The Detention Center
Boone County Corrections & County Jail
- Operated byBoone County Sheriff
- Jail address615 N. Main Street, Belvidere, IL 61008
- Can house (sheriff 2024 annual report)up to 150
- Average daily population 2024 (annual report)60 (67 in 2023)
- Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)128 (112 male, 16 female)
- Population on inspection day (IDOC 2025)76
- Year built (IDOC 2025)1975
- Supervision modelDirect supervision
- Jail AdministratorJodi Ewers — Superintendent (Sergeant), per IDOC 2025 report; not named on county pages opened
Source: Boone County — Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✗PREA audits — not published
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built1975 (IDOC 2025)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsUp to 150 (sheriff annual report); rated 128 (IDOC 2025)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Scott Yunk
- Runs the jailYes — sheriff's office runs Boone County Corrections & County Jail
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Contact815.544.9322
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Boone County — Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-20
The Judges
Illinois circuit judges are elected on a partisan ballot and then stand for retention every six years (60% yes needed); associate judges are appointed by the circuit judges. They are state judicial officers, not county officials. Since 18 September 2023 Illinois has no cash bail — judges decide pretrial release or detention at a hearing.
Boone County Circuit Court
- Not found
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-20
The County Board
They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.
- What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and is the warden of the jail by state law (55 ILCS 5/3-15003).
- NoteMinutes posted by year; latest was July 2026 minutes (posted Aug 2026). Budgets FY2017–FY2026 posted under Financial Information.
- The boardBoone County Board →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's 2024 annual report (county site, served via the county's Revize CMS host) gives capacity 'up to 150' and average daily population 60.
- FY2026 county budget has separate lines: Sheriff (dept 073) expense total 4,983,096.00 and Corrections (dept 071) 3,332,084.00 in the final column.
- No roster, bond/pretrial guidance, PREA, fee or contract information found on the county site; a guessed corrections sub-page returned 404.
- IDOC 2025 report notes recent improvements (body cameras, surveillance, facility upgrades, mental health services).
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 11 Dec 2025: rated capacity 128, population 76 that day; noncompliances: none recorded.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Boone County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
The sheriff who runs this jail is elected. So are the county board members who pay for it.
Names verified 2026-09-20 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered