Search Jackson County Jail Inmates

Jackson County Jail Overview

Jackson County Jail is the county's primary detention facility, and it sits at 1001 Mulberry Street in Murphysboro. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office runs it, with Sheriff Robert Burns in charge of the agency and Captain Lee Kersten serving as jail superintendent during the 2025 state inspection. The jail and the sheriff's office share the same Mulberry Street address near the county civic core. It is a local county jail, not a state prison, so the people inside are tied to Jackson County arrests and court cases rather than long prison terms.

The jail holds adult pretrial detainees, people detained under Illinois pretrial detention orders, and local detainees serving short sentences. It can also house federal prisoners under an intergovernmental agreement, or IGA, with the U.S. Marshals Service. That IGA is a federal detention channel rather than a separate federal facility, and any current federal hold should be confirmed case by case. Men and women are both held here, with no juveniles counted in the most recent inspection.

Jackson County Jail Capacity and Population

The newest official snapshot comes from the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) compliance monitoring report, inspected on April 24, 2025. It lists a total rated capacity of 192 and an inspection-date population of 116, made up of 102 men and 14 women, with no juveniles. The building was constructed in 1990 and last renovated in 2013. Housing sits on one floor of detention and includes 74 double detention rooms, one 8-bed dorm, and three 12-bed dorms. Older PREA audit materials cited 199 beds after the 2013 expansion added 49 beds, so treat 192 as the current figure and 199 as history.

How to Look Up an Inmate at Jackson County Jail

No county-hosted or sheriff-hosted public roster was found for Jackson County Jail, so there is no online list to browse. That makes the lookup a fallback chain instead of a single search box. Start with the jail itself, then move outward to court records, victim notification, and state custody. Local pretrial custody runs through the jail, while sentenced people who transfer to state prison move into a separate IDOC system. Working the steps in order avoids the most common mistake, which is searching the wrong database.

1. Call Jackson County Jail at 618-687-2292, or the sheriff's main line at 618-684-2177, to confirm whether someone is in local custody.
2. Check Illinois VINELink at vinelink.vineapps.com for custody status and to sign up for release or transfer notifications.
3. Once charges are filed, search the Jackson County case index on Judici (court code IL039015J) to see the case and charges.
4. For booking records or an arrest report not posted online, file a written FOIA request with the sheriff's FOIA officer, Lt. Shauna Taylor, at 1001 Mulberry Street, Murphysboro.
5. If the person was sentenced and sent to state prison, search the IDOC Individual in Custody Search instead, because they have left the county jail system.

Jackson County Jail Address and Contact

The jail and the sheriff's office answer custody, booking, and records questions from the same Murphysboro address. Use the jail phone number for questions about a person in custody and the sheriff's main number for general office routing. Records and civil-process counter hours run on weekdays with a midday closure, so plan calls and visits around that window.

Visiting Someone at Jackson County Jail

Visits at Jackson County Jail are handled by Smart Communications video visitation through its SmartInmate service. There is no traditional glass-and-phone visit room. Instead, an onsite terminal sits in the front lobby of the sheriff's office, and paid home visits run from a personal device. Each registered visitor needs a valid photo ID, a PIN, and the assigned terminal. Up to three visitors may be scheduled at one time, and all of them, including children, must be registered. A child under 18 has to be with an adult and bring a copy of a birth certificate.

The jail's detailed visitation page lists video visiting from 10 am to 11 pm every day. Each visit lasts 30 minutes. Every inmate gets one free onsite visit per week, while paid home visits are currently unlimited. A newly booked person can receive visits after 24 hours in custody, and each new visitor waits about 24 hours for approval. The calendar week runs Sunday through Saturday, and all visits may be recorded and monitored. The county's visitation page also covers detainee messaging and the rules for staying enrolled.

The county's Contact a Detainee page spells out the video visitation rules and the Smart Communications mail process. That page is the most current source for visiting hours, registration steps, and the SmartInmate sign-up link, so check it before scheduling a session.

Mail, Phone, and Money at Jackson County Jail

Mail does not go straight to the Mulberry Street building. Jackson County Jail uses Smart Communications, which scans personal mail at a Florida processing center and delivers it to inmate tablets. The correct address puts the inmate's name and booking number on the envelope, then routes it through the vendor. Photos and drawings are accepted if they can be scanned. Items that cannot be scanned, paper larger than 8.5 by 11 inches, packages, certified mail, checks, and money orders are all returned to the sender.

Money for an inmate goes into an Inmate Trust Fund account used for commissary. Each account has a weekly spending cap of $100 across clothing, hygiene, and food items. Orders placed by 11 pm Sunday are delivered the following Thursday. Deposits can be made online through JailATM, by USPS money order or cashier's check subject to verification, or at the jail lobby kiosk. Cash sent by mail is not allowed. Bond payments are separate and must be made in cash, cashier's check, or money order payable in the inmate's name, or by card through Court Money using JCSO ID #1205 at 1-800-352-9870.

The county's Jail Commissary and Bond page lists the trust-fund rules, deposit options, and bond payment methods. Review it before sending funds so the deposit reaches the right account and the bond is processed during banking hours.

Booking and Intake at Jackson County Jail

Most people reach the jail after a local arrest. City police, sheriff's deputies, or state police bring the person in, and a Carbondale arrest, for example, may be processed at the police department and then routed to Jackson County Jail. The intake steps follow the categories IDOC checks during its jail inspection rather than a public local handbook. Each step builds the booking record that the jail keeps during the stay.

The usual sequence runs in this order: arrest and transport to the jail, a check of identity and the legal basis for holding the person, a search and an inventory of property, fingerprints and a booking photograph taken as the law requires, medical and mental-health screening, and a reasonable number of completed phone calls as soon as practicable. From there staff create the booking record and assign classification and housing, keeping men separated from women and charged detainees separated from sentenced ones. Because there is no public roster, a brand-new booking will not show up in an online search, which is why the phone and VINELink fallbacks matter early.

Custody decisions in Illinois changed when the state ended cash bail on September 18, 2023. Many people are now released with conditions while their cases proceed, and detention happens only after a court hearing under 725 ILCS 5/110-6.1, the statute that governs denial of pretrial release. That means an inmate may be held by court order rather than by a dollar bond amount, so confirm the actual status with the jail or the court before assuming a payment will free someone.

About Jackson County Jail

Jackson County Jail operates under Illinois county jail standards and is inspected each year by the state. The 2025 IDOC compliance monitoring report is the newest official snapshot, covering capacity, population, staffing, and the jail's admission, medical, classification, and release practices. The county also keeps PREA audits and IDOC annual audits on its Jail Audits and Reports page, where the public can review oversight findings.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA, sets standards for preventing and reporting sexual abuse in custody. Concerns can be mailed to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office at 1001 Mulberry Street, Murphysboro, or reported by phone at 618-687-2292 ext. 2604. For records-driven questions about who is held and what a record shows, the Jackson County jail inmate records guide walks through each access channel in more detail. Once a person is sentenced to state prison, custody can shift to a facility such as the Murphysboro Life Skills Re-Entry Center, where the IDOC locator, not the county jail, tracks them.