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

The Detention Center

Carroll County Correctional Facility

Operated byCarroll County Sheriff
Jail address301 N Main Street, Mt Carroll, IL 61053
Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)25 (21 male, 4 female)
Population on inspection day (IDOC 2025)8
Year built (IDOC 2025)1858
Beds (ISA page)26
VisitationIn person, Wed and Sun set hours, 20-minute limit, one visit per seven days
Jail AdministratorRyan Lambert — Chief Deputy, listed as jail administrator on county jail page (also in IDOC 2025)

Source: Carroll County — Jail page · checked 2026-09-20

Transparency rating

1/10Closed

✓The jail is named
✗Who is in custody — not published
✗Beds and daily population — not published
✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Carroll County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-20. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

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

Year built1858 (IDOC 2025)
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
Beds25 rated (IDOC 2025)

Since then

IDOC 2025 report says a facility renovation is in planning

The Sheriff

Sheriff Ryan Kloepping

Runs the jailYes — sheriff is warden; jail at the sheriff's office address
How the office is filledElected, four-year term (elected 2022 per ISA page)
Office address301 N. Main St., Mt. Carroll, IL 61053
Name sourceNot shown on the county jail page opened; from Illinois Sheriffs' Association page and the IDOC 2025 report

Still needed

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

Source: Illinois Sheriffs' Association — Carroll County · 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.

Carroll 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).
NoteBoard, minutes and budget pages could not be opened (other carrollcountyil.gov fetches refused).
The boardNot found
Where the jail money is decidedNot found

Notes on the record

County jail page names the Carroll County Correctional Facility, its administrator and visiting rules, but gives no capacity, roster, bond, fee, PREA or contract information.
The old domain carroll-county.net (linked from the ISA page) now shows unrelated gambling content; the sheriff page there returned 403. Not used.
What was tried: carrollcountyil.gov home and sheriff index pages (fetch refused).
State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 7 Apr 2025: rated capacity 25, population 8 that day; noncompliances: 'The jail layout does not provide for complete sound separation of male and female detainees.' (701.70).

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Carroll 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