Demolition of the Olympus Correctional Facility in Draper Utah. September 2023.

Signs outside the Utah State Prison in Draper, UT. The six facilities were demolished in 2023.

Myon Burrell is released from the Stillwater Correctional Facility after serving 18 years for a crime he says he never committed. He had been serving time for the 2002 death of 11-year old Tyesha Edwards before the state commuted his sentence.

Myon Burrell is released from the Stillwater Correctional Facility after serving 18 years for a crime he says he never committed. He had been serving time for the 2002 death of 11-year old Tyesha Edwards before the state commuted his sentence.

The entrance to Green Bay Correctional Institution in Allouez, Wisconsin, shows the tree-lined approach to one of the state’s oldest operating prisons. Opened in 1898 as the Wisconsin State Reformatory, the facility was designed during an era emphasizing reform and rehabilitation, reflected in its spacious campus and classical stone buildings visible in the distance. Today, the institution remains part of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections system, standing as a significant piece of the state’s correctional history and architectural heritage.

Built in 1898, the Wisconsin State Reformatory in Green Bay is a monumental example of early 20th-century correctional architecture, designed to project authority through its Romanesque Revival stonework and fortress-like symmetry. The façade, constructed from locally quarried gray limestone, features narrow arched windows, heavy masonry, and a commanding central pediment above the main entryway. Originally intended as a progressive institution focused on rehabilitation rather than punishment, the reformatory combined rigid design with reform-era ideals. The weathered sign above the entrance—still reading “Wisconsin State Reformatory”—marks one of the few remaining intact examples of this architectural period in the state’s penal history.

The Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minnesota. The 1,600 bed prison has been closed since 2010.

Entrance to the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minnesota.

The 1,600 bed facility that's been closed since 2010 has been mentioned in plans by the federal government to be used as a ICE detention facility.

Security fencing around the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minnesota.

The 1,600 bed facility that's been closed since 2010 has been mentioned in plans by the federal government to be used as a ICE detention facility.

An abandoned prison in Joliet, Illinois.

Railroad tracks behind the Old Joliet Prison in Joliet, Illinois.