St. Clair County Jail Mugshots Search

St. Clair County jail mugshots are held by the Sheriff's Department in Belleville. The county has about 257,000 residents and sits in the southwestern part of Illinois, right across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. Booking photos are taken at the county jail when someone is arrested and processed through the system. The Sheriff's Department provides an online inmate roster where you can view current inmates and their booking details. This page explains how to search for jail mugshots in St. Clair County and what records you can get.

St. Clair County Sheriff's Department

The St. Clair County Sheriff's Department is the primary agency that handles jail mugshots and arrest records in the county. The department runs the county jail, serves warrants, and manages inmate data. When someone is booked into the St. Clair County Jail, the staff takes a photograph and logs the arrest details into the system. That photo becomes the jail mugshot tied to that booking.

The Sheriff's Department is at 700 North 5th Street in Belleville. You can reach them by phone at (618) 277-3505 or by email at sheriff@co.st-clair.il.us. If you have questions about a specific booking or need help finding a mugshot, the office staff can point you in the right direction. Walk-in requests are taken during business hours, and the phone line handles basic questions about inmates held in St. Clair County.

The St. Clair County Sheriff's Department website has contact details and links to jail services.

Use this site to find phone numbers, office hours, and links to inmate records in St. Clair County.

St. Clair County Inmate Roster

The quickest way to look up jail mugshots in St. Clair County is through the online inmate roster. The St. Clair County inmate roster shows everyone currently held at the jail. Each listing includes the person's name, charges, booking date, and mugshot photo. The tool is free and available all day. You can search by name to find a specific person or scroll through the full list of current inmates.

Under 5 ILCS 140/2.15, Illinois law requires arrest information to be released within 72 hours. That information includes the person's name, age, address, and photograph when available. The inmate roster for St. Clair County meets this requirement by posting booking data and mugshots for public view. The roster gets updated as new arrests come in and inmates are released.

Below is the St. Clair County inmate roster page, which lists current jail inmates and their booking photos.

The roster only shows inmates who are currently in the St. Clair County Jail. Past bookings are not always listed here.

Note: If the person you are looking for has been released, their record may no longer appear on the St. Clair County inmate roster.

Arrest Records Through FOIA

St. Clair County makes arrest records available through the Freedom of Information Act. If you need a jail mugshot or booking record that is not on the online roster, you can submit a FOIA request to the Sheriff's Department. The request can be made in person at 700 North 5th Street in Belleville. You can also send it by email to sheriff@co.st-clair.il.us, by regular mail, or by fax. The department is required to respond within five business days.

Under 5 ILCS 160, agencies in Illinois can charge for arrest record copies. The fee cannot go past the actual cost of copying the records. Labor costs cannot be added. When you write your FOIA request for a St. Clair County jail mugshot, include the person's full name and any other details you have like date of birth or approximate arrest date. The more specific you are, the faster the department can find the record you need.

Municipal police departments in St. Clair County, like the Belleville Police Department, also keep their own arrest records. If the arrest was made by a city officer rather than a county deputy, you may need to contact that department separately. But the jail mugshot itself comes from the county jail, since all arrested people in St. Clair County are processed through that one facility.

Mugshot Laws in Illinois

Illinois has clear rules on how jail mugshots are handled. One key law is 815 ILCS 505/2QQQ, which falls under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. This makes it unlawful for anyone to publish mugshot information and then charge a fee to take it down. Websites that post St. Clair County jail mugshots cannot ask for payment to remove them. The Illinois Attorney General enforces this law, and any person whose mugshot is posted with wrong information can sue for $100 per day it stays up.

The state's FOIA statute at 5 ILCS 140/2.15 controls what arrest data must be released. It requires agencies to provide the arrested person's name, age, address, and photograph within 72 hours. But it also says law enforcement cannot post mugshots on social media for low-level offenses. Petty offenses, business offenses, and Class B and C misdemeanors are off limits for social media posts unless the person is a fugitive or missing. This protection applies in St. Clair County just like everywhere else in Illinois.

The Uniform Conviction Information Act (20 ILCS 2635) gives the public access to conviction data held by the Illinois State Police. If an arrest in St. Clair County led to a conviction, that record can be obtained through the Bureau of Identification using a special form. Each form has a unique processing number and cannot be copied. This is separate from the county-level mugshot records but connects to the same arrest.

Note: Illinois law protects people from websites that charge fees to remove jail mugshots or arrest records.

State Records Tied to St. Clair County

Some arrest records from St. Clair County end up in state-level databases. The Illinois Department of Corrections runs an inmate search for people in state prison. If someone arrested in St. Clair County got a prison sentence, their record moves to the IDOC system. You can search by name to find them. The IDOC site shows facility location, conviction details, and projected release dates. It does not show the original county jail mugshot, but it does tie back to the St. Clair County case.

The Illinois State Police Bureau of Identification holds criminal history records for the state. Their office in Joliet processes conviction information requests from the public. You fill out a form under the Uniform Conviction Information Act and submit it with any required fees. This can help you get conviction details tied to a St. Clair County arrest. For questions about the process, email ISP.BOI.Customer.Support@illinois.gov or call 815-740-5160.

Cities in St. Clair County

St. Clair County has a number of cities and villages spread across the Metro East region. All arrests in these communities are processed through the St. Clair County Jail in Belleville, where booking photos and mugshots are taken.

Cities in St. Clair County include Belleville, East St. Louis, O'Fallon, Fairview Heights, Swansea, Shiloh, and Scott Air Force Base area communities. None meet the threshold for a separate page, but all use the St. Clair County Jail for booking and mugshot processing.

Nearby Counties

These counties are next to St. Clair County. Each one keeps its own jail mugshots and arrest records. If you are looking for a booking that happened near the county line, check with the right county first.