The Tiny Two-Cell Jail In Gardner, Illinois

When you think of prisons in Illinois, you think of massive facilities like Statesville, where we have housed and executed some of the most infamous criminals in the world. Consider Gardner, Illinois’ prison on the opposite side of the spectrum. This jail’s capacity? Oh, it has a whopping TWO CELLS. Why is it so small? Well, it certainly says something about how the town felt about its citizens. It must have been the belief that at any given time, only 2 people could have done something wrong. In fact, there aren’t even two distinct areas. It is just one room that is divided in half by bars. The rooms are incredibly primitive. There’s a cot and a bucket for…uh…fluids. That’s it. The building also has a small guard’s area, complete with a desk. You might think this was only used during the 1800s or something. Actually, it was used until the 1950s. What’s really cool about this place is that you can not only visit, but you can get a super silly photo of yourself in a cell. Please don’t prank your mom.