After November 1989 the political prisoners went home and Ilava stopped being a place you could be sent for your opinions; the prison stayed a prison, holding people sentenced by courts. For the town itself the first free years were flat. Between 1990 and 2006 only four blocks of flats were built, which for a district town is very few. Ilava had lost its chance at industry in the 1930s, its district office under the communists and its secondary schools after that, and none of those came back on their own.Po novembri 1989 politickí väzni odišli domov a Ilava prestala byť miestom, kam sa človek dostal za svoje názory; väznica zostala väznicou pre ľudí odsúdených súdom. Pre samotné mesto boli prvé slobodné roky ploché. Od roku 1990 do roku 2006 tu postavili len štyri bytovky, čo je na okresné mesto veľmi málo. Ilava prišla o šancu na priemysel v tridsiatych rokoch, o okresný úrad za komunistov a potom aj o stredné školy – a nič z toho sa samo od seba nevrátilo.
