Grundy County Booking Releases Search
Grundy County booking releases come from the Sheriff's Office at 111 E. Washington Street in Morris. The county has a population of about 53,219 and sits southwest of the Chicago metro area. All arrests within Grundy County are processed through the county jail. There is no online inmate search available at this time. You can check on a current inmate by phone, visit the jail in person, or submit a FOIA request. The 13th Judicial Circuit Court handles criminal cases tied to these bookings.
Grundy County Quick Facts
Grundy County Sheriff Booking Records
The Grundy County Sheriff's Office is the central point for all booking releases in the county. The office runs the county jail in Morris and processes every arrest. When someone gets booked, jail staff record the person's name, date of birth, charges, bond amount, and the date and time. This file is updated if the bond changes or if the person is released. The booking record stays on file even after the person leaves custody.
You can reach the Sheriff at (815) 941-3212. Call during business hours to check if someone is in the jail. Staff can share basic info like charges and bond over the phone. If you need more than a quick check, ask about getting a copy of the booking release record. The office may require you to come in or submit a written request depending on the situation.
Local police in Morris, Minooka, Coal City, and other Grundy County communities make arrests in their own towns. Those arrests still go through the county jail for booking. The Sheriff's Office holds all the booking data, regardless of which police department handled the initial arrest. This central system makes it easy to know where to look: all roads lead to the Sheriff.
| Address |
Grundy County Sheriff's Office 111 E. Washington Street Morris, IL 60450 |
|---|---|
| Phone | (815) 941-3212 |
| County Seat | Morris |
| Website | grundyco.org/sheriff |
How to Get Grundy County Booking Releases
Without an online roster, getting booking release records from Grundy County requires direct contact with the Sheriff's Office. There are three main approaches, and each works best in different situations.
Phone calls are fastest. Dial (815) 941-3212 and ask about a specific person. Staff can tell you if someone is currently in the jail, what they are charged with, and what the bond is set at. This takes minutes and works well for quick custody checks. If the person was already released, staff may still have the information in their system. Keep in mind that phone calls are best for basic facts. Getting a detailed written record usually requires one of the other methods.
Visiting the office at 111 E. Washington Street in Morris lets you request printed copies. Bring the person's full name and whatever other details you have. Staff can pull up the record and print what you need. Copy fees follow state guidelines. In-person visits are useful when you want the record in your hands that day and are close enough to make the trip.
A FOIA request is the most thorough option. It works for current records, old records, and anything in between. You can submit it by mail or email. The details are covered below.
FOIA Requests for Grundy County Booking Releases
Illinois law under 5 ILCS 140 gives every person the right to request public records from the Grundy County Sheriff. The office must respond within five business days. You do not need to be a resident of Grundy County or even of Illinois. The law applies the same to everyone. You also do not need to explain why you want the records.
Be clear about what you need. State the person's full name and include a date range if you can. A specific request like "booking record for John Smith from October 2025" is much easier for staff to handle than "all booking records for the past year." Under 5 ILCS 140/2.15, basic arrest information including the person's name, age, address, and charges must be made available within 72 hours of the arrest. This is a shorter window than the standard five days. It helps when you need fresh data from Grundy County.
Fees are set by the state. The first 50 pages of black-and-white copies are free. After that, each page costs 15 cents. Electronic copies may come at no charge if they do not require extra staff work. If you send your request by email, include the full text in the body of the email. Illinois Public Act 104-0438, effective January 1, 2026, requires this for all email FOIA requests statewide. An attachment alone does not meet the legal standard anymore.
Send your request to the Grundy County Sheriff's Office at 111 E. Washington Street, Morris, IL 60450.
What Grundy County Booking Releases Contain
Booking release records in Grundy County follow a standard format. The record captures key facts from the arrest and jail stay. Details get updated as the case progresses through the system.
You will find the person's full name, date of birth, and physical description on the record. Charges at the time of booking are listed along with the bond amount. The booking date and time are always noted. When the person is released, the record shows the date, time, and method. Bond postings, court-ordered releases, sentence completions, and transfers to other facilities all show up differently. The arresting agency is usually included, which tells you whether the arrest was made by the Morris police, Minooka police, Illinois State Police, or the Sheriff's own deputies.
Not all information is public. Juvenile records stay sealed. Records that a court has ordered sealed or expunged under the Criminal Identification Act (20 ILCS 2630) cannot be disclosed. Medical data from the jail stay is off limits. But for standard adult bookings, the core data is public and available to anyone.
Illinois Law on Grundy County Booking Releases
State law governs how booking release records are handled in Grundy County. The Illinois FOIA (5 ILCS 140) is the core law for public records access. It requires the Sheriff to respond to requests within five business days. It caps what can be charged for copies. It lists the exemptions that allow records to be withheld, but those exemptions are narrow.
The Criminal Identification Act (20 ILCS 2630) deals with criminal history data specifically. This law controls when booking records can be sealed or expunged and limits access to full criminal history reports. If a judge in the 13th Judicial Circuit orders a Grundy County record sealed, that booking file disappears from public view. The Sheriff will not acknowledge it exists once the order takes effect. But most adult booking releases are not sealed. The default is public access.
These two laws work together. FOIA opens the door to records. The Criminal Identification Act puts some limits on what can come through that door. For the large majority of booking releases in Grundy County, the records are open and available. The exceptions are specific and require either a court order or a statutory exemption like juvenile status.
State Resources for Booking Releases
The Illinois Department of Corrections runs a statewide offender search. It covers inmates in state prisons, not county jails. But if someone was booked in Grundy County and later transferred to IDOC, you can find them in the state database. The search is free and shows current status, facility location, and projected release date.
The Illinois Department of Corrections website offers tools for searching state-level inmate records.
IDOC covers people in state facilities and is useful when a Grundy County booking led to a state prison sentence.
The Illinois State Police also maintain criminal history records through the Bureau of Identification. Full background checks require fingerprints and a payment. For Grundy County booking releases on their own, the local Sheriff is the right place to start. State databases are better for tracking people across multiple jurisdictions or after they have left county custody.
Grundy County Court and Booking Records
The 13th Judicial Circuit serves Grundy, Bureau, and LaSalle Counties. Criminal cases from Grundy County arrests are filed in this court. The Circuit Clerk keeps all case records, including the charges filed by the state's attorney, hearing dates, plea results, and sentencing orders.
Court records and booking records live in different offices but connect through case numbers. If charges were filed after a booking, the case number appears on both the jail record and the court file. Use that number to search the clerk's records and get the full case history. The clerk's office at the Grundy County courthouse in Morris handles walk-in and phone requests for case data. Newer records may be searchable through electronic systems, but older files may require an in-person visit.
Nearby Counties
These counties border Grundy County. If you are not sure which county processed a booking, check the arrest location. Each county operates its own jail and keeps its own booking release records.