The Detention Center
Henderson County Jail
- Operated byHenderson County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address (IDOC 2025)248 Warren Street, Oquawka, Illinois 61469
- Jail address (Illinois Sheriffs' Association)113 N. 4th Street, Oquawka, IL 61469
- Year built (IDOC 2025)1935
- Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)10 (10 male, 0 female)
- Population on inspection day (IDOC 2025)0
- Jail AdministratorDavid Staley — Jail administrator in the IDOC 2025 inspection report; listed as Chief Deputy by the Illinois Sheriffs' Association
Source: IDOC 2025 jail inspection report · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built1935 (IDOC 2025 report)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds10 rated capacity, male only (IDOC 2025)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Matthew J. Link
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff is warden of the county jail (55 ILCS 5/3-15003)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term (Illinois Sheriffs' Association lists him as elected 2022)
- Phone309-867-4291
- Also named inIDOC 2025 inspection report (as Matthew Link)
- CurrentThe office's own letterhead on its August 2026 sheriff's report (posted 1 September 2026) reads "Office of the Sheriff Matthew J. Link"
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Illinois Sheriffs' Association, Henderson County · 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.
Henderson 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).
- NoteNo county website was found or opened; governing body not confirmed from a county page.
- The boardNot found
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- No county or sheriff website was found: Wikipedia points only to the county economic development corporation's site, the Illinois Sheriffs' Association lists none, the sheriff appears to use Facebook, and a guessed hendersoncountyil.gov could not be opened. The ten checks were not judged.
- The two sources give different jail addresses (IDOC: 248 Warren Street; Sheriffs' Association: 113 N. 4th Street), both in Oquawka.
- A 10-bed, male-only jail built in 1935 held no one on the inspection day.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 17 Sep 2025: rated capacity 10, population 0 that day; noncompliances: none recorded.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Henderson 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