The prison was built with convict labor leased by the state to contractor Lorenzo P. Sanger and warden Samuel K. Casey.

Female prisoners were housed adjacent to men's cells from 1859 until 1870, when they were moved to the fourth floor of the central administration building.

The construction of the nearby Stateville Correctional Center began in 1917 and opened in March 1925 was meant to lead to the swift closure of Joliet.

In 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were given life sentences to be served at Joliet (after their successful defense—from the death penalty—by Clarence Darrow).

In reality, the "volunteers" were Vietnam-draft conscientious objectors, who agreed to drink feces-laden chocolate milkshakes and exposed to the feces of other inmates in an effort to mass-produce and isolate the virus that caused Hepatitis A.

[6] The Army was especially interested in Hepatitis A because it was a classic disease of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions common in prisons and military camps.

[7] In 1975, members of the Almighty Black P. Stone Nation and other Chicago street gangs took over a cell block and held several corrections officers hostage.

As of 2018[update] the Joliet Area Historical Museum is running tours of the penitentiary for Route 66 travelers and other interested parties.

[10][11] Joliet is referred to in Edgar Lee Masters' poems "Silas Dement" and "Mrs. Merritt", part of the Spoon River Anthology.

Memphis Minnie recorded the song "Joliet Bound" with Kansas Joe McCoy in 1932, which was most likely derived from the same source as Noah Lewis' "Viola Lee Blues".

Bob Dylan's "Percy's Song" tells the story of the singer's attempt to have a friend's ninety-nine year sentence in Joliet Prison commuted.

The song, an outtake from the sessions that produced Dylan's album The Times They Are a-Changin', has been covered by Fairport Convention and Arlo Guthrie.

Folk singer Steve Goodman recorded the song "Lincoln Park Pirates" concerning an auto towing company of Chicago.