Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center

Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center is an administrative security prison located in Chicago of Cook County, Illinois. The correctional center holds both male and female offenders, currently holding 615 inmates. The facility is 26 stories, and has several housing units on different floors. MCC Chicago holds several different types of offenders - male and female, sentenced and pretrial. Inmates are housed based on this category. Specific floors will house a particular category of inmates. The two dormitory floors of the facility each have dorms that are about 1,888 square feet. The facility has 227 multiple inmate cells, which are each about 74 square feet, and 22 isolation cells. 

MCC Chicago's design makes it unique compared to other prisons. First constructed in 1971, the prison includes features such as a rooftop exercise yard. The exercise yard can be utilized by inmates every other day for two hours. Inmates may visit the gym up to two times a week. The facility also includes a library where inmates are welcome to browse the movie and book collection twice a week. Since 2005, only male inmates are allowed to work in the prison. However, this may change in the future, allowing female inmates to work as well. 

The author of Orange is the New Black: My Year in Women's Prison, Piper Kerman, was placed into the facility during the last few months of her prison sentence. Kerman, who was not a fan of this prison, stated that inmates were in "misery" due to the guards not caring about the demands of the inmates.

Visiting Hours at Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center:

Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center allows visitors every day of the week. Weekday visits can be organized between two different times.

• On a weekday, visitors are welcome from either 12:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. or from 5:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. As for weekdays, visiting will be conducted at two different times. Visiting hours on weekends are from 8:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M.
• Visits on federal holidays follow the same visiting schedule as weekend visits.
• In order to visit MCC Chicago, visitors must complete a visitor application.  
• Designated inmates can have up to 10 people on their visiting list, however, pretrial inmates are only allowed six immediate family members on their list.
• Only 3 people at a time, including children, are allowed in the visiting room for pretrial inmates, due to lack of space.
• Designated male inmates can have up to 5 visitors at once, not including infants.
• All female inmates are allowed five visitors at once.
• All belongings are unauthorized to be brought into the facility except for a clear coin purse, up to three diapers and two bottles (if visiting with an infant or small child), and up to $50.00. Visitors can bring up to fifty dollars into the facility, however, this money cannot be in bills over twenty dollars.
• Visitors are not permitted to give any items to an inmate.
• Belongings that are not permitted into the facility will be kept in lockers. 

Physical Address:

Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center
71 West Van Buren Street 
Chicago, Illinois 60605

Telephone:

(312)-322-0567

Inmate Mailing Address:

Inmate Name, ID Number
Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center
71 West Van Buren Street
Chicago, Illinois 60605