Look Up Inmates at the Jo Daviess County Jail

Jo Daviess County Jail Overview

The Jo Daviess County Jail is run by the Jo Daviess County Sheriff's Office. It is a county jail, not a state prison. The jail sits inside the Public Safety Building in Galena, the county seat. The same building holds the sheriff's offices and the county 9-1-1 communications center. The courthouse, Circuit Clerk, and State's Attorney share the same Bench Street address. That cluster makes the arrest to court path short in distance, though each office keeps its own records.

The people held here are local. The jail takes in people arrested by sheriff's deputies and by city and village police across the county. It handles booking, short stays, pretrial detention, and time served on local sentences. The official sheriff page is the best place to confirm the jail's role and contact details. The screenshot below comes straight from that page.

Official sources confirm the operator, the location, and the capacity. The 2025 state inspection adds that the jail does not house people for other jurisdictions. In plain terms, this is a small jail built to serve one rural county and the towns inside it.

The official Sheriff's Office page lists the jail's capacity and the Public Safety Building contact block, as shown in this capture of the sheriff page.

That page names the sheriff, lists the jail address and phone, and states the 27 inmate capacity. It is the anchor source for the facts on this page.

Jo Daviess County Jail Capacity and Population

The jail is rated for 27 inmates on the current sheriff page and in the 2025 state inspection. The 2025 inspection split that into 23 male beds and 4 female beds. The same inspection counted 8 people in custody on July 31, 2025. That was 6 men and 2 women, with no juveniles. The count sat well under the rated number that day.

Earlier inspections show how small the swings are here. The state counted 9 people in 2024, 7 in 2023, and 11 in 2022. A June 11, 2026 county Law Enforcement and Courts packet was indexed as noting a 15 to 20 inmate operating range and a continued correctional officer staffing shortage. Because the jail is so small, a change of just five people is a large shift in how full it is. The numbers above are inspection-day counts, not daily averages, and the county does not publish a public daily population dashboard.

How to Look Up an Inmate at the Jo Daviess County Jail

Research did not locate an official public online roster for the Jo Daviess County Jail. The county jail page lists inmate services but does not show a searchable current-inmate list. So the lookup path runs through the phone, in person, notifications, and records requests rather than a web roster. The steps below follow the official fallback chain.

1. Start at the official Jo Daviess County jail and inmate information page for service details.
2. For a recent arrest, call the Sheriff's Office at 815-777-2141 and ask the on-duty correctional officer for information that may be released.
3. For a booking record or arrest record not posted online, file a written request with the Sheriff's Office FOIA officer.
4. Once a person is sentenced to state prison, switch to the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) search instead of the county jail.
5. To get alerts on custody changes, register the person with Illinois VINE.

Staff can release only what the law and policy allow, even at a small jail. A name alone may not be enough for some channels. The deposit vendor, for example, asks for an inmate ID number. The jail phone line stays the fastest local option for current custody questions.

Jo Daviess County Jail Address and Contact

The jail and the Sheriff's Office share the Public Safety Building in Galena. Use the address below for mail and in-person visits, and the phone line for custody questions. For jail visit scheduling, the county tells visitors to call the on-duty correctional officer on the day of the visit.

The Sheriff's Office FOIA officer is Jenny Daum. Records requests for jail records, arrest files, and booking photos can be sent to her at jdaum@jodaviesscountyil.gov. For vendor problems, the county lists Cidnet support at 888-984-1903 for calls, video, and email, and JailATM support at 870-627-5476 for deposits.

The county's official jail and inmate information page, captured below, gathers these services in one place.

That page is where the county posts the visitation rules, mail rules, vendor details, and bail instructions described on this page.

Visiting Someone at the Jo Daviess County Jail

The public visiting schedule is narrow. Visits run on Sunday and Thursday only, in an afternoon window and an evening window. You must call the day of the visit to schedule a time with the on-duty correctional officer. Walk-in visits are not the rule here. The phone call is also the best moment to ask which entrance to use.

Several rules control who gets in. An inmate may keep up to 5 people on the visitor list, and each visitor may come once every 7 days. Bring photo ID. Visitors must be 18 or older, unless a minor child comes with a listed adult. No cell phones are allowed during a visit. A visitor with the odor of alcohol on the breath will be turned away. The 2025 state inspection notes one visitation station plus video visitation, so remote visits run through a kiosk after staff approve the contact.

Mail, Phone, and Money at the Jo Daviess County Jail

Mail goes to the inmate by full name at the jail address. The sender's complete return address must appear on the envelope. Improperly addressed mail is returned. Mail with no return address is placed in the inmate's property and returned at release. All mail except privileged legal mail is opened and inspected. The jail bans computer-printed letters and pictures, and bans photos with nudity, partial nudity, gang signs, alcohol, or illegal drugs. Paperback books and magazines are allowed if they hold no violent or sexual content.

Inmates cannot receive phone calls, and the jail does not deliver messages. Calls, remote video, and email run through Cidnet, and contacts must be approved by corrections staff. For money, each inmate has a trust fund used for bail, hygiene, and food. Deposits can be made by mail, phone, personal drop-off, or JailATM, which also handles care packages and online credit-card bail. A $25 bond fee must come with any bail, and credit-card bail carries extra administrative fees. The jail also offers public fingerprinting on Tuesdays for a $26 fee with photo ID.

Booking and Intake at the Jo Daviess County Jail

The county does not publish a full booking manual, but the path is clear from local and state sources. A person arrested in the county is taken to the Public Safety Building for processing. Staff confirm identity and create jail and arrest records. Fingerprints and a booking photograph are taken. Property is logged. The person is housed, and communication is set up through Cidnet.

Illinois law shapes what becomes public. Under 5 ILCS 140/2.15, a law-enforcement agency must furnish arrest information as soon as practical and no later than 72 hours after arrest. That package can include identifying details, charges, arrest time and place, the arresting agency, and a photograph when available. Limits still apply for safety, pending cases, juveniles, and security. Sentenced inmates are released at 8 am unless the sentencing order says otherwise.

About the Jo Daviess County Jail

The jail is part of a full-service sheriff's agency. The same office runs patrol, water rescue, a canine unit, and the county 9-1-1 center. In March 2026 the County Board appointed Chief Deputy Klaus Kretschmer as sheriff after Craig Ketelsen retired. The office motto is Honor, Duty, and Integrity.

Conditions are governed by Illinois County Jail Standards, found at 20 Ill. Admin. Code Part 701. Those rules require 24-hour supervision, monthly population reports, regular head counts, and prompt reporting of unusual events including any death. The 2025 state inspection found noncompliance for inadequate staffing and inadequate detainee supervision. The June 11, 2026 county packet was indexed as saying staffing shortages continued, with a goal to fill two correctional officer posts. The inspection also lists the Jo Daviess Health Department for medical care and Sinnissippi Centers for mental-health services.

For the roster how-to and the wider access chain, see the Jo Daviess County jail inmate records page, which covers the phone, FOIA, VINE, and state and federal locators in more depth.