The original building on the penitentiary grounds was poorly constructed and was eventually torn down.
[clarification needed] In 1975, the hospital changed its name to the Chester Mental Health Center.
The patients (not convicts, as they have not been sentenced to a correctional facility) are required by Illinois law to remain confined in a mental hospital for a period of time.
Pat Quinn attempted to close down this facility, citing cost as the reason.
However, it was decided that Chester Mental Health must remain open because there is no other maximum security mental facility to house people found unfit to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity in the state of Illinois.