The Detention Center
Kendall County Jail
- Operated byKendall County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address1102 Cornell Lane, Yorkville, IL 60560 (IDOC 2025)
- Beds107 (county corrections page; IDOC 2025 rated capacity 107)
- Opened1992; expanded 2000 and 2005 (county corrections page)
- Population on inspection day (IDOC 2025)53
- Jail AdministratorNancy Velez — Commander (IDOC 2025 report)
Source: Kendall County — Corrections Division · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓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 — 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 built1992
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds107
Since then
- 2000
- 2005
The Sheriff
Sheriff Dwight A. Baird
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff is warden of the county jail (55 ILCS 5/3-15003)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- First elected2014 (county bio page)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Kendall County — Sheriff Dwight A. Baird · 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.
Kendall 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).
- The boardKendall County Board →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- County corrections page names the Kendall County Jail and gives 107 beds, opened 1992, expanded 2000 and 2005.
- Sheriff's page links an inmate inquiry at inmate.co.kendall.il.us, but it could not be opened (timeout), so roster is not confirmed.
- kendallcountysheriff.com is the Kendall County, TEXAS sheriff — not this county; ignored.
- County posts a 2025-2026 Annual Fiscal Budget PDF but it returned 403, so the sheriff/jail line could not be confirmed.
- A county news item titled 'Kendall County Correctional Facility Successfully Completes Audit' exists but returned 403.
- No PREA, fee, contract or pretrial-release guidance found on pages opened.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 8 May 2025: rated capacity 107, population 53 that day; noncompliances: none recorded.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Kendall 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