Illinois Inmate Search

Inmate records in Illinois are public records under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. You can access these records by conducting an Illinois inmate search to view their full personal information like their names, ages, date of birth and ID, criminal records, incarceration status, and court and arrest records. 

Some inmate records will detail an inmate's physical appearance, like their mugshots, height, race, gender, hair and eye colors, and visible tattoos and scars. Inmates in Illinois are incarcerated at various levels;

• State prisons 
• County jails
• Federal prisons
• ICE detention Facilities

Here's how you can locate inmates in these facilities:

State prisons

There are 29 state correctional centers, additional prison works camps, re-entry centers, reception and classification centers, and treatment detention centers across the state. The Illinois Department of Corrections manages these facilities and incarcerates around 80,000 inmates. 

You need to access the IDOC's offender search platform to locate an inmate in these facilities. This platform allows you to search the prisons using the inmates' names or IDOC-issued numbers if you know them. You can also locate an inmate by their physical description. 

County jails

the IL County Prison System comprises 92 county jails in 102 counties and is managed locally by the county sheriff's office. These facilities are used as detaining facilities for pretrial inmates until their cases are completed. However, they also incarcerate inmates charged and sentenced to less than a year for common offenses. 

These jails keep an inmate roster where you can easily locate your inmate and view their records. To access the records, you must visit the jail's website or the county sheriff's office website if the county jail shares one with the sheriff. 

The roster is arranged alphabetically according to inmates' names. However, you can rearrange it to view it according to

• Recently incarcerated inmates
• Dates of incarceration if they are serving time or were transferred to the jail from municipal jails
• Date of arrests for inmates arrested by the county sheriff's department

If you cannot utilize the inmate roster or find your loved one, you can call the county sheriff by phone using the details on your local county sheriff's office website and request the office to search on your behalf. 

Federal Prisons

Inmates charged with federal offenses are incarcerated in five federal prisons or four camps. Locating these inmates is simpler as you only need their official names or prisoner numbers.

With that information, you can visit the bureau of Prisons' official website and locate the inmate locator database, a platform that allows interested parties to search for inmates by;

• Official first and last names with an optional middle name choice
• DCDC, INS, FBI, BOP-Register numbers

You may call the BOP's North-Central Regional Office and request to know about the whereabouts of your loved one.

ICE Detention Facilities

If your loved one was an immigrant and was charged with violating immigration laws, they are likely to end up in one of the three ICE detention facilities in the state. To check if they are in these facilities, you need to visit the ICE detainee locator system and search the database by;

• Detainee's official names
• Country of birth
• ICE detainee-issued number

If you cannot find the m and you are convinced that they are in these facilities, you contact your local ICE field agent, and they will help you find the whereabouts of your loved ones.