The prison was established in 1970 in the building of the former girls’ boarding school of nursing. In addition to the pre-trial detention for the territory of the North Slovakia (Kysuce, Liptov, Orava), convicts included in the 1st correctional group served the prison sentence here. They worked mainly in construction, wood processing industry and at the railways. In years 1971 to 1973, new buildings were built and the entire complex was finished in 1975. In the next years they were gradually modernized. From 1987 to 1989, Prison Žilina ensured the operation of the branch for local prison sentence execution in Sučany that later passed under the administration of the Correctional Institution for Juveniles in Martin. Since the end of 1987, the Collection Escort Center for groupage and deployment of inmates into prisons in Slovakia was established here; in August 1996 this center was transferred to the Correctional Institution for Juveniles in Martin.