Cook County Department Overview
The Cook County Department of Corrections is operated by the Cook County Sheriff's Office. The main jail campus is at 2700 South California Avenue in Chicago. Sheriff and county sources describe it as one of the largest single-site jail systems in the country, spanning 96 acres and eight city blocks. It primarily holds pretrial detainees and county custody populations under Sheriff authority.
The campus is not one jail building. Active housing and service areas include Division II, Division III Annex, Division VI, Division 6 Annex, Division 8 RTU, Division 8 RTU Annex, Cermak, Division IX, Division X, Division XI, Division XVI, and external operations. Inactive or closed housing includes Division I, Division III, and Division IV. Medical, mental-health, protective custody, programming, and community corrections categories also affect population reporting.
Cook County Jail Population
The Sheriff daily report dated June 9, 2026 listed 5,934 people in the jail population and 222 in community corrections, for 6,156 total under Sheriff custody. The Sheriff page reviewed that same date also showed a jail population of 5,934. Those figures are date-specific. The county performance report listed average daily population as 5,670 in 2022, 5,307 in 2023, 4,874 in 2024, and 5,686 in 2025.
Lookup Cook County Department Inmates
Use the Sheriff Individual in Custody Locator for Cook County Department of Corrections custody. Search by full first and full last name, or by Booking ID. The Booking ID field should not include a hyphen. The form uses reCAPTCHA, and no public refresh frequency was found in the research.
- Open the Sheriff locator search form.
- Enter full first and last name, or enter the Booking ID without hyphens.
- Submit the reCAPTCHA-protected search.
- Use 773-674-5245 when no match appears or housing needs confirmation.
- Use IDOC, BOP, ICE, or Clerk case search if the person is not in county jail custody.
Cook County Corrections Page
The manifest screenshot came from the official Cook County Department of Corrections page.
The page is the best official starting point for the jail campus, population notice, and service links.
Cook County Jail Contact
Use the jail customer-service line for general CCDOC questions and the automated help line for custody, bond, records, mailroom, property, commissary, and supervisor routing. Visitor access should be checked by housing location before travel because entrances differ by division.
Cook County Department of Corrections
2700 South California Avenue
Chicago, IL 60608
773-674-1945
Customer service: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Automated Help Line
Search, bond, visitation, records, property, mailroom
773-674-5245
English or Spanish routing.
Cook County Jail Visitation
Current public materials route visitors through the Sheriff visit scheduler and visitation staff. Family video visits use Microsoft Teams. The Sheriff visitation page says the old divisional visiting schedule is not being followed due to modified procedures, so published unit schedules should be treated as historical or structural guidance unless visitation staff confirms them.
| Topic | Cook County Detail |
|---|---|
| Visitor scheduling | Cook County in-person visitation scheduling application. |
| Video visits | Microsoft Teams after visitor approval workflow. |
| Visitor info | 773-674-8225 or 773-674-8194. |
| ADA questions | ADA Compliance Officer, 773-674-7768. |
Cook County Jail Mail and Money
Mail should include the person's name and booking number, followed by 2700 S. California Ave., Chicago, IL 60608. If the booking number is not known, use the locator or call 773-674-5245. Trust-account deposits may use online or phone deposits, Currency Exchange facilities, JailATM, USPS, or jail lobby kiosks. Online and telephone deposits take one to two business days in the Sheriff research.
| Service | Provider / Detail |
|---|---|
| Name, Booking Number, 2700 S. California Ave., Chicago, IL 60608. | |
| Commissary | Up to $100 per week in clothing, supplies, or food items. |
| Deposits | Western Union, MoneyGram, JailATM, USPS, and lobby kiosks. |
| Phone | GTL/ViaPath/ConnectNetwork. Local and interstate rates listed at $0.05 per minute. |
Cook County Jail Divisions
The Sheriff jail divisions page documents active and inactive jail areas. Division XI is a 640,000-square-foot medium-security building with capacity 1,536. Division IX was designed for 1,056 and houses medium and maximum general population, rehabilitation units, and protective custody. Division XVI is used for programming participants, including Mental Health Transition Center participants. Division X has medical and acute psychiatric history, while Cermak is tied to the jail health-services environment.
Housing location codes matter for visits. Sheriff materials show examples such as DIV2 and DIV08 followed by a tier or living unit. Confirm housing through the locator or phone line before picking a visitor entrance.
Cook County Jail Programs
CCDOC is also a services and programming campus. Sheriff research lists correctional liaisons, law and public library support, religious services, education, substance-use treatment, the Mental Health Transition Center, SAVE, SMART, THRIVE, CARP, veteran services, voter education, yoga, chess, creative arts, parenting, workforce development, urban farming, an apiary, welding, and the Recipe for Change culinary program. Those programs do not change the basic roster route, but they explain why the jail population includes more than simple holding cells.
The Cook County 2025 Annual Performance Report listed 6,044 unique individuals receiving DOC programming in 2025, down from 8,751 in 2024. It also reported that 63.8% received programming in 2025. Program figures are separate from custody count and should be read with their performance-report year.
Cook County Jail Oversight
Illinois county jails are governed by the County Jail Act, IDOC Jail and Detention Standards Unit inspections, and 20 Ill. Admin. Code Part 701. Those rules cover records, admissions, release, classification, separation, housing, medical and mental-health care, discipline, grievances, sanitation, and recreation. Cook County also has a recent federal oversight history: a 2010 DOJ agreed order required remedial measures, and a 2017 federal court release ended oversight after compliance findings.
Note: Confirm custody, housing, and visit rules with the Sheriff before travel because division assignments can change.
Cook County Release Routing
Release questions can involve more than the jail roster. Illinois no longer requires money bail for new Cook County criminal cases filed after September 18, 2023, but older cases may still have legacy cash-bond issues. A hold from another agency can stop discharge even when the local release question is resolved. GPS monitoring can also extend discharge processing. The Sheriff bonding page says discharge after bond posting can take about two to three hours and can take longer when monitoring is required.
Cook County Visitor Entrances
Visitor entrances depend on the division. Research lists 2700 S. California for Cermak and Division 8 areas, 2800 S. Sacramento for Division 6, 2854 W. 31st Street for Division 9, 2950 S. California for Division 10, and 3015 S. California Boulevard for Division 11.
Cook County Campus Note
The campus is large, so verify the division first.
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