Search McLean County Detention Facility Inmates

McLean County Detention Facility Overview

The McLean County Detention Facility, also called the McLean County Jail, is operated by the McLean County Sheriff's Office inside the Law and Justice Center at 104 West Front Street in Bloomington. It holds adult men and women in county custody. The population is a blend of pretrial detainees, people serving county jail terms, and people awaiting transfer to state prison or to a state hospital bed after a court order.

The building has grown over the decades. The American Jail Association profile says the jail was built in 1976, with additions in 1990 and 2019. A 2023 state inspection recorded three detention floors and two 20-bed dormitories, and the jail uses a direct-supervision model with pods that have housed anywhere from 37 to 54 people. A specialized unit added in the 2019 expansion serves residents with mental-health needs.

McLean County Detention Facility Capacity and Population

The Illinois Sheriffs' Association lists the jail at 455 beds. Local reporting put the population near 220 in March 2026, which left the jail well under its rated capacity. A 2023 state inspection recorded 174 people on its inspection date, and a national jail profile listed an average daily population of 231. The figures below carry their sources.

The recent squeeze has been staffing, not space. In 2023 the county briefly sent inmates to LaSalle County because it was short correctional officers, then brought them back after reaching its staffing target later that year.

How to Look Up an Inmate at McLean County Detention Facility

This is a county jail, so the right tool is the county custody list, not a state or federal locator. The sheriff's office routes the current custody list to its free app, with the phone line as the backup. Use the official app, not a third-party roster site.

1. Install the McLean County Sheriff's Office app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
2. Open the current custody list and search for the person.
3. Confirm the person is held at this jail rather than already transferred.
4. If the app does not answer, call the Sheriff's Office at (309) 888-5034, or (309) 888-5065 for bond questions.

The full set of fallbacks, including the Daily Blotter, VINE notifications, and the state and federal locators, sits on the jail inmate records page. Once someone is sentenced and moved, they appear in the state system instead of this jail.

McLean County Detention Facility Address and Contact

The jail shares its downtown address with the Law and Justice Center. Use the sheriff's main line for general questions and the detention facility line for bond.

Bond can be posted around the clock online or at a lobby kiosk, even though the administrative office keeps weekday hours.

Visiting Someone at McLean County Detention Facility

Visits run through IC Solutions, branded as The Visitor, and every visitor must register at no cost before a video visit. Onsite visits use video terminals inside the jail, so the inmate stays in the housing unit, and offsite visits run from a home computer or a phone. Onsite visiting is closed on Sundays, while offsite visits are available every day.

The county's IC Solutions page lays out registration and the onsite and offsite options.

The schedule below shows the visit blocks by type and day.

Inmates get three 30-minute free onsite visits and five paid offsite visits each week, and the week resets on Sundays. Offsite visits cost 7.50 dollars for 30 minutes. The jail visitor scheduling page links the registration and brochure details.

Mail, Phone, and Money at McLean County Detention Facility

Mail does not go to the jail's street address. Letters are sent to a processing center in Phoenix, Maryland, where they are scanned into a digital format and read by staff, since electronic mail is non-privileged. Tablet messages, emails, and photos run through GettingOut, and money and bond run through Access Corrections.

Access Corrections is the county's portal for both bond posting and inmate-account deposits.

For approved gift and care-package orders, the county links iCare.

The main channels are summarized below.

Note: confirm a person is held at this jail before mailing, depositing, or scheduling a visit, since a transfer or release can change where they are within hours.

Booking and Intake at McLean County Detention Facility

Booking begins when an arresting agency brings a person to the jail. State jail standards, reflected in the county's 2023 inspection, call for an immediate pat-down, a check that the hold is lawful, identity verification, and fingerprinting and a photograph as required by law. Anyone seriously hurt or ill gets a medical examination before being detained.

A medical and mental-health screening follows before housing, and staff classify the person and assign a pod, with a classification review at least every 60 days. From there the person may use phone, tablet, and mail systems, and bond can be posted at any hour. The court side of the case then moves to the Circuit Clerk and the State's Attorney.

About McLean County Detention Facility

The jail reflects a long county focus on capacity and mental health. A roughly 40 million dollar expansion opened in the spring of 2019, adding the specialized mental-health housing. The American Jail Association profile lists programs including Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, anger management, church and Bible study, journaling, and a job partnership, plus a staff of 52 uniformed and 17 civilian employees and a budget over 4 million dollars.

Beyond the in-jail programs, the county links reentry resources for people returning home through its Reentry Council and directory, and a 2026 county behavioral-health action plan ties mental-health and reentry work to broader county planning. Jail oversight is external as well, since the Illinois Department of Corrections inspects the facility each year and collects its population counts.

Recent news rounds out the picture. In 2023 the county sent inmates to LaSalle County during a staffing shortage and then ended those transfers after hiring up. In 2025 the county board approved booking-area door improvements after safety concerns. In 2026 local reporting described the population leveling off, with attention on backlogs in state prison transfers and state mental-health placement.