The Detention Center
Saline County Detention Center
- Operated bySaline County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address (IDOC 2025)1 N. Main St, Harrisburg, IL 62946
- Rated capacity (IDOC 2025)108
- Population on inspection day (IDOC 2025)48 (33 male, 15 female)
- Year built (IDOC 2025)1994
- Jail AdministratorBrad Karnes — County Sheriff page as Jail Administrator; IDOC 2025 report as Captain Brad Karnes
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 built1994 (IDOC 2025 report)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds108 rated (IDOC 2025 report)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Whipper Johnson
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff is warden of the county jail
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Name in IDOC 2025 reportJames "Whipper" Johnson
- Phone618-252-8661
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Saline 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.
Saline 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).
- NoteChair listed: Jay Williams; vice-chair Mike McKinnies. Minutes posted by month on the board page.
- The boardSaline County Board →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- County Sheriff page names the sheriff and jail administrator but gives no jail name, roster, fees, bond, PREA or capacity information.
- County Board page posts a 'Proposed County Budget for Display' PDF (Nov 2025) that could not be read as text, so the budget check is not counted.
- A separate sheriff domain (salinecosheriff.com / temp.salinecosheriff.com, with a jail.html page) could not be opened.
- Illinois Sheriffs' Association page lists 110 jail beds (not a county source).
- Not scored: The separate sheriff domain with its jail page could not be opened; only a thin county sheriff page was read. Marking the rest 'not published' would claim more than was checked.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit, inspected 18 September 2025: rated capacity 108, population 48 that day; noncompliances: one, 701.130(a)(2) supervision — personal observation 'at least every 30 minutes' (386 of 432 sampled checks timely, 89%); recommendation: 'Ensure these checks are being completed according to the Illinois County Jail Standards.'
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Saline 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