Search the Madison County Inmate Population

The Madison County Inmate Population

Most of the Madison County inmate population sits inside the Madison County Jail at 405 Randle Street in Edwardsville. The Madison County Sheriff's Office runs that jail, and the sheriff is named on the office site as the administrator of the County Jail. The people held there are adults. Many are pre-trial, which means they are arrested and waiting for a hearing, not convicted. Others are serving short county sentences or waiting to be moved. A smaller share is held at the Alton Police Department Jail, and youth are kept separately at the Madison County Juvenile Detention Center.

The numbers move for plain reasons. Arrests push the count up. Pre-trial release decisions and the end of a case pull it down. When a person is sentenced to a felony term, the sheriff transports them out of the county jail and into the state prison system, so they leave the local count and join a statewide one. Because Illinois reshaped pre-trial release in recent years, fewer people now sit in the jail only because they cannot pay, and the reported daily population has fallen.

Madison County Inmate Population Statistics

The clearest figures come from the Madison County Sheriff's 2024 Annual Report, which covers the full 2024 calendar year. That report lists an average daily population of 192 and 3,992 detainees booked across the year. The average stay was 12 days, and the average age of a booked prisoner was 37. Local reporting in 2023 said the jail is certified for 312 prisoners, a capacity figure the 2024 report itself did not restate. Three detention facilities in the county make up the wider map of where people are held.

The annual reports are posted on the Madison County Sheriff's Office homepage, which carries the 618-692-1064 inmate information line and links each yearly report. The screenshot below shows that homepage and the report links used for these figures.

Each measure below is tied to the year and source it came from, so a reader can check it against the original document rather than take it on faith.

Madison County Inmate Population Trends

The Madison County inmate population has been falling, not rising. The sheriff's report puts the average daily population at 278 in 2022, 230 in 2023, and 192 in 2024. That is a drop of close to 31 percent over two years. Total bookings slid in the same window, from 4,618 in 2022 to 3,992 in 2024. The average stay shrank from 16 days to 12. Pre-trial reform and the lower post-pandemic intake are the usual reasons given for the slide.

Local 2023 coverage added context. It noted the jail once held 325 to 340 people before the pandemic, and at times more than 350, well above the 312 certified figure. The recent trend runs the other way.

Who Makes Up the Madison County Inmate Population

The 2024 report breaks the booked population down a few ways. Most bookings were men. Most admissions were on felony classifications, with misdemeanors making up the next largest group. A small number of people were held on the most serious charges. The figures below describe people booked during 2024, not a single-day snapshot, so they show the flow through the jail across the year.

• Felony vs misdemeanor - 2,631 felony admissions and 1,308 misdemeanor admissions, with smaller counts for traffic, civil, and other.
• Male vs female - 2,915 male bookings (73 percent) and 1,077 female bookings (27 percent).
• Most serious holds - 18 detainees were held for murder during the year.
• Race reported - the report lists White at 66.24 percent and Black at 29.43 percent, with smaller shares for Hispanic, Asian, multi-racial, and American Indian.

Note: these counts cover everyone booked across 2024, so a person held for one night and a person held for months each count once in the totals.

Madison County Jail Capacity and Overcrowding

Capacity is where the official record and the news record part ways. The 2024 annual report gives population figures but does not restate a certified capacity number. Local reporting in 2023 said the jail was certified for 312 prisoners. With a 2024 average daily population of 192, the jail ran well under that line, which is a change from the pre-pandemic years when the count sometimes topped 350.

Conditions still draw scrutiny. The Illinois Department of Corrections monitored the jail on October 23, 2024 and flagged one area of non-compliance, timely supervision checks, where a sample showed 257 of 432 expected checks done on time, a 60 percent rate. A 2025 investigative report by the Illinois Answers Project raised concerns about restraint-chair use involving detainees in mental-health or withdrawal crises. The county has documented its own improvements over the same period, including expanded mental-health hours and addiction treatment, which the oversight section below ties back to the law.

Laws Governing the Madison County Inmate Population

A short stack of Illinois laws sets the rules for how the jail runs and what the public can see. The state open-records law makes most jail and arrest records available, with exemptions. A second set of statutes hands the Illinois Department of Corrections the job of writing and enforcing jail standards. A third requires counties to keep a jail in the first place. Together they explain why the sheriff reports population data and why an inspector visits each year.

Note: the Illinois Department of Corrections also collects detainee population counts from county jails every month, which is one reason the sheriff tracks these figures so closely.

Madison County and the State Prison Population

The county jail and the state prison system are two separate counts. When a person from a Madison County case is sentenced to a prison term, the sheriff moves them into the Illinois Department of Corrections, so they leave the county number and join the statewide one. No state prison sits inside Madison County, so a sentenced person ends up at a facility elsewhere in Illinois. The county's 2024 transport figures show 209 corrections trips that year, down from 299 in 2023, which mirrors the falling jail count. Sentenced inmates are searched through the Illinois Department of Corrections locator, not the county jail line.

How to Search the Madison County Inmate Population

Madison County does not publish an online jail roster. The official route for a current detainee is the phone. The Jail Division page states plainly that callers should dial 618-692-1064 for inmate information, and the jail FAQ says an automated system can return charge and bond details. Before calling, gather the full legal name, a date of birth, the arresting agency, and the rough arrest date.

The screenshot below shows that Jail Division page and the inmate information line it features.

The steps below match the way the county actually hands out custody information.

1. Confirm the person is likely in county custody, meaning a recent local arrest or a pending Madison County court case.
2. Call the Madison County Jail inmate information line at 618-692-1064.
3. Give or spell the full name, and have a date of birth and arrest date ready.
4. Use the automated system for charge and bond information, or wait for staff if it does not resolve the name.
5. If the person was sentenced to prison, search the state locator instead, and for older records file a public-records request.

Current Inmate Lookup in Madison County

Because the lookup runs by phone rather than a web form, the useful "fields" are the facts to have ready when the line picks up. A full legal name is the core item. A date of birth helps when several people share a name. A Sheriff ID number, used by the jail to mark detainee property, narrows it further if you know it. The automated system is built to return charge and bond, so those two answers are the most reliable to expect.

The county jail roster how-to is covered in more depth on the jail inmate records page for readers who want the full access-channel chain.

Past and Released Inmate Records

Once a person is released, the phone line is not the place to look. There is no public archive roster, so a past booking, an old arrest report, or a historical mugshot comes through a public-records request. The county runs a Public Records Center on the GovQA platform, and the sheriff's document center also lists an arrest-records request form. Specify exactly what you want, such as the booking sheet, the arrest report, or the custody log. Expect redactions or a denial where a record is sealed, expunged, juvenile, or tied to an active case.

What a Madison County Inmate Record Shows

Madison County does not expose a public web profile, so the field list below describes what the official pages support rather than a screen you can browse. Charge and bond are confirmed as answers the phone system returns. A Sheriff ID number appears in the property rules. Booking and arrest records exist but live behind the records-request process, not an open roster. Treat the table as a guide to what is known to exist, not a promise that each field is posted online.

County Jail vs. State Prison: Where to Look

Readers mix up these two systems constantly. The county jail holds pre-trial detainees and people serving short local time, and the sheriff answers for it. A state prison holds sentenced felons, and the Illinois Department of Corrections answers for that. The two records do not feed one shared roster, so a person who moves from the jail to prison drops off the county line and shows up in the state locator.

State and Federal Inmate Search

Three more locators cover the people the county line will not. The Illinois Department of Corrections search handles sentenced state prisoners and lets you search by name or IDOC number. The federal Bureau of Prisons locator covers federal inmates held since 1982. The ICE Online Detainee Locator System covers immigration custody. Each one searches a different slice of the wider inmate population.

The screenshot below shows the Illinois Department of Corrections custody search that handles the sentenced part of the count.

For release alerts rather than a one-time lookup, VINELink offers custody and victim notification where it is available.

Madison County Detention Facilities

The county inmate population is spread across three sites, each holding a different group. The county jail is the adult hub. The Alton facility is unusual because it houses city, state, and federal prisoners. The juvenile center is restricted and is not an adult roster facility.

• Madison County Jail - the main adult jail in Edwardsville, holding pre-trial detainees and short county sentences.
• Alton Police Department Jail - a municipal jail in Alton that holds city, state, and federal inmates, with a federal cell block under U.S. Marshals contract.
• Madison County Juvenile Detention Center - a 49-bed youth facility in Edwardsville; juvenile records are restricted and not part of the adult roster.

Madison County Inmate Population FAQ

How big is the Madison County inmate population?

The Madison County Sheriff's 2024 Annual Report lists an average daily population of 192 and 3,992 bookings across the year. That ADP is down from 278 in 2022 and 230 in 2023. Local reporting puts the jail's certified capacity at 312, so the recent population has run below the certified line.

How do I search the Madison County inmate population?

Call the jail inmate information line at 618-692-1064. Madison County does not post an online roster, so the phone is the official route for a current detainee. Have the full name, date of birth, and arrest date ready. The FAQ says an automated system can return charge and bond information.

Can I look up a released or past inmate?

Not through the jail line, which handles current custody. For a past booking, an arrest report, or an old record, file a public-records request through the county Public Records Center or the sheriff's arrest-records form. Some records may be redacted or withheld if sealed, expunged, juvenile, or part of an active investigation.

Is the person in the county jail or in state prison?

It depends on the stage of the case. Pre-trial detainees and people serving short sentences are in the county jail. Sentenced felons are moved to the Illinois Department of Corrections and are found through the state locator, not the county line. The two systems keep separate records.