Situated amid rolling hills and farms in the southern tip of Illinois, Tamms Correctional Center, the state's only "super-max" prison, was built during the get-tough-on-crime wave that swept the nation in the 1990s. It was designed to house the state's most dangerous inmates. Conditions are harsh, and meant to be. For at least 23 hours a day, prisoners sit in solitary confinement in 7-by-12-foot cells. There is no mess hall. Meals are shoved through a chuckhole in cell doors. Contact with the outside world is sharply restricted. For a rare visit from relatives or friends, inmates are strip-searched, chained to a concrete stool and separated from visitors by a thick glass wall. There are no jobs and limited educational opportunities. The Illinois Department of Corrections opened up this closed world to a Tribune reporter and photographer in 2009, allowing them a glimpse at life for its 245 inmates.