Claim:   Photographs show a new prison facility in Chicago, Illinois.

Status:   Real photos; inaccurate description.

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, June 2008]

Wow! Your Tax Dollars At Work CAN YOU GUESS WHAT THIS IS? New Cook County Correctional Center, Chicago, Illinois (I guess if I ever break the law, I'd better do it in Illinois! Homeless people should have it so good!) Once again the taxpayer gets stung. It also shows that in most cases the quality of life for prisoners has improved considerably from what you might expect. And I always thought prison was for punishment.!!!!!

Origins:   The photographs began circulating in May 2008 accompanied by a number of different textual descriptions, all of them identifying the structure shown as a new correctional center somewhere within the United States or United Kingdom and decrying that tax dollars are being wasted on pampering criminals by providing them with such luxurious and comfortable surroundings.

The structure pictured in these photographs is not located in either of those countries, although it is a prison. More specifically, it's the Justice and Detention Centre (i.e., court building and penitentiary) in Leoben, Austria. Designed by architect Josef Hohensinn, Austria's "show-piece prison" was built to house inmates in circumstances described as follows:

Prisoners in groups up to thirteen are accommodated in a wing of their own and can move freely among the cells and communal spaces. The architect suggested the additional possibility of stepping out for fresh air, so it was agreed that each communal section would have a kind of loggia — surrounded by bars, of course, but the inmates are outdoors. The prisoners also have three courtyards at their disposal, with concrete seating walls meandering through the space, so it would no longer be possible to circle around in a single file.

Last updated:   13 July 2008

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