Jackson County Inmate Population and Inmate Search

The Jackson County Inmate Population

Jackson County holds its local inmate population in two confirmed detention settings, both in Murphysboro. The Jackson County Jail at the sheriff's office is the main lockup for arrests, pretrial detention, and short local sentences. A separate state re-entry center in the same city holds sentenced men in Illinois Department of Corrections custody. The jail population is reported by the sheriff and inspected by the state, while the prison count is kept by IDOC. These are two different rosters. A person counted in one is not counted in the other.

The size of the count shifts with arrests, court decisions, sentencing, and transfers. A booking adds a person to the jail. A release, a dismissal, or a transfer to state prison removes one. Illinois ended cash bail in September 2023, so detention now turns on court findings rather than a posted dollar amount. That change shapes how long some people stay in the jail before trial, and it is part of why the local figures move year to year.

Jackson County Inmate Population Statistics

The clearest official snapshot of the Jackson County inmate population comes from the state's most recent jail inspection. On the April 24, 2025 compliance monitoring date, the Jackson County Jail held 116 people against a listed capacity of 192, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections report. Of those 116, the report counted 102 men and 14 women, with no juveniles. The county runs two detention facilities in total, the local jail and a state re-entry center.

Those inspection figures, along with the federal PREA reviews the jail keeps on file, are posted through the county's Jail Audits and Reports page.

The same page links each year's IDOC annual jail audit, which is where the capacity and population counts in the table above come from. Older PREA materials cited a 199-bed figure after a 2013 expansion, so the 192 number reflects the newer state inspection rather than a fixed lifetime capacity.

Jackson County Inmate Population Trends

The Jackson County inmate population has not held steady. Vera Institute incarceration-trends data for the county jail shows a count that climbed into the mid-160s in 2022 before easing back, and the 2025 state inspection snapshot of 116 sits below the recent peak. These rows mix annual averages from Vera with a single-day inspection figure, so they show direction rather than a clean apples-to-apples series. Pretrial detainees make up nearly all of the recent totals.

Note: The 2025 inspection figure is a one-day count, so it should not be read as a full-year average the way the Vera rows are.

Who Makes Up the Jackson County Inmate Population

The makeup of the Jackson County inmate population is heavily pretrial, meaning most people in the jail are awaiting court action rather than serving a finished sentence. The 2025 state inspection and the recent Vera rows both point the same way. Sex, age category, and custody type are the breakdowns official sources actually report for the county jail, so those are the ones worth listing.

• Pretrial vs sentenced - Vera counted 136 of 139 people as pretrial in 2023, with only 3 sentenced.
• Male vs female - The 2025 inspection counted 102 men and 14 women in the jail.
• Juveniles - The jail listed 0 juvenile capacity and 0 juveniles in the inspection count.
• Federal holds - A U.S. Marshals agreement lets the jail house federal detainees, so some custody is federal rather than local.

Jackson County Jail Capacity and Overcrowding

The Jackson County Jail was built in 1990 and last renovated in 2013. The 2025 IDOC inspection lists a total capacity of 192, spread across one floor of detention with 74 double detention rooms, one 8-bed dorm, and three 12-bed dorms. On the inspection date the jail held 116 people, which is below that capacity. Vera's 2023 total of 139 against a rated 199 also sits under capacity for that dataset.

Capacity numbers in Jackson County are not a single timeless figure. Older PREA audit material said the 2013 expansion added 49 beds and lifted capacity from 150 to 199, while the newer state inspection lists 192. No official lawsuit, consent decree, or new-jail construction plan turned up in the research, so the honest read is a jail running under its listed ceiling on the dates measured, not a documented overcrowding crisis. Monthly figures would be needed to claim a year-round pattern.

Laws Governing the Jackson County Inmate Population

Several Illinois laws make jail data public and set the rules behind the figures. Public-records access, jail standards, monthly population reporting, and death-in-custody reporting each rest on a separate statute or rule. Reading a few of them in plain English explains why the numbers exist and where a member of the public can push for more.

Note: A booking photo can be withheld under the arrest-records law when release would interfere with an active case or threaten safety or facility security.

Jackson County and the State Prison Population

Once a Jackson County case ends in a prison sentence, the person leaves the county jail count and joins the Illinois Department of Corrections population. IDOC reported a statewide average daily prison population of 29,027 in its FY25 Annual Report. One state facility sits inside the county itself, the Murphysboro Life Skills Re-Entry Center at 636 Elza Brantley Drive, a minimum-security center for sentenced adult men with an operational capacity of 240 and a population of 158 as of June 30, 2024.

That facility opened in 2018 and runs under Pinckneyville Correctional Center as its parent institution. Men enrolled in the DuQuoin Impact Program are housed there and counted in its population. The center holds sentenced state prisoners, not Jackson County pretrial detainees, which is why a person there is found through the IDOC Individual in Custody Search rather than any county tool.

How to Search the Jackson County Inmate Population

Jackson County does not run a public online jail roster. Research of the sheriff and county sources found contact, visitation, commissary, FOIA, and court links, but no county-hosted search page that lists current detainees by name. Because of that, searching for someone in local custody starts with a phone call and a short fallback chain rather than a roster lookup.

Before starting, have the person's full name and, if possible, an approximate arrest or booking date. That makes a phone confirmation or a records request faster.

1. Call the jail at 618-687-2292 to confirm whether someone is currently held; the Jackson County Sheriff's Office main line is 618-684-2177.
2. Ask in person at 1001 Mulberry Street, Murphysboro, during records hours if a phone check is not enough.
3. File a written FOIA request with Sheriff's FOIA officer Lt. Shauna Taylor for booking or arrest records not posted online.
4. Register for Illinois VINE to get custody and release notifications on a specific person.
5. Check IDOC if the person was sentenced and moved to state prison, and check Judici for the filed court case.

The sheriff's office is the first stop for any custody or booking question because it operates the jail and answers records requests.

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office page lists Sheriff Robert Burns, the Mulberry Street address, the office phone numbers, and the records hours.

From that page, links lead to the jail audits, the Contact a Detainee visitation tools, and the FOIA officer list, which together cover the channels that replace a missing roster. A full walkthrough of those channels lives on the jail inmate records page.

Current Inmate Lookup in Jackson County

For a current local inmate, the jail phone line and VINE do the work that a roster would. For a sentenced inmate already in state custody, the IDOC Individual in Custody Search is the live tool. Its form uses one search method at a time and a single text box, with examples built into the page. The field layout is simple and reliable.

IDOC warns the search can go offline for maintenance or record updates. Public information is also available by phone at 217-558-2200 for anyone who cannot reach the online tool.

Past and Released Inmate Records

Finding someone no longer in custody works differently in Jackson County than in counties with a searchable roster. There is no public archive of past bookings to browse, so released-inmate history runs through records requests and court files. A written FOIA request to the sheriff is the route for an old booking or arrest record that was never posted online, subject to the law's exemptions for active cases and safety.

If the arrest led to a charge, the case file is the more complete record. Filed charges, dispositions, and sentences appear in the Jackson County court system, while sentenced inmates who went to prison show in the IDOC locator with admission and projected release dates. VINE can also report that a person has been released or transferred, which often answers the basic question faster than a formal request.

What a Jackson County Inmate Record Shows

Because the county has no public roster, there is no county profile page showing mugshots, bond, or housing online. Two things fill that gap. The Illinois Local Records Act sets what arrest details are open to news media, and the IDOC profile shows a full field inventory once a person is in state custody. The table below lists the IDOC profile fields, which are the closest documented field-by-field record for this county's sentenced inmates.

For an arrest at the local level, the Local Records Act covers name, age, address, a photo when available, the charges, arrest time and place, the arresting agency, and custody or transfer times when someone is incarcerated. Those items are the media-access fields, released through a request rather than a live roster.

County Jail vs. State Prison: Where to Look

The most common mistake is searching the wrong system. Pretrial detainees and people with short local terms sit in the Jackson County Jail under the sheriff. Sentenced felons move to an IDOC prison, a separate population with its own locator. Federal and immigration custody are different again. Matching the person to the right system saves a lot of wasted calls.

State and Federal Inmate Search

Three locators cover the inmate population beyond the county jail. The IDOC search handles sentenced state prisoners, including anyone at the Murphysboro re-entry center. The federal Bureau of Prisons locator covers sentenced federal prisoners, and the ICE locator covers immigration detainees. None of these will return a Jackson County pretrial detainee, and none works as a mugshot gallery.

Use the IDOC Individual in Custody Search for state prisoners, the BOP inmate locator for federal custody, and the ICE detainee locator for immigration holds.

Illinois VINE ties these together for notifications, letting a registered user track custody status and release across systems. No BOP or ICE facility sits inside Jackson County, so a federal detainee held locally under the Marshals agreement still has to be confirmed through the jail or the court.

Jackson County Detention Facilities

Two facilities make up the county's detention map, both in Murphysboro and each holding a different part of the inmate population. The county jail is the local lockup, and the state re-entry center holds sentenced men in IDOC custody. They use different lookups, so it helps to know which one a person is in before searching.

• Jackson County Jail - The county lockup for arrests, pretrial detention, short local sentences, and accepted federal detainees.
• Murphysboro Life Skills Re-Entry Center - A state IDOC minimum-security re-entry center for sentenced adult men.

Jackson County Custody and Corrections Terms

Inmate records lean on a handful of legal and corrections terms that are easy to mix up. Short definitions make the rest of the lookup process clearer, especially under Illinois rules that changed when cash bail ended.

Pretrial release

Release from custody while a case is pending, under conditions a court may set.

Detention order

A court order under 725 ILCS 5/110-6.1 denying release after the State files a petition and a hearing is held.

IDOC

The Illinois Department of Corrections, the state prison system for sentenced people.

Mittimus

The court commitment document used in prison sentencing records.

Detainer

A hold or request from another agency that can keep a person in custody.

Classification

The process of assigning housing and security level based on risk and needs.

Jackson County Inmate Population FAQ

How big is the Jackson County inmate population?

The most recent official snapshot is 116 people in the Jackson County Jail on April 24, 2025, against a listed capacity of 192, from the state's compliance monitoring report. Earlier Vera Institute figures put the jail total at 139 in 2023 and 166 in 2022. The state re-entry center in Murphysboro held a separate 158 sentenced men as of mid-2024.

Is there a Jackson County jail roster online?

No public Jackson County online jail roster was located. To confirm current custody, call the jail at 618-687-2292 or the sheriff's main line at 618-684-2177. For records that are not posted, file a written FOIA request with the sheriff's FOIA officer. VINE can also send custody and release alerts.

How do I search for a sentenced state inmate?

Use the IDOC Individual in Custody Search. Pick one method, last name, IDOC number, or birthdate, then enter it in the single search box and press Find. This is the right tool for anyone moved from the county jail to a state prison, including the Murphysboro re-entry center.

Why is most of the population pretrial?

The county jail mainly holds people awaiting court action rather than serving finished sentences. Vera counted 136 of 139 people as pretrial in 2023. Sentenced felons leave the jail for IDOC, so the local count stays weighted toward detention before trial.

Did ending cash bail change the count?

Illinois abolished cash bail on September 18, 2023 under the Pretrial Fairness Act. Detention now turns on a court finding under 725 ILCS 5/110-6.1 instead of a posted dollar amount. That affects who stays in the jail before trial and how the population is described.

Are Jackson County mugshots public?

The county does not publish a mugshot gallery online. Illinois arrest-records law makes certain booking information, including a photo when available, open to news media within 72 hours, but a request can be denied for active cases or safety. Details and how to request one appear on the jail roster mugshots page.

How do I find someone already released?

There is no public archive of past bookings to browse. File a FOIA request for an old booking or arrest record, or check the court case file for charges and dispositions. VINE often reports a release or transfer faster than a formal request.