Massac County Detention Center Overview
The Massac County Detention Center, called the Massac County Jail in state reports, is operated by the Massac County Sheriff's Office at 515 E. Market St in downtown Metropolis. It is a local jail, not a state prison or a federal facility. The people held here are awaiting court, serving short local sentences, waiting for transfer, or held under local or contract authority. The sheriff is Chad Kaylor, and the jail administrator is John Konemann.
The state's 2024 inspection is the most detailed public source for the building. It lists the jail as built in 1990, with a rated capacity of 42 beds split into 34 male and eight female. The housing mix includes 11 double cells with barred doors, two single isolation rooms, three double detention rooms with solid doors, and three four-bed dorms, plus booking holding rooms and one safety cell that do not count toward the bed total.
Massac County Detention Center Capacity and Population
The jail's population is best read through the state inspections, since there is no public daily dashboard. On the June 18, 2024 inspection the jail held 22 people, about half of its 42 beds. Two years earlier the picture was tighter, with 46 people held against a 40-bed capacity, which the state flagged as six over the limit. The stat block shows the latest sourced figures.
The 2024 count included 20 male and two female detainees, and no juveniles were held. The swing from 46 down to 22 across two inspections shows a jail that can fill quickly when transfers stall, then ease when the count drops. The state did not explain the change, so it should be read as two snapshots rather than a full trend line.
Who Is Held at the Massac County Detention Center
Most people in the jail are tied to Massac County cases, either before trial or on a short local sentence. The 2024 inspection adds an important detail. The jail houses detainees for Johnson and Pope counties under contract, so part of the count comes from outside Massac County. That matters for anyone reading a head count, because the number inside the building is not the same as the number of people charged in Massac County.
The jail is not a youth facility, and no juveniles were held on the 2024 inspection day. People who are sentenced to prison leave for the state system, and people facing federal or immigration matters move into separate federal custody. So the detention center is a snapshot of local custody, and other systems pick up where it leaves off.
How to Look Up an Inmate at the Massac County Detention Center
This is a county jail, so the right tool is the county channel, not a state or federal locator. The sheriff keeps current inmate information in the Massac County Sheriff app rather than a public web roster. The steps below follow that channel, with the jail line as the backup.
- Download the Massac County Sheriff app from Google Play or the Apple App Store.
- Open the jail or current inmate information feature and search by name.
- Confirm the person is held here, since the jail also holds contract detainees from other counties.
- If the app is missing the person or seems out of date, call the jail at 618-524-2912.
For the full set of access channels, including records requests and the state, federal, and immigration locators, the jail inmate records page lays out the whole chain. Once a person is sentenced to prison, they move from this jail to the state system and are found through the state locator instead.
Massac County Detention Center Address and Contact
The detention center shares its address with the sheriff's office in downtown Metropolis. Use the working jail address below for mail and visits, and call the jail line for custody questions. The jail does not publish a separate records-counter hour, so call before coming in person.
Massac County Detention Center
515 E. Market St
Metropolis, IL 62960
618-524-2912
Fax 618-524-3125
Visiting Someone at the Massac County Detention Center
The sheriff's jail page sets a fixed in-person schedule. Visits are held on Sundays and Wednesdays, split by sex, with female detainees visiting from noon to 1 p.m. and male detainees from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Each visit is short and limited to one visitor. The table lays out the schedule.
| Day | Hours | Who Visits |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. | Female detainees |
| Sunday | 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. | Male detainees |
| Wednesday | 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. | Female detainees |
| Wednesday | 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. | Male detainees |
| Other days | No public in-person visits | Confirm by phone |
Each visit is one 15-minute session with one visitor at a time, and a visitor under 17 must come with an adult. Visitors sign the log, show a picture ID, and bring no electronics or personal items. Contact visits are not allowed, and people on probation or parole, or anyone held in the jail within the last six months, cannot visit. For video visits, the sheriff's inmate listing page points to InmateSales.
The InmateSales video visitation vendor is shown below.
The InmateSales page above is where the sheriff sends people for video inmate visitation, while the 2024 inspection names Combined Public Communications as the provider of telephone, texting, and video visit services.
Mail, Phone, and Money at the Massac County Detention Center
Mail rules are simple but strict. Letters may be written to an inmate, every letter needs a return address, and the envelope can hold only letters and photos. Money for an inmate's commissary account can be dropped at the jail with cash through the Stellar kiosk, and the sheriff's home page also links JailATM for deposits and bond. The table sorts the main services.
| Service | Provider / Detail |
|---|---|
| Mail Address | Inmate Name, Massac County Detention Center, 515 Market St., Metropolis, IL 62960 |
| Phone and Video | Combined Public Communications; video visits via InmateSales |
| Commissary Deposit | Stellar kiosk at the jail; JailATM linked by the sheriff |
Inmates make calls from their cells and buy phone cards from the commissary, and a lobby kiosk handles phone cards too. Posted vendor fees were not found, so confirm any charge in the kiosk or vendor screen. The JailATM deposit and bond tool linked by the sheriff is shown below.
The JailATM page above handles commissary deposits and bond posting through the sheriff's link. Bond can also be posted at the detention center around the clock by cash or credit card, though Illinois has ended money bail for new cases.
Booking and Intake at the Massac County Detention Center
When a person is brought to the jail for lodging, intake follows a standard set of steps under state jail standards. Staff check the legal basis for custody, verify identity, search the person, take property for safekeeping, and fingerprint and photograph the person under current law. The jail added a live-scan fingerprint machine and a modern jail management system by the 2024 inspection, which supports electronic booking records.
After intake comes a medical and mental-health screening, an admitting shower, and clean clothing and bedding, then classification and a housing assignment. Female detainees are kept separate from male detainees by sight and sound as a standards checkpoint. Meals are prepared on-site by jail staff. The timing of when a new booking appears in the app was not published, so a phone call is best for a very recent arrest.
Programs and Inspection Findings at the Jail
The 2024 inspection documents a real set of programs for a small jail. They include the PATH program through the Family Counseling Center, a recovery program through Paducah Lifeline Ministries, and substance-abuse counseling and release referrals through the Massac County Mental Health and Family Counseling Center, Teen Challenge, and Crossroads. GED materials and testing run through Shawnee Community College, the law library carries the Illinois Compiled Statutes, and religious volunteer visits are available by phone and video on request.
The 2024 report also credited the jail with recent upgrades. The staff added new uniforms, mattresses, sheets, blankets, and towels, along with books, puzzles, board games, and a Roman exercise chair for detainee recreation. The building gained an updated camera system, the live-scan fingerprint machine, the new jail management system, and kitchen equipment such as a stove, freezers, and an ice machine. These are small changes on their own, but together they shape day-to-day conditions for the people held here.
The same report also listed standards problems. The state found staffing and supervision shortfalls, with one officer on some shifts, and a low sample of timely observation checks at 54 of 288. It also flagged cell-locking at night, backup staffing when doors are opened, and missing commissary audit records. These are state inspection findings, presented here as the record shows them. To search current custody at this facility, return to the Massac County inmate population home page.
Note: Confirm custody and the current visiting schedule with the jail at 618-524-2912 before you travel, since rules and counts can change.