The Detention Center
Edgar County Jail (being replaced by the Edgar County Public Safety Facility)
- Operated byEdgar County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address228 N. Central Ave., Paris, IL 61944
- Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)43 (31 male, 12 female)
- Population on inspection day (IDOC 2025)20
- Year built (IDOC 2025)1889; renovated 1985
- New facilityIDOC 2025 report: new facility under construction, anticipated spring 2026 opening
- Old jailCounty Board taking sealed bids (due 13 Oct 2026) to sell the old jail for demolition, possession after the new Public Safety Facility is fully operational (Resolution 2026-75)
- Jail AdministratorRyan Murphy — Jail administrator named in IDOC 2025 inspection report
Source: Edgar County — Accepting Bids · 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
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built1889, renovated 1985 (IDOC 2025 report); replacement Public Safety Facility under construction
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds43 rated (IDOC 2025 report)
Since then
- 1985 renovation (IDOC 2025 report)
- New Edgar County Public Safety Facility; cost and funding not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Jeff D. Wood
- Runs the jailYes — sheriff is warden of the county jail (55 ILCS 5/3-15003); the county's jail-sale notice routes viewings through him
- 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: Edgar County — Sheriff's Department · 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.
Edgar 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).
- NoteSeven-district County Board; meetings on the county events calendar and video on YouTube. The board page lists an FY26 Budget & Levy PDF, but its link could not be resolved.
- The boardEdgar County Board →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's page on the county site gives only contact details and mission statement; no jail information.
- County is selling the old jail at 228 N. Central Ave. once the new Public Safety Facility is fully operational; bids due 13 Oct 2026.
- FY26 Budget & Levy is listed on the County Board page but the download link could not be opened, so the sheriff/jail line could not be confirmed.
- No roster, PREA, bond, fee, contract or deaths-in-custody information found on the county site.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 24 Jun 2025: rated capacity 43, population 20 that day; noncompliance: 701.90(h) — no documentation that "jail officers and other personnel primarily assigned to correctional duties" received the required annual suicide-prevention and mental-health training. Report notes a new facility under construction, anticipated spring 2026.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Edgar 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