Menard Correctional Center, known prior to 1970 as Southern Illinois Penitentiary, is located in the town of Chester in Randolph County, Illinois, 50 miles southeast of St. Louis. It is a state prison housing maximum-security and high medium-security adult males. The average daily population as of 2007 is 3,410. Menard Correctional Center opened in March 1878, and is the second oldest prison in Illinois. It also stands as Illinois’s largest maximum-security prison. Menard once housed death row; however, on January 10, 2003 the Condemned Unit closed when former Governor George Ryan granted clemency to all Illinois death row inmates. It is a part of the Illinois Department of Corrections. - Source: Wikipedia
