The McHenry County Inmate Population
Nearly everyone in the McHenry County inmate population sits in one building: the McHenry County Correctional Facility on North Seminary Avenue in Woodstock. The McHenry County Sheriff's Office runs it through its Correctional Bureau. The jail holds adults arrested on local McHenry County charges, people awaiting trial, and people sentenced to the county for terms of 364 days or less. Anyone sentenced to more than 364 days is moved to the Illinois Department of Corrections. So the county count and the state prison count are two separate things, and they are reported by two separate agencies.
The size of the McHenry County inmate population shifts day to day. New arrests push it up. Bond decisions, dismissals, sentencing, and transfers to state prison pull it down. The Sheriff publishes a public roster, but that roster is a current-and-recent custody report, not a clean population dashboard. It lists people in custody now plus people released within the last three days, and it leaves out juveniles and federal detainees. Because of that, the roster is the right tool to find one person, while capacity and inspection figures are the right tools to size the whole population.
McHenry County Inmate Population Statistics
The hard numbers come from two official sources: the Sheriff's "About the Jail" page and the 2022 Illinois Department of Corrections jail inspection. Both put the rated capacity at 650 beds. The inspection, dated May 10, 2022, counted 180 people in the building that day. Treat that as a single-day snapshot, not a yearly average. Other official Sheriff documents report higher average daily figures, which is why no one figure tells the whole story.
The figures below come straight from the Sheriff's pages and the IDOC inspection. Where two sources use different methods, both are listed so the reader can judge them. The county does not publish a live population dashboard, so these sourced points are the most reliable picture of the McHenry County inmate population.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| Rated jail capacity | 650 beds | Sheriff About the Jail; IDOC 2022 inspection |
| Male / female bed split | 602 / 52 | IDOC inspection, May 10, 2022 |
| Inspection-day population | 180 (160 M / 20 F) | IDOC inspection, May 10, 2022 |
| 2021 PREA-audit average daily population | 341 | Sheriff 2021 PREA audit |
| Volunteer-handbook ADP range | 450 to 500 | Sheriff Jail Volunteer Handbook |
| Correctional officers and staff | 156 | Sheriff About the Jail |
The Sheriff's About the Jail page is the source for the 650-bed capacity and the 156 staff figure. The 2022 IDOC jail inspection supplies the bed split and the inspection-day count. A clear look at how the building itself is laid out helps explain those numbers.
The Sheriff's jail history page lays out the building's size and accreditation in plain terms.
That page is where the 650-bed capacity, the 156-person staff count, and the ACA and NCCHC accreditation claims are published, which is why the population numbers on this page trace back to it.
McHenry County Inmate Population Trends
The McHenry County inmate population has moved through a few distinct phases in recent years, and the sources do not all measure the same way. The honest read is a set of points, not a smooth line. The facility once held immigration detainees under a federal contract. That role ended after Illinois barred local ICE detention contracts. A 2021 audit and a 2022 inspection captured the count during and just after that change. In 2024 the jail agreed to house inmates for a neighboring county during a staffing crisis.
| Year | Population / Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 to 2021 | ICE detainee role active | ICE inspection pages list McHenry as an immigration detention site. |
| 2021 | ADP 341; onsite count 271 | Sheriff 2021 PREA audit, prior 12 months. |
| May 2022 | 180 on inspection day | IDOC inspection snapshot, not an annual average. |
| 2024 | Up to 150 Lake County inmates | Temporary housing deal during a staffing shortage next door. |
Read those rows with care. The ICE figures belong to a population that the facility no longer holds, so they should not be folded into today's local count. The Lake County agreement added people who are physically in Woodstock but are not McHenry County criminal cases. The takeaway is that capacity has stayed at 650 while the people inside have changed in both number and type.
Note: A 2025 social-media post listing a higher average daily population was not confirmed on an official Sheriff page, so it is left out of these figures.
Who Makes Up the McHenry County Inmate Population
The official breakdown is thinner than the headline counts, because the Sheriff's roster does not publish race, ethnicity, or a clean pretrial-versus-sentenced split. What the sources do show is the makeup by sex, the absence of juveniles, and the kinds of charges that put people in the building. The points below stick to figures that an official source actually reports.
- Pre-trial vs sentenced - The jail holds both awaiting-trial detainees and people serving county sentences, and roster statuses include "Waiting" and "Sentenced," but no exact split is published.
- Male vs female - The 2022 inspection counted 160 men and 20 women on inspection day, against 602 male and 52 female beds.
- Charge level - Roster charge classes run X, 1, 2, 3, and 4 for felonies and A and B for misdemeanors, with petty and traffic categories as well.
- Juveniles and federal holds - The 2022 inspection listed zero juvenile beds, and the public roster excludes both juveniles and federal detainees.
Capacity and Crowding at the McHenry County Jail
On paper the jail runs well under its rated size. The 2022 inspection counted 180 people against 650 beds. That gap looks like a lot of slack, but the Sheriff's own volunteer handbook notes that operating capacity is lower than the total bed count. Men and women must be housed apart, and classification rules separate inmates by security level and case type. So a jail can be far below its bed count and still be tight in one housing area.
The 2024 deal to house up to 150 inmates from Lake County is a useful sign here. It tells us the facility had beds and staff to spare at that time. It does not prove a long-run average, and it does not mean the McHenry County inmate population itself grew. Those Lake County inmates were guests of the facility, booked on another county's cases.
Laws Governing the McHenry County Inmate Population
A handful of Illinois laws decide who runs the jail, what about the inmate population is public, and how serious events must be reported. The County Jail Act makes the Sheriff the warden of the county jail and gives the office custody of the people committed to it. The Freedom of Information Act keeps most jail records open unless a specific exemption applies. A separate arrest-records section sets a tight clock on releasing booking information. State jail standards govern day-to-day operations, and a death-in-custody law forces reporting when someone dies inside.
Key Statutes:
Illinois County Jail Act, 730 ILCS 125 - Makes the county Sheriff the warden of the county jail and responsible for the people held in it.
Illinois FOIA, 5 ILCS 140/2.15 - Requires arrest-report information, including a booking photo when available, within 72 hours of arrest, subject to limits.
Reporting of Deaths in Custody Act, 730 ILCS 210/3-5 - Requires a jail to investigate and report any death in custody to the state within 30 days.
Illinois FOIA, 5 ILCS 140/1 - Declares public records open for inspection and copying unless a statutory exemption applies.
One more rule shapes the count without being a statute. County jail standards under 20 Ill. Admin. Code Part 701 set the operating rules that the IDOC inspection checks, from records to medical care. The County Jail Good Behavior Allowance Act, 730 ILCS 130, can shorten a county sentence for good conduct, which moves people out of the population sooner.
McHenry County and the State Prison Population
People sentenced from McHenry County to more than 364 days leave the county jail and join the Illinois Department of Corrections, the agency that runs the state's prisons. At that point they drop off the Sheriff's roster and appear in the statewide locator instead. There is no state prison physically in McHenry County in the IDOC facility list, so a sentenced McHenry defendant is held somewhere else in the state system. Illinois calls these people "individuals in custody," and the IDOC site uses that term throughout.
The state corrections site lists every prison and reception center in Illinois.
None of the prisons on that IDOC facilities list sit inside McHenry County, which is why a sentenced inmate from Woodstock must be tracked through the state locator rather than the county roster.
How to Search the McHenry County Inmate Population
McHenry County does not use a typed search box for its roster. The Sheriff publishes two PDF lists instead: one sorted by name and one sorted by date confined. You open the PDF and use your browser or reader's find function to jump to a last name, a jail control number, or a case number. The lists update every hour, and the Sheriff says the mobile app carries the most current version of all.
You need very little to start. A last name is enough. A date of birth, age, or jail control number helps when two people share a name.
- Open the Sheriff's corrections information page and read the coverage notice first.
- Click "Inmate Search by Name" for an alphabetical list, or "Inmate Search by Date" to scan by confinement date.
- Use the PDF viewer's find box to search the last name, the JCA number, or the case number.
- Check the "Last Updated" line in the PDF footer to confirm how fresh the list is.
- If the person is not there, consider the roster's exclusions, then call the jail or switch to a state or federal locator.
The Sheriff's homepage is the front door to the roster, the app, and the records links.
From the Sheriff's homepage you can reach the inmate search, the FOIA request form, and the most-wanted list, all of which feed different parts of an inmate lookup.
Current Inmate Lookup in McHenry County
A current-inmate lookup runs through the two roster PDFs. They are not interactive forms, so the "fields" are really the controls on the page plus the find function inside the file. The table below lists what the public page offers and how each control behaves. The by-name list is sorted by surname, and the by-date list is sorted by the date a person was confined.
| Control | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inmate Search by Name | PDF link | No | Opens a list sorted alphabetically by last name; no text box on the page. |
| Inmate Search by Date | PDF link | No | Opens a list sorted by date confined. |
| Find in PDF | Viewer control | No | Press Ctrl+F to search a last name, JCA number, case number, or charge text. |
| Sheriff's mobile app | App link | No | The Sheriff says the app holds the most up-to-date inmate list. |
The roster covers current local adult inmates plus anyone released in the last three days. A booking shows up after the next hourly update, so a very recent arrest may not appear right away. If the list looks stale, the Sheriff's instruction is simple: refresh the page and click the buttons again.
Past and Released Inmate Records
Released inmates stay on the roster for only three days. After that, the public list will not show them, and a different route is needed. For an older booking record, file a Freedom of Information Act request with the Sheriff's Records Division and name the person, a date of birth if known, an arrest date, and a jail control or case number. The Sheriff has five business days to answer most requests. Commercial requests get 21 business days.
Custody level matters here too. A person who was sentenced to prison will not return to the county roster at all. They move to the state locator the moment they transfer. So "I cannot find them anymore" often means the case moved up to the state, not that the record vanished. Start with the roster, then the jail phone line, then a records request or the state locator depending on where the case went.
What a McHenry County Inmate Record Shows
A McHenry roster entry is more court-aware than many simple jail lists, but it carries no photo and no housing detail. Each block opens with the person's identity and a bond line, then a small table of charges with case data. The fields below are the ones that appear in the public by-name PDF.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| JCA# | The jail control number McHenry County uses to track the person. |
| Name and DOB | Last, first, middle, and a date of birth in MM/DD/YYYY form. |
| Bond line | A summary line; many entries read "No Bond At This Time." |
| Charges and Class | Plain-language charges plus a class code such as X, 1, A, or B. |
| Case # and Court | The court case number, next court date, and courtroom number. |
| Custody status | "CURRENTLY CONFINED" or "RECENTLY RELEASED" with a date and reason. |
A few roster terms confuse readers, so it helps to define them.
- JCA#
- The jail control or account number that identifies a person in the McHenry County system.
- Date Confined
- The date and time a person was received into McHenry jail custody.
- No Bond At This Time
- No releasable bond amount is shown on the roster for that charge or hold right now.
- Hold for another agency
- A notice that another jurisdiction may claim custody, which can block release even after local conditions are met.
- Sentenced W/E
- A weekend or intermittent commitment; confirm the exact meaning with the jail or court.
County Jail vs. State Prison: Where to Look
The single most common mistake in an inmate search is looking in the wrong system. The county jail and the state prison hold different parts of the population, and each has its own lookup. The county roster covers pretrial detainees and short county sentences. The Illinois Department of Corrections covers sentenced felons. Use this table to pick the right starting point.
| County Jail | State Prison (DOC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who Is Held | Pre-trial and sentences up to 364 days | Sentenced felons over 364 days |
| Run By | McHenry County Sheriff | Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) |
| Where to Look | Sheriff's roster PDFs | IDOC Individual in Custody Search |
| Stays Listed | While confined, plus 3 days after release | Through the IDOC sentence and parole period |
State, Federal, and Immigration Inmate Search
When the county roster is the wrong place, four other locators cover the rest of the population. The state system holds sentenced prisoners. The federal system holds people in Bureau of Prisons custody. A separate federal system handles immigration detention. And a notification service tracks custody changes across all of them.
- State prison: the IDOC Individual in Custody Search for people sentenced to Illinois prison.
- Federal: the Federal Bureau of Prisons locator, which covers federal inmates from 1982 to today.
- Immigration: the ICE Online Detainee Locator System for people in immigration custody.
- Notifications: Illinois VINELink or the statewide VINE line at 866-566-8439 for release, transfer, and court alerts.
Remember that the McHenry roster leaves federal detainees off the public list on purpose. If you believe someone is held at the Woodstock jail on a federal matter, the Sheriff's direction is to call the jail at 815-338-9396 and ask a correctional officer.
McHenry County Detention Facilities
The county inmate population is held in a single public detention facility. There is no separate municipal jail roster, no state prison in the county, and no current immigration detention site. City police departments make arrests and hold people briefly during processing, but the records path leads back to the one county jail.
- McHenry County Correctional Facility - The county jail in Woodstock, holding adults awaiting trial and people serving county sentences of up to 364 days.
McHenry County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the McHenry County inmate population?
The jail is rated for 650 beds. A 2022 state inspection counted 180 people on inspection day, while a 2021 Sheriff audit reported an average daily population of 341 and a Sheriff volunteer handbook cited a range of 450 to 500. The county does not publish a live count, so these sourced figures are the best available picture.
How do I search the McHenry County inmate population?
Open the Sheriff's corrections page and choose the by-name or by-date PDF, then use your reader's find function to search a last name or jail control number. The lists update hourly, and the Sheriff's mobile app holds the most current version. The roster shows current inmates plus anyone released in the last three days.
Can I look up a released or past inmate?
The roster keeps a released person for only three days. After that, file a Freedom of Information Act request with the Sheriff's Records Division and provide a name, date of birth, arrest date, and any case or jail control number. People sentenced to prison move to the state locator instead of returning to the county roster.
Why is someone missing from the roster?
The list leaves out juveniles and federal detainees, and it drops weekenders while they are temporarily out of the building. A very recent booking may not appear until the next hourly update. Released inmates fall off after three days. Each of these is a normal reason a person you expect to see is not listed.
Are McHenry County jail mugshots on the roster?
No. The inspected roster PDFs show identity and court fields but no booking photos. For a booking photo you would file a records request with the Sheriff. More detail sits on the jail roster mugshots page.
What happens to the count after sentencing?
A county sentence of 364 days or less is served in the McHenry jail. A sentence of more than 364 days moves the person to the Illinois Department of Corrections, where they appear in the state locator and leave the county population.