Illinois State Penitentiary In 1833,
Illinois State Prison in Alton was built as the first state penitentiary in Illinois opening with twenty-four prison cells. In 1857, the prison was closed and replaced by
a new state prison in
Joliet. At the time of closure the Alton prison had a total of two-hundred-fifty-six cells. Female prisoners were also incarcerated at Alton Penitentiary. From 1835 to 1858 sixty-five women and three thousand men were sentenced to Alton. Female prisoners endured the same degrading conditions as men while their gender exposed them to added indignities and abuses. In 1845 male inspectors claimed that, "One female prisoner is of more trouble than twenty males." Women served, on average, 0.9 years and 47% were pardoned by the governor.
American Civil War prison In 1862, the U.S. government reopened the prison to house Confederate
prisoners of war during the American Civil War. The prison housed over 11,000 prisoners during the war, including Confederate officer
Ebenezer Magoffin. Deaths at the prison were more common than at other Union prisons, and prisoners faced harsh conditions and regular outbreaks of diseases such as
smallpox and
rubella. 1,534 Confederate soldiers and many Union soldiers and civilians are known to have died at the prison. ==Historic site==