There are scores of reasons why you might want to look up an inmate in the Illinois Prison System. You may be related to an individual who is serving time in an incarceration facility in the state or may have been the victim who suffered at the hands of a criminal serving time in an Illinois penitentiary. Either way, the Department of Corrections offers a simple tool for people interested in conducting an inmate search.
Using the search tool offered by the Illinois DOC
Visit the official site of the Department of Corrections at http://www.illinois.gov/idoc/Pages/default.aspx. On top of the page, you will see a tab “offender search”, click on it to be diverted to the relevant page. Here, you will see that the DOC offers a range of offender search options including inmate search, wanted fugitives search, parolee sex registration and the Illinois sex offender search as well as community notification of offender release.
Click on the option “inmate search”; this will take you to the search page. The tool offers various search parameter options such as a name based search and a DOC id query. The inmate number from the department of corrections is stated on all official communication received by the relatives of the inmate. So, if you are looking for a friend or family member incarcerated in the prison system of the state of Illinois, using the Doc number will bring back accurate results.
On the other hand, if this information is not available, you can always use the name or date of birth check. On the search page, you will see a search method menu to your right hand side. Choose the query option from here. On the left hand side of the page, you will find information on how to input the search parameter. For a name search always insert the last name first followed by the first name.
Click on search to access the results page; the listing will include the name of the inmate along with his/her birth date, the DOC id number and the name of the facility that the inmate is being held in.You can also click on the tab that reads “query a highlighted inmate”. This will take you to a page that has a mug shot of the offender along with information on all his/her vitals including race, hair and eye color, height, weight and any tattoos that the inmate may have. Along with the physical attributes, you will also find details on the inmate’s offense history.
The page reveals details about charges filed against the offender; for instance, the results may bring back a charge name of burglary or homicide etc. Also offered is data on how many counts of the crime have been filed against the offender and the dates of all criminal incidents that the inmate was convicted of. Finally, you can find information about the sentence that the inmate is serving including release and parole dates.
While you can find data on all inmates incarcerated in state correctional facilities through the Illinois Department of Correction’s website, you will not be able to access information on prisoners in county jails through this source. Individuals who are being incarcerated in county correctional facilities are generally under trials who are awaiting conviction or sentencing or those offenders who are serving a term of no more than one year.
For this information, you can try the victim notification and information everyday program (VINE) through their site at https://www.vinelink.com/#/home. Click on the state of Illinois from the map and hit the Illinois statewide tab; next, click on the option, “offenders” or offenders with court cases”. Now, select the “choose agency” option on top of the menu. From the dropdown list that appears, choose the county jail that the inmate may be held in. Insert the name of the offender that you are looking for in the form that follows.
If these sources do not work, you can call the county jail or approach the local sheriff’s department for information on all the inmates serving time in county and state prisons in the area.