The Winnebago County Jail in the local jail facility for Winnebago County, Illinois. It is run by the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department. The head of the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department is Sheriff Gary Caruana and the Chief Deputy is Mark Karner. Winnebago County Corrections is run by Superintendent Bob Redmond.
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The main facility for Winnebago County Corrections is the Winnebago County Jail. The Winnebago County Jail is relatively large for a county-level detention center. It has 1,324 beds, employs over 200 correction officers, and is over 385,000 square feet in area. The reason it is so large is that it was designed to keep up with a growing population.
A newer jail, the Winnebago County Jail was also designed for direct supervision. Generally speaking, jails can be supervised in one of two ways: remote supervision and direct supervision. Both methods have their pros and cons. Remote supervision places inmates in cells and allows staff to supervise them remotely, rather than by being in the cell blocks/ housing units/ housing pods. This method of supervision reduces the opportunities for contact between inmates and staff, making it far more difficult for inmates to assault staff. On the surface, this method would see like a safer way to supervise inmates. However, it also reduces the ability of staff to interact with inmates, makes it more difficult for staff to intervene in inmate disputes, and fosters the type of “us versus them” mentality that can make jail environments toxic. With direct supervision, the corrections officers are in the housing pod with the inmates, usually in a central recreation area. This means that officers and inmates are interacting on a daily basis, allows officers to be more aware of conditions inside the jail facility, and allows for more human interactions between inmates and officers.
Direct supervision does provide inmates with greater access to corrections officers, which can be more dangerous if an inmate decides to be violent towards the staff. That is why Winnebago County Corrections has developed a Corrections Emergency Response Team (CERT). This team was established to handle emergencies that might occur inside any of Winnebago County’s correctional facilities. The team is trained to handle emergency situations that are outside of the norm of what correctional officers encounter. Their job is to handle these emergency situations while deescalating risk whenever possible. The CERT team is trained to handle control tactics, forced cell extractions, riots, cell block disturbances, and other emergencies. One way that they do so is with extensive training in less lethal munitions as well as firearms. The CERT squad has one commander, two squad leaders, and 22 officers.
The Winnebago County Jail was constructed based on growth estimates for Winnebago County as well as arrest trends that suggested a continued increase in the jail population. However, Winnebago County, as a whole, as well as the Winnebago County Corrections Department, has made significant efforts to try to keep people out of jail, both by reducing recidivism rates and by preventing incarceration in the first place. The jail has a significant amount of programming and has eight classrooms available for classes such as GED, life skills, health education, positive thinking, goal setting, managing stress, job coaching, parenting skills, substance abuse education, and various religious courses. These courses are led by community based social service educations or funded through a one-percent public safety sales tax that is focused on helping reduce criminality in the community.
Food services in the jail are provided by Aramark. As with many jail facilities, inmates are responsible for food preparation and handling. The Winnebago County Jail has a program where inmates can earn sanitation and food preparation certificates, which may help them in their job searches once they are released.
The University of Illinois College of Medicine is the medical care provider for inmates. They offer 24-hour emergency medical care as well as standard coverage for medical, dental, mental health, and pharmaceutical needs. The Winnebago County Health Department provides infectious disease screening and medication. The Crusader Clinic works with HIV positive inmates, both while incarcerated, and post-release.
Winnebago County Jail
650 W. State Street
Rockford, IL 61102
Winnebago County Jail
650 W. State Street
Rockford, IL 61102
Inmate’s Full Name
Winnebago County Jail
650 W. State Street
Rockford, IL 61102
The Winnebago County Jail provides the following rules for inmate mail:
Mail cannot include the following items:
Inmates may purchase mailing supplies through their commissary accounts.
Mail can include photographs (no Polaroids or Polaroid-type photos), but inmates can have no more than 10 photographs in their possession at any one time.
All mail is subject to screening and review. Mail with content that the jail deems inappropriate will be returned to sender. If the inappropriate content is also illegal, the mail may subject the sender to prosecution. There is no exhaustive list of material that the jail may consider inappropriate, however examples of inappropriate materials include:
Inmate mail deliveries are Monday-Friday. There is no inmate mail delivery on holidays or on Saturdays and Sundays.
The main phone number for the Winnebago County Jail is 815-319-6600. The phone number for booking is 815-319-6602. The phone number to bond out is 815-319-6614. The jail chaplain’s number is 815-319-6625. The jail chaplain is available Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 4:00pm.
The Winnebago County Jail Arrest and Jail Information page provides an inmate roster for Winnebago County. You can begin a search by typing in an inmate’s last name or by searching for the inmate alphabetically. If you perform an alphabetical search, then you get a list of inmates alphabetically by last name for the letter that you searched. This list provides you with the inmate’s last name, first name, middle name, booking number, and booking date and time. If you select an inmate from the list, you pull up a more complete record from that inmate. The information in the more complete record includes: a mugshot/booking photo, booking date, booking time, MID#, age, height, weight, race, eye color, hair color, next court date, bail amount, custody status, and the charges against the inmate.
While the Winnebago County Jail does not provide a recent arrests list, you can search the list found at their Arrest and Jail Information site alphabetically and see the booking dates. Using these booking dates, you can find all recent arrests and bookings for the jail.
There is no specific mugshot/booking photo database for the Winnebago County Jail. However, if you click on an inmate’s record in the Arrest and Jail Information site, you can find that inmate’s booking photo in addition to other information such as: the booking date and time; the inmate’s MID#; the inmate’s physical descriptors like height, weight, hair color, and eye color; the inmate’s race, the inmate’s age; the inmate’s custody status; and the charges against the inmate.
The Winnebago County Jail allows inmates to have one visit per week. The week is measured from Sunday through Saturday, with a new week starting each Sunday. The inmate must pre-schedule the visit.
Inmate visitation is done by inmate last name, unless the inmates is in a segregation unit.
The visitation times for inmates whose last name starts with a letter between A and M are as follows:
The visitation times for inmates whose last name starts with a letter between N and Z are as follows:
Segregation unit visitation times are:
Each visit is limited to one adult and one child per visit. Visits are 30 minutes in duration for general population inmates. For inmates in segregation, visitation is reduced to 30 minutes.
Visits are conducted via video visitation. Visitors go to the Winnebago County Justice Center, which is located at 650 West State Street, Rockford, IL, 61102 (same address as the jail). Visitors should report to the video visitation room at least 15 minutes prior to the scheduled visitation. Although all visitation is video visitation, the Winnebago County Jail does not offer remote visitation at this time.
There are different rules for professional visitors. Professionals include attorneys, pre-trial services, probation officers, and some clergy. Attorneys, pre-trial services, and probation officers may visit inmates during any reasonable hours and can arrange for interview space in video visitation or in the inmate’s housing unit. These visits will be private. Clergy will be able to visit inmates in private video visitation booths.
All visitors must be able to provide proper identification. Visitor property is subject to search and visitors may not be allowed to bring some types of property into the jail or into the video visitation room. If you have any questions about visitation, you may contact the video visitation number at 815-319-6162.
The Winnebago County Jail uses GTL to provide service for inmate phone calls. GTL charges $.275 per minute for intrastate calls and $.21 per minute for interstate calls. You can contact GTL at their customer service line at 877-650-4249, their automated line at 800-483-8314, by fax at 251-473-2802, or online at www.connectnetwork.com.
Inmates can place traditional collect calls, where the recipient must accept the charges. The problem with this system is that many phone service providers automatically block collect calls, making it difficult to receive inmate phone calls. You can also provide money to an inmate on a phone account, to pay for phone calls, but you must contact GTL to fund that account.
The Winnebago County Jail has a commissary system, which allows inmates to purchase some items that are not supplied by the jail. The commissary is handled by the Smart Deposit system. This allows people to deposit funds into an inmate’s commissary account in the jail lobby, online, and by phone. In addition to purchasing items, inmates may use commissary money for haircuts, medical services, and phone calls.
To deposit money in an inmate’s trust account in the jail lobby, you use the Cobra lobby cashier kiosks. The kiosks accept debit cards, credit cards, and cash. It does not accept coins or $1 bills. Kiosks do not give change. There are fees associated with the use of the lobby kiosks. For any questions about the kiosks, you can contact Trinity Services Group, Inc. at 608-221-7651. To make a deposit in the lobby kiosk, you are required to swipe your driver’s license, state-issued i.d. card, or military i.d. through the card reader prior to making a deposit.
To make a deposit by telephone, you can contact Smart Deposit at 1-866-394-0490.
To make a deposit by internet, you can visit www.smartdeposit.com or www.mycarepack.com. MyCarePack.com allows you to order food packages for an inmate, as well as add money to an inmate’s account.
In addition to commissary purchases, the jail also allows inmates access to some recreational materials through www.connectnetwork.com. Through this network, inmates may be able to purchase ebooks, streaming music, and games using GTL supplied Inspire tablets.
Inmates who are released and who have money in their commissary accounts and have the money put on a debit card at the time of their release. However, if an inmate is transferred to an Illinois Department of Corrections Facility, then their commissary money will be transferred to that facility. Inmates who are sent to other facilities will not have their money automatically transferred, but must request a transfer in writing.
For information about an inmate’s release, you should contact the bond out number at 815-319-6614. In addition to the bond amount, inmates being released must pay a bond out fee of $50.00. Bond is paid in person at the Bond Out Office, which is located at the jail, but has a separate entrance that is located off of West State Street. Inmates who are being released, whether bonded out or other release, are released at the Bond Out Office. Inmates may be bonded out with cash bond, which requires payment of the full amount of the bond, or through surety bonds using the services of the bail bondsman. If you use a bail bondsman, any fees paid to the bondsman are non-refundable. You can find a bail bondsman in the Yellow Pages or online.
Inmate property is returned at the time of an inmate’s released, unless it has been seized as evidence. Property seized as evidence is returned through the arresting law enforcement agency or the State’s Attorney’s Office.
The Winnebago County Jail, located at 650 W. State Street in Rockford, Illinois, is the county-level jail facility in Winnebago County, Illinois. A modern facility with over 1,000 beds, which was designed in direct supervision style, the Winnebago County Jail was designed to evolve with the criminal justice needs of Winnebago County. As a modern jail facility, it offers a variety of programming opportunities for inmates, video visitation, advanced commissary services, tablets for inmate usage, and even some educational and job training opportunities.
The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department, which is headed by Sheriff Gary Caruana, is responsible for the jail. The Jail Superintendent is Bob Redmond.
To reach the Winnebago County Jail facility, you can visit them online at www.winnebagosheriff.com. You may also contact the jail at 815-319-6600 for general inquires, 815-319-6602 for booking, 815-319-6614 for bond out, and 815-319-6625 for the jail chaplain.
Year Built or Opened: 2007 Warden or Supervisor: Captain Timothy Owens Daily Inmate Count: 893 Total Capacity: 1212 Security Level(s): minimum - medium
Inmate Full Name
Winnebago County Jail
650 West State Street
Rockford, IL 61102
Phone Number(s):
815-319-6600
Fax Number:
815-969-1970
Email Address:
[email protected]
650 West State Street
Rockford, IL 61102
Other Prisons in Illinois:
Menard Correctional Center | United States Penitentiary Marion | Pre-Trial Confinement Facility at Naval Station Great Lakes | Adams County IL Jail | Arlington Heights Jail | Barrington Hills Jail | Bolingbrook Police Lockup | Bond County Jail | Boone County IL Correctional Facility | Bradley University Police Lockup