Look Up Inmates at the Jefferson County Justice Center

Jefferson County Justice Center Overview

The Jefferson County Justice Center, often called the Jefferson County Jail, is operated by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office under Sheriff Jeff Bullard Sr. It sits at 911 Casey Ave in Mt. Vernon, the county seat. The facility holds local pretrial detainees and short-term inmates, and the 2024 state jail inspection notes it also held contract detainees for the U.S. Marshals Service and for Vanderburgh County, Indiana. That mix is why a person inside the Justice Center may have a federal or out-of-county case rather than a Jefferson County one.

The jail was built in 2004 and has one detention floor. The inspection describes 2 single rooms, 34 double rooms, and dormitories holding 6, 12, 20, and 24 detainees, plus 3 booking holding rooms that are not counted in rated capacity. It is a local jail, not a prison, so the population turns over quickly as people are released, bonded, or transferred.

Jefferson County Justice Center Capacity and Population

The Illinois Department of Corrections jail inspection is the clearest source for this facility. It gives the jail a rated capacity of 252 detainees, split into 208 male beds and 44 female beds. On the inspection date of May 22, 2024, the jail held 158 detainees, made up of 148 men and 10 women. That is roughly 63 percent of rated capacity, a calculation from the inspection figures rather than a published rate, and the 2024 inspection addendum reported no non-compliances.

How to Look Up an Inmate at the Jefferson County Justice Center

The Justice Center uses the county jail roster system, which here means the Jefferson County Sheriff IL mobile app. The sheriff's official inmate page directs the public to the app to view booked detainees, so there is no separate web roster to fill out. The jail phone line is the backup when the app cannot confirm a match.

1. Install the Jefferson County Sheriff IL app from the App Store or Google Play.
2. Open the Inmate Search feature and search by name.
3. Confirm the person is listed as booked into the correctional facility.
4. If there is no match, call the jail at 618-244-8015 to check custody.

For the full roster how-to, the access-channel chain, and what a record may show, see the Jefferson County jail inmate records page. Once a person is sentenced and transferred to state prison, the county app no longer tracks them.

Jefferson County Justice Center Address and Contact

The facility and the Sheriff's Office share the Casey Avenue address. Use the jail number for custody and visitation questions and the sheriff main number for broader records routing. The records officer handles FOIA questions for arrest and booking records.

Visiting Someone at the Jefferson County Justice Center

Visitation runs every day in blocks, with closures for lunch and dinner. On-site visits must be scheduled at least one day ahead by calling 1-866-340-7879, and they are first-call, first-served. Visitors need valid photo ID and must be 18 or older to visit alone. Off-site video visits run through JailATM. The schedule below reflects the open blocks the sheriff page lists.

A dress code applies to both on-site and off-site visits, and it covers shorts, skirts, see-through clothing, and gang colors or displays. Detainees are allowed two 20-minute on-site video visits each week. A dress-code violation can lead to a 90-day ban from e-mailing and off-site visiting, so it is worth reviewing the rules before a first visit.

Note: anyone incarcerated at the facility within the past 90 days, and victims of the detainee, may not visit that detainee.

Mail, Phone, and Money at the Jefferson County Justice Center

Mail is split by type. Ordinary letters go electronically through InmateSales or to a scanning address in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where they are scanned and the original is destroyed. Legal mail goes directly to the jail but must come from a legal authority. Money can be added by JailATM online, a lobby kiosk, or a mailed money order, and checks are not accepted. Every mail and money item needs the detainee's inmate ID.

Booking and Intake at the Jefferson County Justice Center

When a person is arrested and accepted at the Justice Center, intake runs through the booking area and its three holding rooms. The 2024 inspection lists updated booking equipment, including a Live Scan fingerprint machine, an Intercept body scanner, and a metal detector. A typical path moves from identity and warrant checks to property inventory, a search and screening, a booking photo and fingerprints, medical and mental-health screening, and finally classification and housing. After booking, Illinois law requires a first appearance before a judge without unnecessary delay, where release conditions or detention are decided under current pretrial rules.

Bonding and Local Fees at the Jefferson County Justice Center

The jail publishes a local bonding page that still applies in some situations, even though Illinois courts now decide release in new cases under the Pretrial Fairness Act. The jail says detainees may be bonded out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and it lists specific fees and payment rules. Exact amounts are required, and change is not given. The figures below come from the sheriff's bonding page.

Checks are not accepted. A hold for another agency, a warrant, or a court detention order can keep a person in custody even after a local payment, so confirm there is no other hold before relying on bonding alone.

About the Jefferson County Justice Center

The facility supports a broad set of services noted in the 2024 inspection. Medical and dental triage come through Advanced Correctional Healthcare, mental-health services through Jefferson County Comprehensive Services, and meals are prepared on site. Detainees have GED materials on request, a law-library kiosk with Illinois and federal statutes, and religious services from volunteers. The inspection addendum recorded recent booking and security upgrades and reported no non-compliances. Once a detainee here is sentenced to prison, they typically transfer into the Illinois Department of Corrections, which may include Big Muddy River Correctional Center or another state facility.

One detail sets this jail apart from a purely local lockup. The 2024 inspection identifies contract detainees from the U.S. Marshals Service and from Vanderburgh County, Indiana, held alongside Jefferson County arrests. That makes the population partly inter-jurisdictional, so a name in the building does not always map to a Jefferson County case. The inspection also recorded a completed commissary audit and a long list of communications, mail, and video services run through outside vendors, which is why mail and money routing here depends on the correct vendor and the detainee's inmate ID rather than a single jail address.