The Detention Center
DeKalb County Jail
- Operated byDeKalb County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address150 North Main Street, Sycamore, IL 60178 (Public Safety Building)
- Beds (sheriff's site)140; 89 before the 2018 expansion
- Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)147 (129 male, 18 female)
- Average daily population 2025 (sheriff's annual report)108 (128 in 2024)
- Bookings 20251,663
- Year built (IDOC 2025)1980; expansion opened summer 2018
- Expansion cost$36,000,000 total; $33,905,000 bonds sold June 2017 plus landfill revenue cash (FY2026 budget)
- FY2026 budgetSheriff (2610) $7,840,200; Sheriff's Corrections (2680) $7,394,600
- Medical providerAdvanced Correctional Healthcare, Inc. (2025 annual report)
- Jail AdministratorLt. Erin McRoberts — Named jail administrator in IDOC 2025 report; sheriff's 2025 annual report lists the lieutenant over Jail Operations
Source: DeKalb County Sheriff — Corrections · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
6/10Partial- ✓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
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗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 built1980 (IDOC 2025 report); expansion opened summer 2018
- Original costNot found (2018 expansion: $36,000,000)
- Paid for by2018 expansion: $33,905,000 bonds (June 2017) plus cash from landfill revenues, per FY2026 county budget
- Beds140 (sheriff's site); 147 rated (IDOC 2025)
Since then
- 2018 expansion, over 81,000 sq ft, beds from 89 to 140
The Sheriff
Sheriff Andrew (Andy) Sullivan
- Runs the jailYes — Corrections Division of the Sheriff's Office operates the DeKalb County Jail
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: DeKalb 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.
DeKalb County Circuit Court
- Presiding Judge, 23rd Judicial Circuit, DeKalb County: Bradley J. Waller
- 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 Board elected from twelve districts; agendas and minutes linked from the boards & commissions page.
- The boardDeKalb County Board →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's site has pages on visitation, deposits, phones, bond, PREA and yearly annual reports (2017-2025) with jail statistics.
- PREA page: zero-tolerance policy and a hotline; no audit reports posted.
- Bond page says bond can be posted 24/7 at the jail and bond call is by closed-circuit TV; it does not mention the Pretrial Fairness Act.
- Phone page publishes kiosk deposit fees (20% card, 15% cash) and the phone vendor (CPC); no per-minute call rates.
- No in-custody roster found; the site points to VINElink.
- 2025 annual report gives average daily population 108 and names the medical vendor; no deaths-in-custody record seen.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 10 Nov 2025: rated capacity 147, population 96 that day; noncompliances: none recorded.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in DeKalb 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