The Detention Center
Franklin County Jail
- Operated byFranklin County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address403 E. Main St, Benton, IL 62812
- Year built (IDOC 2025)1990
- Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)98
- Population on inspection day (IDOC 2025)59 (46 male, 13 female)
- FY2026 county budget, Sheriff (Fund 01, Dept 55)$3,558,900 total; includes prisoner food $155,000, juvenile housing $40,000, inmate supplies $25,000
- Jail AdministratorCaptain Marie Johnson — Jail administrator named in the IDOC 2025 inspection report (not named on the county site)
Source: IDOC 2025 jail inspection report · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗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 built1990 (IDOC 2025 report)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds98 rated capacity (IDOC 2025)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Kyle Bacon
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff is warden of the county jail (55 ILCS 5/3-15003)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Office address403 East Main Street, Benton, IL 62812
- Non-emergency phone(618) 438-4841
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Franklin County Sheriff (county site) · 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.
Franklin 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 site posts board agendas and minutes (marked as unofficial copies).
- The boardFranklin County Board →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- The county site names the "Franklin County Jail" only as the Sheriff's FOIA mailing address on its transparency page.
- The FY2026 budget book on the county site shows the County Sheriff department (Fund 01, Dept 55) at $3,558,900, with prisoner food, juvenile housing and inmate supply lines.
- The sheriff page gives no inmate roster, bond/pretrial guidance, PREA, capacity or phone/commissary fee information; visitation questions go to the non-emergency number.
- The sheriff page links a civil-process fee schedule only (not jail fees).
- The IDOC 2025 report names a jail administrator (Captain Marie Johnson); the county site does not.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 15 May 2025: rated capacity 98, population 59 that day; noncompliances: one — 701.130(a)(2) supervision, personal observation at least every 30 minutes (68 of 131 checks timely, 52%); the report notes interfacing difficulties with a newly implemented detainee tracking system are being addressed.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Franklin 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