The Detention Center
Coles County Jail
- Operated byColes County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address701 7th St, Charleston, IL 61920
- Capacity (sheriff's site)165 inmates
- Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)171 (151 male, 20 female)
- Average daily population 2025 (annual report)99, up 32% from 75 in 2024
- Bookings 2025 (annual report)1,388
- Year built (IDOC 2025)1970
- Medical provider (annual report)Advanced Correctional Healthcare — nursing 40 hours a week, weekly physician sick call, mental health 20 hours a week
- Jail staff (annual report)1 lieutenant, 3 sergeants, 14 corrections officers, 1 full-time and 1 part-time cook, 4 telecommunicators
- Other agenciesAnnual report: arrangement with Kankakee County to transfer "unfit" inmates awaiting state psychiatric hospital placement
- Jail AdministratorLt. Kari Beadles — Jail Administrator since 2024 (sheriff's site); employed at the jail since 2000
Source: Coles County Sheriff 2025 Annual Report · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
5/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✗PREA audits — not published
- ✓Independent inspection
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✓How to post bond
- ✓Phone, video and commissary rates
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built1970 (IDOC 2025 report)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds165 (sheriff's site); 171 rated (IDOC 2025)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Kent Martin
- Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Office operates the Coles County Jail
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term; sheriff's site says elected 2022
- Chief Deputy (county page)Tyler Heleine
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Coles County Sheriff's Office — About Us · 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.
Coles 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).
- NoteCounty home page (colesco.illinois.gov) could not be opened; governing body not confirmed on a page opened.
- The boardNot found
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- The sheriff's site (colescountysheriff.com) posts its own copy of the 2025 IDOC jail inspection report, an annual report, inmate rules and a commissary price list.
- Bond page: bond may be posted 24/7 in exact cash or by credit card; $23 bail bond processing fee, plus $75 on failure-to-appear warrants.
- Commissary menu lists item prices (e.g. 3 oz tuna pouch $4.06).
- On-site visits are free; the sheriff said it anticipated adding remote video visits.
- 2025 annual report: food costs $172,272.16, up from $130,562.88 in 2024; no deaths in custody or PREA content found.
- No inmate roster, budget, PREA or contract documents found on pages opened; county home page could not be opened.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 5 August 2025: rated capacity 171, population 90 that day; noncompliances: none recorded. The report made four recommendations (undergarments at intake, laundering for purchased clothing, dormitory bed/fixture ratios, peeling paint and graffiti).
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Coles 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