The Detention Center
Ford County Jail
- Operated byFord County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address235 N. American St., Paxton, IL 60957
- Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)61 (53 male, 8 female)
- Designed capacity (county-posted PREA audit 2023)61; average daily population 27 over the prior 12 months
- Population on inspection day (IDOC 2025)46
- Year built (IDOC 2025)1992
- Boarding income, Jan 2026$35,904.00; inmate phones $5,834.23 (sheriff's monthly report to County Board)
- Jail AdministratorDave Kaeding (Chief Deputy) — Listed as jail administrator in IDOC 2025 inspection report
Source: Ford County Jail and Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓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
- ✗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 built1992 (IDOC 2025 report)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds61 (IDOC 2025 rated; PREA audit designed capacity)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Chad Johnson
- Runs the jailYes — the county's sheriff page is titled 'Ford County Jail and Sheriff's Office'
- 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: Ford County Jail and 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.
Ford 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 Board meets in the board room at the Ford County Jail; agendas, minutes and monthly department-head reports are posted as PDFs on the county site. Circuit: 11th Judicial Circuit.
- The boardFord County Board →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's page on the county site posts a PREA policy and the 2023 PREA audit (audited 28-29 June 2023: 45 standards met, 0 not met).
- Sheriff's monthly report to the County Board (Feb 2026 packet) shows January income including $35,904.00 boarding and $5,834.23 inmate phones; no housing contracts themselves were found.
- No roster, bond guidance, phone/commissary rate schedule, budget document or deaths-in-custody record found; only civil process fees are posted.
- IDOC 2025 names Chief Deputy Dave Kaeding as jail administrator; the Illinois Sheriffs' Association listing names a different administrator.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 3 Jun 2025: rated capacity 61, population 46 that day; noncompliances: 701.70 separation ("Charged detainees who are supervised under the direct supervision option shall be separated from convicted offenders by cell or detention room"), 701.120 sanitation ("Walls shall be kept clear of etched or inscribed graffiti or writing"), and 701.250 commissary (transaction records not kept internally).
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Ford 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