What are Illinois Inmate Records?

Illinois inmate records are all the forms, documents, images, audio, and video records that follow an inmate through the prison system. These records begin at the time of arrest or even before when a warrant is obtained through the courts. The records continue as the person is moved through the justice system attending court appearances and being moved from jail to prison or released.

Typically, these records contain basic information about the inmate, such as name, address, birth date, gender, age, race, height, weight, hair, and eye color. They may also include more detailed things like mugshots, fingerprints, DNA, charges, convictions, sentencing, and other details.

The Illinois Department of Corrections is the agency in charge of most inmate records. However, other inmate or related records may be found within the court system, with local law enforcement, or other government agencies.

Illinois Prison and Jail System

Illinois has a large prison system, including 28 state prisons. The state also has two boot camps, four adult transition centers, two life skills re-entry centers, one rehabilitation and treatment center (for addiction and mental health issues), and five work camps. There are about 41,000 inmates in Illinois state prisons. 

The state also has dozens of local county jails holding roughly 23,000 inmates. These inmates are awaiting trial or bail/bond. Sometimes the jails hold inmates who are serving very small sentences (usually less than one year). 

How to Search for Inmates in Illinois

Illinois has an offender locator feature on their website where you can easily search for an inmate by last name, IDOC Number, or birthdate. Once you enter the information in and hit “Find,” you will see a very simple results list with the person’s ID, date of birth, and name. You can click any of them to see further details.

However, once you do, you will see a lot more information, including a mugshot, status, facility, physical profile, scars/tattoos/marks, release information, and full sentencing details. From within that page, you can click a link to send money to the inmate or receive notifications when they will be released. 

Types of Jails in Illinois

How to Contact, Send Money to or Visit an Inmate in Illinois

Before visiting an inmate in an Illinois prison, you must first fill out an application and submit it, and then await approval. You can find the forms here.

Anyone wishing to send money to an inmate can do so easily using the GTL, JPAY, Western Union, or by money order. You can send up to $5,000 to an inmate in prison. The details of doing so are here.

You cannot call an inmate in prison, but they can make collect calls to you. Illinois uses the Securus phone service for inmate phone calls. The details about using this service are here.

Friends and family can email inmates in the Illinois prison system. The service they use is called Global Tel, and you can learn all about it on this page. 

Police Departments in Illinois

Illinois Counties