Brown County, Illinois — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

None — no county jail

Operated byNot applicable
Jail status'No jail' (Illinois Sheriffs' Association county page)
Where prisoners goNot found

Source: Illinois Sheriffs' Association — Brown County · checked 2026-09-20

Transparency rating

Not scored. Brown County runs no jail of its own, so there is no jail for it to disclose. Where its prisoners are held is recorded above where a public page says so.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

Year builtNot applicable — no county jail
Original costNot applicable
Paid for byNot applicable
BedsNot applicable

Since then

Not applicable

The Sheriff

Sheriff Justin D. Oliver

Runs the jailNo county jail (Illinois Sheriffs' Association lists 'No jail'); holding facility used not found
How the office is filledElected, four-year term (elected 2022 per county page)
Office address200 East Court, Room #1, Mt. Sterling, IL 62353 (ISA page)

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: Brown 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.

Brown County Circuit Court

Not found

Still needed

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).
NoteCounty home page could not be opened (fetch not permitted); board and minutes pages not found.
The boardNot found
Where the jail money is decidedNot found

Notes on the record

No 2025 or 2024 IDOC inspection report exists for Brown County at the standard URL (404), consistent with the county having no jail.
The Illinois Sheriffs' Association page says 'No jail'; the facility where Brown County detainees are held was not found on any page opened.
County sheriff page lists staff only; nothing on jail, roster, bond, fees or PREA.
What was tried: browncoil.org home page (fetch refused).
Not scored: the county runs no jail of its own, so the ten jail-disclosure questions do not apply.
State inspection/oversight: No 2025 IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit report for Brown County (no county jail); the facility holding its detainees was not found.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Brown 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