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United States · Illinois · Menard

Menard Correctional Center

State prisonMaximumUnder capacity (57%)LowHigh
Verified
Aging · 5mo ago
Sources last reviewed on

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How to send mail, money, and visit Menard Correctional Center

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Photograph of Menard Correctional Center
Photo by Unknown via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-2.5)

Menard Correctional Center is a state prison located in Randolph County, Illinois. Rated capacity: 3,881. Reported population: 2,213. Security level: Maximum. Data sourced from the HIFLD Prison Boundaries open dataset.

Background

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.

Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.

Capacity

3,881

Current population

2,213

Occupancy

57%

Year opened

1878

Operational

Figures from official sources · verified 2 Jun 2026 · methodology

Facility profile

Population held

Mixed/unknown

Opened

1878

Region

Illinois

Security level

Maximum

Death-row facility

No

Conditions

No conditions summary available yet.

Visiting

No visiting information available.

Mailing

No mailing information available.

Practical info

Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.

Known issues

Menard Correctional Center has been the subject of reporting on solitary confinement, including cases involving disciplinary segregation and the deadly consequences of such practices.

Notable inmates

  • Milton Johnson
    1950–2025 · serial killer

    Milton Johnson (May 15, 1950 – May 16, 2025), known as The Weekend Murderer, was an American serial killer and mass murderer who was believed to have committed up to 14 murders that occurred in Will County, Illinois during the summer of 1983.

  • Andre Crawford
    1962–2017 · serial killer

    Andre Crawford (March 20, 1962 – March 18, 2017) was an American serial killer, rapist and necrophile who killed 11 women between 1993 and 1999 in Chicago.

  • Hubert Geralds Jr.
    1964 · serial killer

    Hubert Geralds Jr.

  • Michael Alfonso
    1969

    Michael Alfonso (born Michael Johnson; June 26, 1969) is an American former fugitive who was convicted of multiple felonies, including two counts of murder, in the state of Illinois.

  • Robert Ben Rhoades
    1945 · serial killer

    Robert Ben Rhoades (born November 22, 1945), also known as the Truck Stop Killer, is an American serial killer and rapist.

Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.

Contact & address

711 Kaskaskia Street, Menard 62259
(618) 826-5071
Official site

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

6/100
Low concern6/100
Overcrowding
0/30
Oversight reports
1/30
Structural flags
5/15
Death signals
0/15
Conditions text
0/10

What the score is responding to:

  • · 1 oversight report in the last 5 years
  • · Substantial documented known-issues record

This facility scores 6. The national average across 7,437 scored United States facilities is 2 — 4 points above national average.

Related facilities

All in United States →

Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.

Compared to other facilities in United States

7436 peers
Occupancythis: 57% · peers avg: 93% (39%)
Capacity (beds)this: 3881 · peers avg: 547 (+610%)

Reports

  • marshall-project21 Oct 2021

    tives from those who work and live in the criminal justice system. Sign up to receive “Life Inside” emailed to you every week. Related Stories I served 20 of those years at Menard Correctional Center in southern Illinois. It’s a maximum security prison right on the banks of the Mississippi River near the Missouri border. One of the things about being in prison is that you’re constantly seeing new

    source

  • marshall-project24 Mar 2016

    Inside News & Awards Impact People Supporters Jobs Contact Us Investigate This! Newsletters Events Donate Feedback? [email protected] A double cell at Menard Correctional Center Uptown People's Law Center Filed 7:00 a.m. EDT 03.24.2016 Justice Talk The Best Reporting on Solitary Confinement Brush up for our March 30th chat on solitary confinement by reading some of the most crucia

    source

  • marshall-project24 Mar 2016

    rd Simmons. Sesson put his hands through the food slot to have his handcuffs removed. Both men were in "disciplinary segregation," a bureaucratic term for solitary confinement, at Menard Correctional Center in southern Illinois. Reported and published in collaboration with NPR . Listen to the piece here . But unlike many in solitary, Sesson and Simmons wouldn’t have a moment alone. The

    source

Data completeness

74%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA
World Prisons. (2026). Menard Correctional Center. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/menard-correctional-center
Chicago
"Menard Correctional Center." World Prisons. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/menard-correctional-center.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-menard-correctional-center,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Menard Correctional Center},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/menard-correctional-center},
  urldate = {2026-10-20}
}