. The prison was again closed July 7, 1865. Currently only one short
stone wall of the prison remain on site.