Researching Illinois Prison Inmate Records

The Illinois Department of Corrections supervises the administration of state prisons, juvenile centers, and parole services for both adults and juveniles in the state of Illinois. However, the Juvenile Department of Justice currently handles all administrative matters for juvenile offenders. Statistics reveal that the state prison population for Illinois is just under 45,000 at present, with 12,763,371 citizens residing within the boundaries of Illinois. Some Illinois prison inmates may be held in "half houses," which attempt to rehabilitate inmates so that they can contribute effectively to society after being released from prison. There are several rehabilitative programs and correctional measures used for low level, non-violent offenders. With almost 143,871 offenders on probation, the state of Illinois is ranked 11th nationally in violent crime.

Searching for Prison Inmates

The Illinois Department of Corrections maintains an online resource for locating inmates who are being held in the correctional facilities of the state. This search tool can be accessed at http://www.idoc.state.il.us/subsections/search/default.asp. Upon visiting this website, you will find three options for searching the database. If you are searching for an inmate by name, enter the last name, followed by a comma, then the first name of the inmate. Searching by name, however, may not always produce the desired results. Name searches will often return many extraneous results in addition to the desired record. Searching by an inmate's IDOC (Illinois Department of Corrections number), or the inmate's exact date of birth in mm-dd-yyyy format, will quickly find the proper inmate's record.

Accessing an inmate's record will allow you to view the legal status of an inmate as well as personal details like his or her name, age, and common aliases. However, the inmate search tool may be unavailable from time to time on account of database updates or server maintenance. Offender information can also be obtained from the Department of Corrections by telephone at 217-558-2200. Various law enforcement agencies, as well as governmental departments, are required to call 1-888-446-9103 for specific information on prison inmates incarcerated in Illinois.

County Jail Inmate Records

Several county jails in Illinois also post their inmate records online for the public to access. The Adams County jail's inmate list is known as the daily population sheet, and is updated every morning. This resource can be viewed online at http://www.co.adams.il.us/jail/inmates/dailypop.pdf. The Adams County sheriff’s office is located at:

521 Vermont St
Quincy, IL 62301

Other Illinois counties offer an online inmate search as well, such as Cook County (http://www2.cookcountysheriff.org/search/), Will County, (http://www.willcosheriff.com/pages/cimis/) and Crawford County (http://www.crawfordcountycentral.com/sheriff/db/jailroster.pl). The results returned in these county inmate searches will only include prisoners in their respective counties.