The Detention Center
McHenry County Jail
- Operated byMcHenry County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address2200 N. Seminary Ave, Woodstock, IL 60098
- Capacity (sheriff's site)Up to 650 inmates; 156 correctional officers and staff
- Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)650 (600 male, 50 female)
- Population on inspection day (IDOC 2025)339
- History (sheriff's site)Separate adult correctional facility ~1990; expanded 2006
- Built (IDOC 2025)1992; last renovation 2005
- AccreditationACA and NCCHC (sheriff's site)
- Other jurisdictions (IDOC 2025)Contract with Lake County to house approximately 150 of its detainees
- Federal detaineesSheriff's inmate search says its report "will exclude all federal detainees"; no contract terms published
- Jail AdministratorRyan Sciame — Chief of Corrections (sheriff's site); listed as jail administrator in IDOC 2025 report
Source: McHenry County Sheriff's Office — About the Jail · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
4/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓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 builtSeparate adult facility c. 1990 (sheriff's site); 1992 (IDOC 2025)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds650
Since then
- 2006 expansion (sheriff's site; IDOC lists last renovation 2005)
The Sheriff
Sheriff Robb Tadelman
- Runs the jailYes — sheriff is warden of the county jail (55 ILCS 5/3-15003)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Elected2022 (per sheriff's office page)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: McHenry County Sheriff's Office — About · 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.
McHenry 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 board page returned 403.
- The boardMcHenry County Board
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's site publishes hourly in-custody PDFs by name and date; they exclude federal detainees.
- PREA annual reports 2016-2025 and PREA audit reports (2018, 2021, 2024) posted on sheriff's site.
- Video visitation and phones via ICSolutions and commissary via Access Corrections; no rates published on the page.
- "Post Bond" appears as a link but no bond or pretrial-release guidance text was found.
- County site shows a 2026 Approved Budget via Questica OpenBook, but the link could not be opened to confirm a sheriff/jail line.
- County board and correctional-facility pages on mchenrycountyil.gov returned 403.
- No death-in-custody records or published inspection copy found.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 4 February 2025: rated capacity 650, population 339 that day; noncompliances: none recorded.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in McHenry 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