The Detention Center
Richland County Jail
- Operated byRichland County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address (IDOC 2025)221 W. Market St, Olney, IL 62450
- Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)63
- Population on inspection day (IDOC 2025)9 (8 male, 1 female)
- Year built (IDOC 2025)2006
- Jail AdministratorLieutenant Ryan Singer — IDOC 2025 inspection report as jail administrator
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 built2006 (IDOC 2025 report)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds63 rated (IDOC 2025 report)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Andy Hires
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff is warden of the county jail
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Name sourceIDOC 2025 inspection report (the sheriff's own site could not be read; the Illinois Sheriffs' Association lists Andrew Hires)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: IDOC 2025 jail inspection report · 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.
Richland 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).
- NoteSeven-district County Board; chairman listed: Travis Paddock.
- The boardRichland County Board →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- County site (richlandcounty.illinois.gov) was opened: home, County Board and Documents pages; no jail page, jail information or budget document found there.
- The sheriff's site (richlandcso.com) is a JavaScript app whose content could not be read, so its jail pages (if any) were not examined; the 'no' results reflect only the county site.
- Illinois Sheriffs' Association page lists sheriff Andrew Hires and jail administrator Ryan Singer (not a county source).
- Not scored: The sheriff's site is a JavaScript app that could not be read; only the county site was examined. Marking the rest 'not published' would claim more than was checked.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 9 July 2025: rated capacity 63, population 9 that day; noncompliances: none recorded.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Richland 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