Shelby County Jail Overview
Shelby County Jail, also called Shelby County Detention Center in the sheriff's visitation copy, is operated by the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. The official facility address is 151 N. Morgan St., Shelbyville, IL 62565, and the main phone is 217-774-3941. The sheriff contact page lists fax 217-774-2851. Sheriff Brian McReynolds is the county sheriff, and Jail Administrator Daine Burkhead is named in official jail and inspection materials.
The facility is a county jail, not a state prison, federal prison, regional jail, or immigration detention center. Shelby County Jail holds local adult pretrial detainees, people serving county-jail sentences, and short-term holds. The 2024 IDOC inspection report states the facility is not contracted to hold for other entities, so it should not be described as a regular federal or ICE contract facility. People sentenced to Illinois prison move into the Illinois Department of Corrections system and must be searched through IDOC after transfer.
Shelby County Jail
151 N. Morgan St.
Shelbyville, IL 62565
217-774-3941
Fax: 217-774-2851
Shelby County Jail Population
The 2024 IDOC Jail and Detention Standards inspection is the strongest dated source for Shelby County Jail population and capacity. It lists a total capacity of 26 beds, divided into 23 male beds and 3 female beds, with no juvenile male or female beds. The Illinois Sheriffs' Association directory lists 27 jail beds, so the safest wording is that IDOC's 2024 inspection lists 26 while the sheriff association directory lists 27.
On the August 8, 2024 inspection date, IDOC recorded 12 people in custody at Shelby County Jail, including 11 males and 1 female. Earlier inspection points were higher: 21 people in 2023 and 25 people in 2022. These are inspection-date counts, not annual average daily population. The change is still useful because it shows how much a small county jail can shift from near capacity to well below capacity with a small number of admissions, releases, court orders, and transfers.
| Year | Inspection Count | Source Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 12 total, 11 male, 1 female | IDOC inspection on August 8, 2024. |
| 2023 | 21 total, 16 male, 5 female | IDOC inspection on September 26, 2023. |
| 2022 | 25 total, 19 male, 6 female | IDOC inspection on June 2, 2022. |
Shelby County Jail Building
IDOC inspection records list the Shelby County Jail construction date as 1987 and show no listed renovation date in the 2024 report. The jail has 19 single detention rooms and one seven-person dormitory. The 2024 report also lists full-time jail-duty employees and non-jail staff who perform jail duties, but those staff counts should be read as inspection-report details rather than a public staffing schedule.
Operations details are unusually specific in the IDOC materials. Medical, mental-health, and dental screening are provided by Advanced Correctional Healthcare, Inc. Additional mental-health services are provided by Life Links or LifeLinks Mental Health. Additional dental care is provided through DMD Richard Brown with Brown Dental Care. Meals are prepared on site by Consolidated Correctional Foodservice, and commissary services are provided by Stellar Services LLC. Telephone, text messaging, and video visit services are provided by Combined Public Communications, also known as CPC.
Look Up Shelby County Jail Inmates
No official Shelby County Sheriff's Office online jail roster, current-inmate page, booking report, or mugshot gallery was located in the inspected official sources. That changes the lookup method. For a current local booking, the practical first step is to call Shelby County Jail at 217-774-3941 and ask whether the person is currently held, still in booking, released, transferred, or subject to another hold. The broader Shelby County jail inmate records path explains the full fallback chain, and the Shelby County inmate population overview places this jail in the county's only documented local detention footprint.
Use Illinois VINE for custody notification, not a full county jail roster. Use IDOC Individual in Custody Search only after state sentencing or transfer to state prison. Use the BOP inmate locator for federal sentenced custody and ICE ODLS for immigration detention. If no online source returns a result, submit a written sheriff FOIA request for booking records or jail records when a public copy is needed.
- Call Shelby County Jail for current local custody and release-routing questions.
- Use Illinois VINE for custody notification if the person may be in local or state custody.
- Search IDOC if the person has been sentenced to Illinois prison.
- Search BOP or ICE only when federal or immigration custody is the likely path.
- Use sheriff FOIA for booking records, arrest reports, or booking photos not available online.
Note: An absent online result is weak proof in Shelby County because no official county roster was located.
Shelby County Jail Visitation
The sheriff's jail page states that video visitation is available for people in the Shelby County Detention Center. Visits must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance through InmateSales.com or through the kiosk at the detention center. Remote video visits are available every day, while on-site video visits are limited to Tuesday through Saturday. Remote visits have a fee controlled by the vendor, and the sheriff page does not publish a dollar amount. On-site visits are free.
The sheriff's visitation page is shown in the captured source image for Shelby County Jail visitation.
The schedule is important because Shelby County Jail does not publish a local roster, so families often need to confirm custody before scheduling a visit.
| Visit Type | Schedule | Limit | Cost | Scheduling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Remote video visitation | Daily, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. | Unlimited visits according to sheriff page | Fee applies | Schedule through InmateSales.com at least 24 hours ahead. |
| On-site video visitation | Tuesday through Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. | One per week | Free | Schedule through InmateSales.com or the detention-center kiosk at least 24 hours ahead. |
Each visit period is 25 minutes. Visitors who appear intoxicated or whose conduct is improper may be directed to leave and may lose future visitation. No one under 18 may visit without supervision by a parent or legal guardian. Same-day walk-in public visits should not be assumed because the official rule requires advance scheduling.
Shelby County Jail Services
Shelby County Jail service information should stay within the documented vendor facts. The 2024 IDOC report names CPC for telephone, text messaging, and video visit services. It names Stellar Services LLC for commissary. The sheriff's Jail menu links JailATM as the inmate-account channel, and the visitation page names InmateSales.com for visit scheduling. The inspected sources did not publish deposit fees, phone rates, kiosk hours, mail scanning rules, commissary order days, or accepted payment types.
| Service | Provider or Detail | Documented Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Video visit scheduling | InmateSales.com | Remote fee exists, but no dollar amount was published in inspected official sources. |
| Phone, text, video services | Combined Public Communications (CPC) | Named in the 2024 IDOC inspection. |
| Commissary | Stellar Services LLC | Provider named, but order schedule and fees were not located. |
| Inmate accounts | JailATM | Linked from the sheriff site as Inmate Accounts. |
| Medical screening | Advanced Correctional Healthcare, Life Links, Brown Dental Care | Screening and added services named in IDOC inspection materials. |
| Food service | Consolidated Correctional Foodservice | Meals prepared on site according to IDOC inspection detail. |
Shelby County Jail Records
For booking records, jail records, or booking photographs not published online, the documented route is the sheriff's FOIA process. The Shelby County Sheriff's FOIA page says requests must be in writing, should list the information sought, and should provide as much subject detail as possible. The request must be addressed to one of the FOIA officers. The research file names Administrative Assistant Tina Wade and Administrative Assistant Erica Bailey as FOIA officers and gives an example addressee of FOIA Officer Erica Bailey at the sheriff's Morgan Street address.
Ask for a specific record type. A narrow request for the booking sheet and booking photograph for a named person arrested on or about a stated date is clearer than asking for all records about a person. Include requester name, address, date, daytime phone number, subject name, arrest date or approximate date, date of birth if lawfully available, and the record sought. Court records should be requested from the Circuit Clerk or searched through Judici, not through sheriff FOIA, because court filings are a different record system.
Directions to Shelby County Jail
The Illinois Sheriffs' Association gives a practical driving note for Shelby County Jail: use Illinois Route 16 to Morgan Street, turn north, and the jail is about one-half block down on the east side. The jail sits near Shelbyville's downtown government area, while the Shelby County Courthouse and Circuit Clerk are at 301 E. Main St. Visitors should keep those locations distinct because court hearings, clerk records, and jail visitation are handled through different offices.
Official jail parking, transit, and jail-specific ADA entrance details were not located in the inspected sources. Illinois Courts lists free parking and disability information for the courthouse, but that should not be treated as a guaranteed jail visitor parking rule. Call the jail before travel if parking, accessibility, visit timing, or visitor eligibility is uncertain.