Henry County, Illinois — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Henry County Jail

Operated byHenry County Sheriff's Office (Corrections Division)
Jail address311 W Center St, Cambridge, IL 61238
Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)132 (116 male, 16 female)
Population on inspection day (IDOC 2025)55
Year built (IDOC 2025)1976
Addition (county site)Jail and Court Services Courthouse Addition completed 1999
Video visitation vendorCombined Public Communications
Commissary depositsInmate Canteen or lobby kiosk
Jail AdministratorCharles Smith — Jail administrator named in the IDOC 2025 inspection report; the county site describes a Jail Administrator appointed by the Sheriff but does not name one

Source: Henry County Corrections page · 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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Henry County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-20. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

Year built1976 (IDOC 2025 report); county site says Jail and Court Services Courthouse Addition completed 1999
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
Beds132 rated (IDOC 2025)

Since then

1999 Jail and Court Services Courthouse Addition (county site)

The Sheriff

Sheriff Joshua Verscheure

Runs the jailYes — the Corrections Division of the Sheriff's Office runs the county jail
How the office is filledElected, four-year term
Chief DeputyCharles "Ben" Franklin (county site)

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: Henry County Sheriff's Office page · 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.

Henry County Circuit Court

Not found

Still needed

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; agendas and minutes in the county Agenda Center.
The boardHenry County Board →
Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →

Notes on the record

County site names the jail/Corrections Division and its address but posts no roster, capacity, PREA or budget document on pages opened.
Rules page says inmates 'can be bonded out 24-hours a day' and to call the jail; it does not explain post-2023 pretrial release, so bond_info is not counted.
Visitation page names the video-visit vendor but gives no rates; no phone or commissary rates published.
Finance Committee page links only a salary study; no budget document found.
State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 7 Aug 2025: rated capacity 132, population 55 that day; noncompliances: none recorded.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Henry 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