Champaign County Jail

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The Champaign County Jail is located at 204 East Main Street in Urbana, IL and is a medium security county jail operated by the Champaign County Sheriff’s Department.

This site tells you all the information about everything a person needs to know about the Champaign County Jail, like how to locate an inmate, the jail’s phone number and address, intake procedures and booking, how to find your court records, and lots more.

Top 10 Searches for Champaign County Jail

1. Champaign County Jail Information
2. Champaign County Jail Inmate Search
3. Champaign County Inmate Search in Urbana, IL
4. Champaign County Jail Visitation Rules
5. Champaign County Jail Visitation Hours
6. Discount Champaign County Jail Inmate Calls
7. How to Send Inmate Care Packages to Champaign County Jail
8. What is Inmate Commissary?
9. How to Send Money to an Inmate at Champaign County Jail
10. How to Search Champaign County Arrest Records

Introduction

This guide is meant to give information and tips that you’ll need to make helping a friend or family member get out of jail a little less stressful. If you have a specific question, please feel free to ask it in the comment section below, and any comments or feedback that would be a benefit to others is much appreciated.

Champaign County Jail Inmate Search

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Who’s In Jail

The Champaign County Jail Inmate List is an online list of individuals currently in custody, which includes status, and schedule for visitation. Also, you can get the same information on anyone arrested and booked or discharged within the past 24 hour period. Jail inmates are shown in alphabetical order by last name. You can locate the information more quickly if you have the arrestee’s first and last name, birth date, or inmate ID.

Champaign County Jail Policies and Procedures

Intake Procedures

The intake procedure at the Champaign County Jail takes you through these steps:

You will be placed in a waiting area or cell. If the jail is busy, you may not be processed immediately.

The first step is that you have to answer a bunch of questions, like your full name, home address, birth date and a contact person, and they’ll also ask you about your medical and psychological history. Next, you will be issued an inmate ID number and you will be fingerprinted. Then, any personal property you have will be taken away from you and stored until you get released from jail.

You will get to use the telephone so you can get in touch with a member of your family, friend, or loved one.

If you are expected to be released shortly, you might be allowed to keep wearing street clothes, but if you are not expected to make bail quickly you you will have to wear a jail jumpsuit.

Discharge Procedures

When you pay your bail, you will be discharged from jail. The discharge process may take between 30 minutes to hours or even all day long. In simple terms, the quicker you post bail, the faster you will be freed. How quickly you get discharged might depend on whether or not you’ve been given a cash bond amount or if a judge has to figure out the amount of bail to be set. For a minor charge, you will simply be booked and then released on your recognizance without having to pay bail. When you get to the end of your sentence and know the discharge date, expect to get released at any time that day – but usually in the morning.

Champaign County Jail Visitation

The inmate have to give each visitor’s full name to the Champaign County Jail in advance of the visit. Your visitor’s information will go in the log for the requesting inmate. Every visitor will be required to provide a photo ID when visiting. Any visitors showing up late or that is not an approved visitor will not be allowed to attend visitation.

Visitation procedures at Champaign County Jail frequently change, so make sure that you call the jail at (217) 384-1240 before you go.

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Visitation Rules

Before you can visit someone at the Champaign County Jail you have to have your name on their approved visitation list.

Be sure to take your up to date government issued ID or valid driver’s license when you go to visit or you will not be allowed to enter.

No phones at Champaign County Jail, and you will be searched. Personal belongings are not allowed. Anyone parole, probation, or other corrections supervision must get the permission of both their individual supervising officer and the superintendent prior to a visit. This kind of visitation is not normally approved.

If a visitor is under the age of 18 is related to the inmate, they will have to be accompanied by an adult family member or guardian to include a member of the inmate’s extended family. If the visitor is younger than 18 years old and is not related to the inmate, the minor visitor must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Sending Mail to Inmates

This is what you need to know about sending letters, photos, postcards, greeting cards and magazines to an inmate at the Champaign County Jail. Incoming and outgoing inmate mail at the Champaign County Jail is always searched and inspected for contraband that might threaten the security, safety or well-being of the facility, its staff, and inmates. Inmates can only receive metered, unstamped, plain white postcards no larger than 4″ x 6″ as mail. The writing on the postcard has to be in pencil or blue or black ink. If it has a stamp on it, it will get returned. If you write in green ink, then it will get returned. If you send any other kind of mail will be returned to the sender. If there is no return address on it, then the unauthorized mail will be stored in the inmate’s locker until the inmate gets release.

Do not include any of these things in the mail that you send to an inmate: any kind of threat to jail order, any description of the manufacture of weapons, bombs, incendiary devices, or tools for escape; do not encourage or advocate any kind of violence, hate speech, or racial or ethnic supremacy. Inmates are not allowed to write to other inmates.

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Sending Other Things to an Inmate

There are strict procedures that you must follow to send anything to an inmate at the Champaign County Jail. This includes sending money for to spend in the commissary, sending regular mail or photos, sending money for phone calls, and even postcards.

This page covers everthing you need to know about the Champaign County Jail to help you follow these procedures and guidelines. If you have questions, or there is something that you were looking for, but did not find, please contact us using the contact link in the site menu.

Public Records

Warrant Inquiry

If you think you might have an outstanding warrant for your arrest, you can find out by checking the arrest warrants inquiry on the Champaign County jail website or you can call the jail directly. You have to have their first and last name. You can also go to the local jail and ask the officer in charge. Keep in mind that if there is an arrest warrant out for you, you will be taken into custody immediately.

Arrest Record Search

If you know the person’s first and last name, and their arrest date, contact the jail, by phone, in person, or you can check online. Records of arrests are a matter of public record and this information is accessible to anyone.

Court Records

Court Records are considered public records, so they are accessible to anyone who requests them. Court Records include a case file that contains a docket sheet and all of the filings and documents filed in your case. You can access the court records via the internet, or at Clerk of Court in the jurisdiction where the case was filed.

Criminal Records

Each and every state maintains records of their state citizen’s criminal background. These online databases are all linked so you can track criminal backgrounds from other states. Go to courthouse and make an inquiry, or you can check online. It is helpful to know the county the crime was committed in, and in the event that the crime was in a different state entirely, you might have to pay a fee for a more complete search.

When you look up someone’s criminal record you will be able to find out if someone has been arrested, charged, or convicted for DUI, drug crimes, kidnapping, rape or other sexual assault, violent crimes including assault, battery and murder, or theft, breaking and entering.

Money & Commissary

The rules for sending funds to Champaign County Jail jail inmates could change, so it would be best to visit the Champaign County Jail site when send funds to someone in jail there.

How To Send Money to an Inmate at Champaign County Jail

You will have your own ‘bank account’ while in jail. This money is used to purchase items from the Commissary. Family and friends can deposit money into this account for you, and any money you earn while in prison will also be deposited into your account. Outside money can be paid in to your account via a money order, cash or check. If someone sends a check or money order, make sure that they write your inmate ID on it. The maximum amount you are allowed in your account is $290 per month.

Guidelines For Sending Money To An Inmate

Before you send any money you should find out what online money transfer companies the jail your inmate is incarcerated in uses. The exact method that the Champaign County Jail uses changes frequently, so it is best to call them at (217) 384-1240 to get the current payment method.

You may be required to be on the inmate’s visitation list in order to send them money, and be aware that they may have a limit on how much you deposit at one time, like $200-300 at a time, or a limit on how much money may be in the inmate’s account at one time.

Some of the money transfer firms being used by various facilities include JPay, MoneyGram, AccessCorrections, OffenderConnect, Touchpayonline, JailATM, WU, smartdeposit, and tigercommissary.

If an inmate has fines or are required to pay restitution then they will be subject to garnishment of their commissary/trust account. If the inmate has a garnishment, then money to pay them will be taken from the inmate’s bank account. In some cases it may be a percentage or the entire amount of the obligation, but the actual percentage depends on the circumstances. We recommend that inmates talk to the counselor at their facility and try to find out. You can also try to make an arrangement so that only a percentage of your commissary funds are taken, instead of all your funds take at one time.

Commissary

The commissary is the Champaign County Jail store. Inmates can buy different things here, such as toiletries, snacks and writing supplies. Remember that you will most likely need to buy things from the commissary on a daily basis, and any infractions will get that privilege taken away from you.

The Commissary will sell an assortment of different products that the inmate can purchase if they have enough money in their commissary account. These products include clothes, shoes, small snacks and other food items, in addition to personal hygiene products like soap, shampoo, and disposable razors for shaving. The commissary also sells other things like books and magazines, televisions and radios, playing cards, headphones, MP3 players, and electronic tablets. They also sell everything need to write home to family, friends, and loved ones: paper, envelopes, and stamps. If an inmate is indigent and cannot afford paper and stamps, the jail will provide these things to an inmate who has not had any money in their commissary account for at least 30 days.

Phone Calls & Phone Usage Policy

All phone calls from the Champaign County Jail are collect calls or through a pre-paid phone account . Calls made in jail are much more expensive than phone calls made outside of jail. There are certain restrictions about how often you can use the phone, but you should keep in mind that a long line can form at the phones, because everyone wants to use the phone, too. If you are disciplined for an infraction, phone privileges might get cut back or eliminated completely, as part of the punishment.

The Champaign County Jail phone number is: (217) 384-1240

How To Save Money on Inmate Calls

Correctional facility phone service providers have a monopoly at each facility that they operate the phone services for, which means that they they control how much it costs to make phone calls. The money these phone service providers make off of all of the phone calls that inmates make are split with the facility, so there is no incentive for the jail or the counselors at the facility to show inmates or their family how to save money on inmate phone calls at the Champaign County Jail. The rates are posted and there are at least two pricing tiers based on where the inmate is calling. These three things will determine how much an inmate phone call will cost: Where you are located; Where your inmate is located, What type of phone number you have.

For example, if your inmate is in federal prison, if you get a new local number then this will decrease your inmate’s phone call rate from $.21 per minute to only $.06 per minute.

For the other correctional facilities like state prisons, and local and county jails finding out how to decrease your inmates phone charges can be more difficult. ArrestedResources.com is an expert in keeping up with all of the changes that affect your inmate’s calling rate and in most cases is able to offer you an inmate calling number that will save you a lot of money on how much it costs you to call your inmate. There are some circumstances where we will not be able to save you any money, and therefore we will not offer you an inmate calling number. In cases like this, the jail has set their phone call rates in a way that nobody can save you money.

For more detailed information on how to save on inmate calls at Champaign County Jail, click the link below.

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