The Detention Center
Not found
- Operated byStark County Sheriff's Office
- Jail history (county site)Sheriff's page says the office has served 'since the first jail was built in 1849'
- Posted inspection reports2021 and 2022 Jail Inspection Reports linked from the sheriff's page
- Beds (Illinois Sheriffs' Association page, not county)15
Source: Stark County Sheriff's Office page · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
1/10Closed- ✗The jail is named — not published
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✗PREA audits — not published
- ✓Independent inspection
- ✗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 builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found on county site (Illinois Sheriffs' Association page says 15)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Charles Demetreon
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff is warden of the county jail (55 ILCS 5/3-15003)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term (Illinois Sheriffs' Association page says he was appointed, through 2026)
- Office address130 W Jefferson St, PO Box 610, Toulon IL 61483
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Stark County Sheriff's Office 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.
Stark 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).
- NoteBoard has a Police Committee and Finance Committee listed on the agendas page.
- The boardStark County Board →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's page links a 2021 Jail Inspection Report (starkco.illinois.gov/file/9) and 2022 Jail Inspection Report (file/243); both are scanned PDFs whose text could not be read.
- A 'Fiscal Year 25/26 Budget' is linked (starkco.illinois.gov/file/403) but is a scanned PDF; no sheriff/jail line could be confirmed, so budget is marked no.
- No roster, capacity, bond guidance, fees, PREA, deaths or contracts found on the county site.
- No IDOC 2025 or 2024 inspection report found at the standard URL pattern (404); whether Stark County currently holds prisoners in its own jail could not be confirmed.
- Illinois Sheriffs' Association page lists the jail at 130 W. Jefferson, Toulon, behind the courthouse, 15 beds (third-party source, https://www.ilsheriff.org/county/stark/).
- State inspection/oversight: No 2025 (or 2024) IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit report found at the standard IDOC URL (404). The county site links its own 2021 and 2022 jail inspection reports, which were unreadable scans.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Stark 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