Perry County Jail Inmate Lookup

Perry County Jail Overview

The Perry County Jail is operated by the Perry County Sheriff's Office at 12 E. Water St. in Pinckneyville, under Sheriff Chad Howard, with day-to-day operations led by jail administrator Major Doug Clark. The state's 2024 inspection names the facility the Perry County Jail and lists the jail phone as 618-357-6931 and the sheriff's office at the same Water Street address. It is the county's facility for adult detention: the newly arrested, pre-trial defendants, and people serving short county sentences.

The jail's population is not only local. The 2024 inspection says it houses detainees for the U.S. Marshals under contract and takes area-county detainees as needed, so a federal pre-trial defendant can sit here even though the federal case is tracked elsewhere. The building dates to 1987 and runs one floor of detention, with 21 double cells, a set of single and double detention rooms, and one eight-person dorm, plus two booking holding cells that are not counted in capacity. The jail holds no juveniles.

Perry County Jail Capacity and Population

The Perry County Jail is a small facility, and its numbers come from the state's annual compliance inspection. The 2024 report, dated March 20, 2024, lists a rated capacity of 57 beds, split into 47 male and 10 female, and counted 18 people that day. The prior spring it counted 25. Both counts are point-in-time snapshots rather than a full-year average, and both sat well below the rated capacity.

Staffing recorded in the same report includes six full-time male and two full-time female jail-duty employees, with additional part-time officers. For a fuller picture of how these numbers fit the wider county, the Perry County inmate population overview sets the jail count next to the much larger state prison count.

How to Look Up an Inmate at the Perry County Jail

Because there is no confirmed public roster page, an inmate lookup at the Perry County Jail uses the county's app and phone channels first. Have the person's full name and, if you can, a date of birth and the arrest date before you start.

1. Open the official Perry County Sheriff Illinois app, which the sheriff's office promotes for arrests and records.
2. If the app does not show the person, call the jail at 618-357-6931 to ask about current custody.
3. Ask whether the person is held for the county, the U.S. Marshals, or another county, which points you to the right system.
4. If the person was sentenced to state prison, search the IDOC locator instead, and for a past booking, file a records request.

The full step-by-step for every channel, including records requests and the federal locators, is on the Perry County jail inmate records page.

Perry County Jail Address and Contact

The jail and the sheriff's office share the Water Street address in downtown Pinckneyville, near the courthouse square. Detention runs around the clock, but records and counter hours can be shorter, so call before visiting.

Visiting Someone at the Perry County Jail

Visits and communication at the Perry County Jail run through assigned vendors rather than a walk-up window. The 2024 inspection says telephone, texting on a device the report calls a chirper, video visits, and tablet email come from Combined Public Communications. A separate vendor page lists a video visitation system that asks visitors to register at no cost. Because sources name more than one vendor over time, confirm the active platform with the jail before setting up an account.

The county's Perry County Sheriff's Office video visitation page describes onsite and offsite visit options.

Register and confirm the schedule in advance, since seating and system rules can change without much notice.

Mail, Phone, and Money at the Perry County Jail

Mail and money each have their own rules at the Perry County Jail. No official public mail-address format beyond the facility address was found, so confirm how to address mail with the jail before sending it, and do not assume a booking-number format. Commissary is provided by Stellar, and communication services run through Combined Public Communications, but specific deposit limits and fees were not published in the inspection.

Commissary and phone accounts are separate from any court release condition. Paying into one does not post bond or secure release, so keep the two apart when a person is in custody.

Booking and Intake at the Perry County Jail

Intake at the Perry County Jail follows the admission standards the state inspects each year. Receiving staff check the legality of the confinement, verify identity, conduct an immediate pat-down search, and take fingerprints and a photograph under current law. Property and medication are logged on a signed receipt, and a medical and mental-health screen checks for injury, illness, medication, and risk.

After screening, detainees shower, receive bedding and supplies, and are classified for housing across the jail's one detention floor. Classification follows separation rules for sex, for charged versus convicted detainees, and for mental-health needs, and it is reviewed at least every 60 days. A first court appearance follows, where release conditions or detention are decided under Illinois law.

State standards also shape the early hours of custody. The admitting officer must allow a reasonable number of completed telephone calls as soon as practical and document them, verify any medication a person was taking, and ask about pregnancy for female detainees. No official source states how quickly a new booking appears in any public channel, so a recent arrest that is not yet listed is best confirmed by calling the jail directly.

Programs and Services at the Perry County Jail

For a small county jail, Perry County contracts out a fairly full set of services, and the state inspection lists them by name. Medical, mental-health, and dental triage screenings are provided by Advanced Correctional Healthcare, with added mental-health services through Perry County Counseling and dental care through Steele Dental. Aramark prepares meals on site, and Orkin handles pest control on a monthly basis.

Programming and access to information are part of the daily routine. GED program materials are available on request, and religious volunteers can be reached by phone and video visit on request. The orientation manual is provided in physical form and through a kiosk, the detainee handbook is offered in English and Spanish, and the Illinois Compiled Statutes and federal statutes are available through the kiosk.

Detainees also have formal ways to raise concerns. State jail standards allow written requests and complaints to the jail administrator without censorship of their substance, and they let a detainee submit a complaint to the state Jail and Detention Standards Unit. Those grievance channels sit alongside the discipline rules the jail must keep under the same standards.

About the Perry County Jail

The 1987 jail has seen concrete upgrades in recent years. The 2024 inspection lists new bedding and clothing, communication tablets, a detainee handbook in English and Spanish, eight air purifiers, a fog mister, an iris-scanning system, and roof repair. Medical, mental-health, and dental triage are handled by Advanced Correctional Healthcare, with added mental-health services through Perry County Counseling and dental care through Steele Dental, while Aramark prepares meals on site.

The same report flagged two compliance items, and neither was crowding. One concerned scheduling a local health-department kitchen inspection, and the other concerned the timeliness of required personal checks, where a sample showed 228 of 266 expected checks on time, an 86 percent rate. Once a person is convicted and sentenced to state prison, they transfer out of the county jail into the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, often to Pinckneyville Correctional Center or another state facility.