The Detention Center
Marshall County Jail
- Operated byMarshall County Sheriff's Department
- Jail address520 6th Street, Lacon, IL 61540
- Capacity (sheriff page)16 inmates, male and female
- Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)16 (12 male, 4 female)
- Population on inspection day (IDOC 2025)4 (4 male)
- Year built (IDOC 2025)1905
- JuvenilesNot housed locally; transported to juvenile detention
- VisitationSundays and Wednesdays 5–7 pm, immediate family only
- Jail AdministratorJohn Summers — Jail administrator named in the IDOC 2025 inspection report (county site did not name a separate administrator)
Source: Marshall County — Sheriff page · 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 built1905 (IDOC 2025 report)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds16 (sheriff page and IDOC 2025 report)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Wayne Strawn II
- Runs the jailYes — sheriff's page lists the Marshall County Jail, operated 24/7
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Office address520 6th Street, Lacon, IL 61540
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Marshall County — Sheriff 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.
Marshall 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).
- NoteChairperson Travis McGlasson (District 3); meets second Thursday monthly.
- The boardMarshall County Board →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff page names the Marshall County Jail and states its capacity (16).
- Sheriff page links a 'Prison Rape Elimination' policy PDF on the county domain; the file opened but is a scanned image with no readable text.
- Budget page posts 2025 and 2026 budget/levy PDFs, but both are scanned images; a sheriff/jail line could not be confirmed, so budget not credited.
- No roster, fee, bond/pretrial release, inspection, contract or deaths information found.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 27 June 2025: rated capacity 16, population 4 that day; noncompliance noted: "Inadequate staffing: Due to low staffing levels, the jail frequently utilizes just one jail officer to staff the jail." (701.20, 701.130, 701.140).
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Marshall 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