Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Jacksonville, Illinois, in Morgan County, has about 18,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the State's Attorney files charges, a case in the Circuit Court of Morgan County. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Jacksonville public records, Morgan County arrest records, Illinois arrest records and Illinois inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Jacksonville
The FBI lists Jacksonville with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Jacksonville Police Department. It reported 500 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Morgan County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 56 arrests for 2025.
How Many Arrests Jacksonville Reports
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Jacksonville: 500 for 2025, 761 for 2024, 583 for 2023 and 596 for 2022.
Jacksonville's 500 arrests in 2025 were down 34 percent from 761 in 2024.
Through September 2026, Jacksonville reported 361 arrests, against 380 in the same months of 2025.
Across Morgan County, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,910 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Jacksonville Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Jacksonville is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 55 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 55 beds, and it ran at 100 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Morgan County Sheriff's Office at ilsheriff.org/county/morgan (page title: Morgan County | Illinois Sheriffs' Association), phone (217) 753-2372, 300 West Court, Jacksonville, IL 62650, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Illinois Department of Corrections lists its inmates at idoc.illinois.gov/offender/inmatesearch.html.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Jacksonville
Whether someone was arrested in Jacksonville, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Circuit Court of Morgan County, kept by the Circuit Clerk, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at morgancounty-il.com/wp/departments/states-attorney, phone (217) 243-5469).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at illinoiscourts.gov/courts-directory/36/Morgan-County-Courthouse/court (page title: Morgan County Courthouse | State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts), phone (217) 243-5419, belongs to a lower court, not to the Circuit Court of Morgan County.
Illinois is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act, through the Illinois State Police. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Jacksonville
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension, and it may charge copying only after the first 50 pages.
- An arrest by the Jacksonville police: the police department's page SearchSystems verified at police.jacksonvilleil.gov/forms/index.php (page title: Jacksonville, IL Police), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 25, 2026.
- An arrest by the Morgan County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (217) 753-2372.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, (217) 243-5469, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Circuit Court of Morgan County it is kept by the Circuit Clerk. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at illinoiscourts.gov, phone (217) 243-5419, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at morgancounty-il.com (page title: Public Records | FOIA | Morgan County, IL).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
The Morgan County guide covers every agency in the county: Morgan County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Jacksonville each year?
Jacksonville reported 500 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
Where are people arrested in Jacksonville booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Morgan County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Jacksonville?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Illinois State Police: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Jacksonville?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Jacksonville police for its own arrests, the Morgan County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at morgancounty-il.com.
Is this the official Jacksonville website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.