Cook County Jail, Chicago IL | Nearby Businesses

The Cook County Jail, located on 96acre in Cook County, Illinois, is the largest jail in the United States of America, housing approximately 9,000 men and women. The facility is located at 2600 South California Avenue in the city of Chicago. It employs 3,900 law enforcement officials and 7,000 civilian employees.The prison has held several well-known and infamous criminals, including Jayson Delisle, Tony Accardo, Frank Nitti, Larry Hoover, Jeff Fort, Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy and the Chicago Seven. It was one of three sites in which executions were carried out by electrocution in Illinois. Between 1928 and 1962, the electric chair was used 67 times at the jail, including the state's last electrocution of James Duke on August 24, 1962. The state's other electrocutions were carried out at the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill and at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester.