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{{ Vandalia Correctional Center }}

Opened: 1921
Capacity: 949
Level 6: Minimum-Security Adult Male
Average Daily Population: 1,494
Total Average Daily Population: 1,494
Average Age: 33
Average Annual Cost Per Inmate: $22,258.00

Business Mail:
Route 51 North
P.O. Box 500
Vandalia, IL 62471
Phone: (618) 283-4170

Inmate Mail:
Route 51 North
P.O. Box 500
Vandalia, IL 62471

The Vandalia Correctional Center is located 85 miles southeast of Springfield. It was established as the original prison farm operation in Illinois, housing entirely misdemeanor offenders. The center has been renovated and reprogrammed and now houses felons. The center has a dorm setting facility design with 113 buildings, totaling 411,848 square feet. Total acreage is 1,520 and the area within the perimeter fence is eight acres. In November 1999, when new security level designations were assigned to ensure consistency and standardization of operations, Vandalia was assigned to Level 6 minimum security and the work camp to Level 7 low minimum security.

The control and accountability of offenders continue to be the highest goal set during FY 2003. To ensure accountability, the security staff maintained a high degree of supervision and observation of all offenders working within the compound, on all program and work assignments and in housing units. All offender movement is escorted for better control and accountability. Property box compliance is monitored on each shift by duty administrative staff to ensure compliance with the Administrative Directive. The property boxes facilitate safety, security and sanitation and also enhance the ability to conduct searches, maintain fire safety and facilitate transportation of property.

The work camp continues to lend support to local communities as well as support to Vandalia Correctional Center. The work camp policy encourages each offender to get involved in community service. The goal of this policy is the return to society of a responsible, law-abiding and productive citizen. The work camp continues to be the largest work camp in the state with an offender population of 400. The work camp provided more than 164,000 hours of community services last year. Along with the center's excellent staff and hard working offenders, the Vandalia Work Camp takes pride in providing quality assistance to numerous communities, organizations and road commissioners on various projects.

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{ ESSAYS / PRISONS IN ILLINOIS }

"The Color and Geography of Prison Growth in Illinois" / by Paul Street
"Starve the Racist Prison Beast" / by Paul Street
"Race, Place, and the Perils of Prisonomics" / by Paul Street
"The Political Consequences Of Racist Felony Disenfranchisement" / by Paul Street
"Census dollars bring bounty to prison towns" / The Chicago Reporter
"Prisons and Southern Illinois" / Illinois Labor Market Review
"Throughout Southern Illinois: Mines Move Out as Prisons Move In" / Illinois Labor Market Review
"Hard Time" / Illinois Issues
"Scrutinizing the Supermax" / SIUC Perspectives
"A SORRY EXCUSE FOR A DECENT LIVING: How Rural Illinois Has Staked its Revival on Prison Growth" / The Next American City
"Drugs and Disparity: The Racial Impact of Illinois' Practice of Transferring Young Drug Offenders to Adult Court"
"Jail Overcrowding and Understaffing" / Chicago Tribune
"Maximum Insecurity: Illinois Prisons in Crisis" / AFSCME Council 31 / January 2006
"Failing Grade: The decline in educational opportunities for Illinois prison inmates" / Campaign for Responsible Priorities
Chicago Urban League / Research & Planning Department
"The Vicious Circle: Race, Prison, Jobs, and Community in Chicago, Illinois and the Nation" / Chicago Urban League
"A Portrait of Prisoner Reentry in Illinois" / The Justice Policy Center