Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago

The Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago (MCC Chicago) is a United States federal prison in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It holds imprisoned men and women of all security levels before and during court proceedings in the Northern District of Illinois, and for brief sentences. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.^[2]

MCC Chicago was designed by architect Harry Weese. Construction began in 1971 and the facility opened in 1975. The 28-story building has the plan form of a right triangle.^[3]

Unlike other federal prison facilities, each cell has a floor-to-ceiling slit window, 7 feet (2.1 m) long by 5 inches (130 mm) wide, narrow enough not to require bars, and beveled out to allow natural light to pass inside.^[4] The cells were designed to feel as comfortable as possible, based on sailboat cabins, with built-in hardwood beds and desks. Most of these features have since been removed.^[4]

An exercise yard is available for inmates on the roof of the building, enclosed by 30-foot (9.1 m) tall concrete walls with fenced openings.^[5] A recreation center in the basement holds fitness equipment and board games. The leisure and law libraries are housed on the ninth floor along with classrooms and offices.^[6] There is a security housing unit (SHU) for male prisoners, while female prisoners needing to be isolated, as of 2005, have been taken to the Cook County Jail.^[7]

As of 2005 women prisoners may visit the exercise room and law library once per week.^[8] The prison only allows male inmates, not females, to have prison jobs such as working in the prison kitchen.^[9]Piper Kerman, the author of Orange is the New Black, wrote that circa 2005 the institution was not responsive to the demands of the prisoners, who were in "misery", and that the prison guards, who were "often pleasant, if unprofessional", were unable to make meaningful change.^[10]

Inmate Name	Register number	Photo	Status	Details
Venkatesh Bhogireddy	54602-424		10 years in Federal medium security FCI Allenwood, Pennsylvania .	Initially arrested for domestic violence and child abuse; later tried and convicted in May 2021 on 5 counts of Conspiracy to Murder for Hire.
R. Kelly	09627-035		Serving a 31-year sentence; currently at FCI Butner Medium I in Butner, North Carolina	Initially arrested in Chicago for sex crimes and obstruction of justice; later tried and convicted in September 2021 on nine counts including racketeering, sexual exploitation of a child, kidnapping, bribery, sex trafficking, and a violation of the Mann Act. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He was later sentenced to 20 years in prison by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois for producing child pornography; 19 of those years will be served concurrently with his New York federal conviction.
James Marcello	99076-012		Serving a life sentence. Transferred to ADX Florence.	"Front Boss" of the Chicago Outfit; convicted of racketeering, conspiracy for participating in 18 murders, and directing criminal activities including extortion, illegal gambling, loan sharking, and bribery.[11][12]
Larry Hoover	86063-024Archived February 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine		Serving six consecutive life sentences. Transferred to ADX Florence.	Leader of the Gangster Disciples in Chicago; sentenced to life in state prison in 1973 for murder; convicted in 1997 of drug conspiracy, extortion, money laundering, and running a continuing criminal enterprise for leading the gang from state prison.[13][14]
Ovidio Guzmán López	72884-748		Currently awaiting trial.	Alleged leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. He was captured in Mexico by authorities on January 5, 2023 and was extradited to the United States on September 15, 2023.
Heather Mack	72776-509		Sentenced in 2024 to 26 years, now at FCI Hazelton	Mack, who served 7 years in an Indonesian prison for the murder of her mother Sheila, was arrested upon arrival at O'Hare International Airport after being released and deported from Indonesia. In June 2023, she reached a plea agreement and was convicted on 1 count of conspiring to kill her mother with her then-boyfriend Tommy Schaefer to get access to a $1.5 million trust fund.[15] She was later given a 26-year sentence.[16]
Alfredo Vasquez-Hernandez	45111-424		Vasquez-Hernandez is at FCI Fort Dix, scheduled for release in 2028.	High-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel, a multibillion-dollar drug trafficking organization based in Mexico; extradited and indicted in 2012 on charges that they supplied Chicago with 2000 kilograms of cocaine per month, valued at over $1 billion.
Tomas Arevalo-Renteria	42886-424		Arevalo-Renteria is at FCI Williamsburg scheduled for release in 2025.
Joseph Konopka	20749-424		Served a 20-year sentence, released 2019	Pleaded guilty in 2002 to causing blackouts in Wisconsin by damaging power substations and utility facilities, as well as storing potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide in the Chicago subway system; also known as "Dr. Chaos."
Kent Sorenson	15000-030		Served a 15-month sentence, released April 13, 2018	State Senator and Political Consultant sentenced to 15 months for federal campaign violations in regards to work performed on Ron Paul's presidential campaign
Nikesh A. Patel	61337-018		Serving a 25-year sentence. Currently listed as "Not in BOP custody."	Orlando, Florida based businessman, who orchestrated the sale of 26 fraudulent loans totaling over $179 million. Patel is serving 25 years in federal custody.
George Cottrell	46832-424		Released August 8, 2016	British politician, arrested at O'Hare International Airport by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division in 2016. Federally indicted on 21 counts for conspiracy to commit money laundering, wire fraud, blackmail and extortion.
Piper Kerman	11187-424		Served a 13-month sentence, released 2005	Money laundering and drug trafficking
Ramon Abbas	54313-424		Serving an 11-year sentence at FCI Fort Dix	Instagram influencer known as Hushpuppi charged with fraud
Thomas James Zajac	22313-424		Serving a 20-year sentence, scheduled for release in 2042. Currently at USP Coleman.	Im Jahr 2010 wurde er wegen des Einsatzes eines Sprengkörpers und weiterer Delikte verurteilt, weil er am 15. September 2006 in der öffentlichen Bibliothek von Salt Lake City (Utah) eine selbstgebaute Rohrbombe gezündet hatte. Dies geschah als Vergeltung gegen die Polizei von Salt Lake City, die seinen Sohn festgenommen hatte. Im Jahr 2024 wurde er erneut wegen des Einsatzes einer Rohrbombe am 1. September 2006 in Hinsdale (Illinois) verurteilt .
Kevin Trudeau	18046-036		Verbüßte eine zehnjährige Haftstrafe. Wurde 2022 freigelassen.	Im Jahr 2013 wurde er wegen Missachtung des Gerichts verurteilt, weil er gegen eine Anordnung eines Bundesgerichts aus dem Jahr 2004 verstoßen hatte, die ihm die Ausstrahlung irreführender Fernsehwerbesendungen untersagte, in denen der Inhalt seines Buches über ein Mittel zur Gewichtsreduktion falsch dargestellt wurde.

1985 beschafften die verurteilten Mörder Bernard Welch und Hugh Colomb die nötigen Materialien, um ein Fenster aufzubrechen und aus dem MCC zu fliehen. Sie seilten sich an einem provisorischen Seil bis auf die Straße ab. Nach einer monatelangen landesweiten Fahndung wurden sie schließlich wieder gefasst. ^{[ 17 ]}

Im Oktober 2009 sammelte Matthew Nolan (28750-045), Bruder des Filmregisseurs Christopher Nolan , Bettlaken und andere Materialien für einen vereitelten Fluchtversuch durch ein Fenster. Der Richter, der Nolan wegen des Versuchs zu 14 Monaten Haft verurteilte, bezeichnete den Versuch später als „unmöglich“. Nolan befand sich zum Zeitpunkt des vereitelten Anschlags im MCC in Auslieferungshaft nach Costa Rica wegen eines Passdelikts (die Anklagepunkte waren zuvor von Kapitalverbrechen auf andere Straftaten reduziert worden). ^{[ 18 ]}

Im Februar 2010 wurde Vicente Zambada-Niebla, Anführer des Sinaloa-Kartells , von der mexikanischen Polizei festgenommen und zur Gerichtsverhandlung nach Chicago ausgeliefert. Da er als hohes Sicherheitsrisiko eingestuft wurde, kam er in Einzelhaft . Aufgrund von Geheimdienstinformationen, wonach Verbündete Zambada-Nieblas eine Flucht per Hubschrauber planten, wurde ihm der Zugang zum Dachgarten verweigert. Beamte des US-amerikanischen Gefängniswesens (Bureau of Prisons) begründeten dies damit, dass das Sinaloa-Kartell über unbegrenzte Ressourcen verfüge und in der Vergangenheit bereits erfolgreich Ausbrüche und Attentate verübt habe. Zambada-Niebla klagte 2011 gegen das Gefängniswesen und argumentierte, die Verweigerung des Zugangs zum Hof ​​stelle eine grausame und ungewöhnliche Bestrafung dar . Im September 2011 entschied der US-Bezirksrichter Ruben Castillo , dass die Einzelhaft für Zambada-Niebla ungerechtfertigt sei, da er nicht verurteilt worden war. ^{[ 19 ]} Um der Entscheidung nachzukommen und Sicherheitsbedenken auszuräumen, verlegte das Bundesgefängnisamt Zambada-Niebla in die Bundesstrafanstalt Milan , eine Einrichtung mit mittlerem Sicherheitsstandard in Michigan, die über einen ebenerdigen Sportplatz verfügt. ^{[ 20 ]}

In the early morning hours of December 18, 2012, two convicted bank robbers, Kenneth Conley (28560-298) and Joseph "Jose" Banks (22652-424), escaped the secure facility. Conley and Banks were being housed in the MCC while awaiting sentencing on their bank robbery convictions, crimes which were unrelated beyond the pair being cellmates at the MCC.^[21] The escape by Banks and Conley was the first from any secure federal correctional facility since April 2006, when convicted murderer Richard Lee McNair escaped from the U.S. Penitentiary, Pollock, Louisiana. The pair ostensibly fashioned a rope from bedsheets or fabric scraps,^[22] and exited their 17th-floor cell through a hole created at the bottom of a narrow window slot, rappelling down the side of the MCC to the street below.^[23]

Their escape and the gaping hole in the prison wall apparently went unnoticed during routine overnight bed checks, and was only discovered when arriving jail workers spotted the rope dangling down the side of the MCC at about 7:00 am.^[23] The inmates had obtained and concealed large numbers of bedsheets, fake iron window bars used to mimic the real bars they removed and hid, passable street clothing, and bulky materials used to fool guards into believing they were asleep in bed. It is unclear what tools were used to create the hole in the wall necessary for the escape, and if these had been hidden in the cell for an extended period of time.^[24]

Conley and Banks were subsequently recorded on a nearby video security system as they entered a cab at the corner of Congress Parkway and Michigan Avenue at about 2:40 am.^[25] In the video, they were wearing some form of light-colored plain clothes, and not their bright-orange, prison-issue jumpsuits. The identity of the cab driver and cab company, as well as how the convicts paid the cab fare, remained unclear.^[26]

Am 20. Dezember 2012 wurde Banks von FBI- Agenten und der Polizei von Chicago im Bereich des 2300er Blocks der North Bosworth Avenue wieder festgenommen. Am 3. Januar 2013 wurde Conley in Palos Hills, Illinois , verhaftet . ^{[ 27 ] [ 28 ]} Conley und Banks sind derzeit in Florence ADX , dem Hochsicherheitsgefängnis in Colorado, inhaftiert, in dem die gefährlichsten Häftlinge des US-Bundessystems sowie Häftlinge mit hohem Fluchtrisiko untergebracht sind. ^{[ 29 ] [ 30 ]} Ihre Entlassungstermine sind 2032 bzw. 2040. Banks reichte 2014 eine Klage über 10 Millionen US-Dollar wegen Fahrlässigkeit ein, da ihm die Flucht ermöglicht worden sei. Die Klage wurde vom 7. Bundesberufungsgericht abgewiesen . ^{[ 31 ]}

• Liste der US-Bundesgefängnisse
• Bundesgefängnisbehörde
• Inhaftierung in den Vereinigten Staaten

• Waldheim, Charles; Ray, Katerina Ruedi, eds. (2005). Chicago Architecture: Histories, Revisions, Alternatives. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-87038-3. Cf. p. 285.

• MCC Chicago at the Federal Bureau of Prisons website