Macoupin County Jail Overview
The Macoupin County Jail is a county jail operated by the Macoupin County Sheriff's Office at 215 S. East St in Carlinville. Sheriff Shawn Kahl leads the office, and the 2024 state inspection listed Chief Deputy Quinn Reiher as the jail administrator. The jail holds adult men and women at the county custody stage. That includes people awaiting a first appearance, people awaiting prosecution or disposition, local sentenced inmates, warrant arrests, and people waiting to transfer to state prison after sentencing.
The current jail was built in 1989 and sits inside the sheriff complex near the county courthouse on East Main Street. It replaced the historic Cannonball Jail, which the county retired in 1988. Housing is on one floor of detention, arranged as single and double rooms plus two dorms. Classification rules follow Illinois county jail standards, keeping men and women separated and assigning housing by custody level.
Macoupin County Jail Capacity and Population
The jail is rated for 93 beds, split into 81 male beds and 12 female beds, with no rated juvenile beds. The October 1, 2024 state inspection counted 59 people in custody that day, 54 men and 5 women. That put the jail at about 63 percent of its rated capacity on the inspection date. The building's detention area holds 19 single rooms, 26 double rooms, a 10-bed dorm, and a 12-bed dorm.
The prior year's inspection, on November 21, 2023, counted 52 people, so the population rose by seven between the two snapshots while staying under the rated capacity both times. These are single-day inspection counts rather than an annual average, and the state does not publish a county-level monthly figure for Macoupin County. Neither snapshot showed overcrowding, and no capacity order or related lawsuit was found in the official sources.
Who Is Held at the Macoupin County Jail
The jail holds the county's pre-conviction and short-sentence population in one place. Most people inside are at an early stage of a case, waiting for a first appearance or for the case to be resolved. Others are serving short local sentences, were arrested on a warrant, or are being held on a court order or a hold from another agency.
Some people in the jail are waiting to move on. Once a person is sentenced to a felony term, they leave for state prison and are then searched in the state corrections locator rather than at the county jail. No state prison, federal prison, or immigration detention center operates inside Macoupin County, and no separate city jail roster was found, so arrests across the county route to this one facility.
How to Look Up an Inmate at the Macoupin County Jail
Because the county does not publish a public web roster, looking up someone at the Macoupin County Jail uses the sheriff app and the jail phone line first. For a person who has been sentenced and moved to state prison, the state corrections locator takes over. Federal and immigration custody use national systems instead.
- Open the Macoupin County Sheriff IL app and check its current-custody feature for the name.
- If the app does not show the person, call the jail at 217-854-3135 to confirm custody and bond status.
- For a booking record not posted online, file a written FOIA request with the county.
- If the person was sentenced and transferred, use the Illinois Department of Corrections locator instead.
The roster channels and records-request steps are explained in more depth on the jail inmate records page.
Macoupin County Jail Address and Contact
The jail and the sheriff's office share the same address in central Carlinville. The public office line is the main number for jail and custody questions, while a separate inspection-listed jail line also appears in state records.
Macoupin County Jail
215 S. East St
Carlinville, IL 62626
217-854-3135
Office Mon-Fri 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; jail line 217-854-2042
Directions and Visitor Arrival Notes
The jail sits in central Carlinville near the county government complex and the courthouse on East Main Street. The official sources do not publish a precise cross street, a visitor parking map, a public-transit route, or separate accessible-entrance details, so plan around downtown Carlinville and confirm the final turns with a live map app. From the IL-4 corridor, follow the highway into Carlinville and use local downtown streets toward East Street. From IL-108, route toward central Carlinville and then to South East Street near the government complex.
Because this is a rural county, visitors should plan for private transportation and call ahead if they need help finding the entrance. Confirm visitor parking before arriving, and remember that a valid photo ID with date of birth is required to visit, with no exceptions.
Visiting Someone at the Macoupin County Jail
In-person visits run on Sundays only, a rule the sheriff put in place effective June 30, 2024. Female inmates visit from noon to 1:00 p.m. and male inmates from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Visitation ends at 3:30 p.m., and the last sign-in is 3:00 p.m. Each inmate is allowed one 20 to 30 minute in-person visit on a visitation day. Every visitor needs a valid photo ID with date of birth, and carry bags, purses, and cell phones are not allowed in the visitation area.
| Visit Type | Day / Time | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Female inmates | Sundays, 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. | In-person |
| Male inmates | Sundays, 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. | In-person |
| Video visits | Scheduled by availability | Video (inmatesales.com) |
| Attorney visits | Confirm with the jail | Legal |
Video visits are set up and scheduled at inmatesales.com, with vendor support at 866-340-7879. The sheriff asks families not to call the jail about video setup because the vendor manages it.
Mail, Phone, and Money at the Macoupin County Jail
Mail rules are strict, and using the wrong address gets mail rejected. Standard friends-and-family mail is scanned and goes to the Highland Heights, Kentucky processing address, while legal mail goes directly to the jail in Carlinville. Money for commissary and phone services runs through lobby kiosks and online vendors.
| Service | Provider / Detail |
|---|---|
| Mail Address | Inmate name and ID, Macoupin County Jail, P.O. Box 76550, Highland Heights, KY 41076 |
| Legal Mail | Inmate name and ID, Macoupin County Jail, 215 South East Street, Carlinville, IL 62626 |
| Phone / Video | Combined Public Communications; collect setup 877-998-5678; video inmatesales.com |
| Money Deposit | Brown lobby kiosk or jailatm.com (help 870-627-5476); max $300 on account |
Photographs are the only allowed mail enclosure, up to 10 per package and printed on photo paper. Commissary is available once a week, and an account can hold no more than $300 at a time.
The deposit portal the sheriff references is the online route for commissary funds.
The JailATM deposit portal is the online service the sheriff lists for adding money to an inmate's commissary account.
Phone-card and chirping deposits use the separate blue lobby kiosk or inmatesales.com rather than the commissary kiosk.
Booking and Intake at the Macoupin County Jail
Intake at the Macoupin County Jail follows the admission steps Illinois jail standards require. A receiving officer checks the legal authority to hold the person and verifies identity. Staff take fingerprints and a booking photograph, inventory personal property with a signed receipt, and run medical and mental-health screening that includes suicide-risk questions. The person receives jail rules and orientation, with the orientation manual provided through a kiosk.
Classification then assigns housing under the separation rules, keeping men and women apart and following custody-level guidance. Detainees may make a reasonable number of completed phone calls as soon as practicable, and the sheriff page notes phones are available in cell blocks from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily. Inmates cannot receive incoming calls.
About the Macoupin County Jail
The jail runs several programs and on-site services. GED classes are conducted on-site, and probation services provide substance-abuse, domestic-violence, and anger-management classes. Non-denominational church services are offered on Monday evenings. Medical, mental-health, and dental triage screenings are handled by Advanced Correctional Healthcare, with additional mental-health support from the Locust Street Resource Center and added dental services from Morgan St. Dental. Meals are prepared on-site by county employees. Sick-call requests carry a listed nurse fee of $5 and a doctor fee of $15, and care is not denied for a lack of funds.
The facility is inspected each year by the state under Illinois jail standards, and the 2024 inspection report was sent to the sheriff and the county clerk for public review. The current jail's story is tied to the older one it replaced.
The historic Cannonball Jail page describes the county's old stone jail, built in 1869 and retired in 1988 after more than a century of use.
The historic jail is a local-history site today, separate from the active 1989 jail that holds the county inmate population now.
Note: Confirm a person's custody and the current visitation schedule with the jail before traveling, since rules and hours can change.