Browse Lake County Mugshots for Free: Get Instant Results

Begin a Lake County mugshot search for free to find out if someone you know has an arrest or criminal record.

The Illinois Freedom of Information Act gives anyone the right to view their own records as well as public information about others – including mugshots – through online or offline resources from several official custodians.

This article helps interested individuals efficiently search their own records and others, ranging from city to state resources.

Free Mugshot Resources: Where To Look

Lake County, Illinois, has several resources available to view inmate mugshots from official custodians at city/village, county, state, and federal levels.

Municipal police departments are responsible for the protection of a specific city or village and arrest individuals who commit any offenses within their community or jurisdiction.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office, on the other hand, is the agency in charge of the safety and protection of the whole county. The department also supervises the county jail and detention center, with a database containing records of inmates available for public viewing.

At the state level, the Illinois Department of Corrections manages all correctional facilities located within the state and has inmate locators available to view offenders’ records.

In addition to using these inmate locators, record seekers may also process an online record request, or contact the departments via phone, email, mail, or by visiting them in person.

Explore Methods To Obtain Lake County Mugshots (No Fees)

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has a mobile-friendly inmate search tool that can be used conveniently to find a detainee’s mugshot and other information.¹

The jail roster can be browsed either by providing the first (at least 1 letter) and last name (at least 3 letters) of the inmate, booking number, or the estimated booking date. The matching results will show their booking number, full name, sex, booking date, and location.

The booking number of each inmate has a hyperlink routing to another page with the following information: full name, address, booking number, sex, status, date of confinement, court date, disposition, bond type, bond amount, and offense.

Another way to retrieve the information of an inmate is through a Freedom of information Act request by submitting it either through an online portal, mail, fax, or in person at the sheriff’s office. A FOIA request must be sent using any of these methods, and the nature of the request must be specific for the FOIA officers’ efficient process.

Mailing Address:

Lake County Sheriff’s Office
Adult Corrections Facility
Att: FOIA
20 South County St.
Waukegan, Illinois 60085

Fax: 847.360.5763

Physical Address:

Lake County Sheriff’s Office
Corrections Division
29 South Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue
Waukegan, Illinois 60085

Phone: 847.377.4200

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office also has a sex offender search tool that provides mugshots of individuals convicted of sex crimes throughout the county.

VINELink, a third-party service, can also be searched for inmate mugshots and the current custody status of offenders in Illinois.⁴

For more information, check out the options for retrieving arrest records in Lake County, Illinois.

Inmate Rehabilitation & Support Systems

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Division has various services and programs available to assist inmates during their detention and to help them be renewed and ready to reintegrate into society once released.

Post Bond: To secure an inmate’s release, posting bond can be done in the form of cash or through a certified cashier’s check payable to the “Clerk of the Circuit Clerk” to be paid at the jail reception in Waukegan 24/7.⁵ Debit or credit cards, personal checks, and traveler’s checks are not acceptable for bond payments.

Inmate’s Account: Families may send money to inmates’ Trust Funds to be used for purchasing items at the facility’s commissary. The inmate’s account can be funded through ConnectNetwork using their online website or mobile app, by phone through Trust & Self-Release at 888.428.1845, and via the jail reception lobby kiosk or CBCC lobby kiosk.

Visit an Inmate: The Lake County Jail offers remote video visitation services through ViaPath GettingOut and VisManager for families and friends to connect with inmates frequently for $0.25 per minute with one free visit per week.⁶

Inmate Phone System: Families and friends may communicate with incarcerated individuals through the help of the advanced communications services that GTL provides by creating an account online, through the mobile app of ConnectNetwork, or by calling 800.483.8314.

A family or friend may receive a phone call from an inmate through AdvancePay or Pin Debit or through collect calls with a charge of $0.07 per minute for local calls and $0.65 per minute for international calls.

Tablet Services: ViaPath GettingOut offers inmates with wireless tablets that they could use to communicate with their loved ones and access various contents used for education, messaging, multimedia content, and vocational training.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office also offers other programs and services for inmates including various educational and spiritual enrichment programming, reentry programming, religious volunteer programming, inmate worker program, healthcare services, library services, food services and more.⁷

Mugshot Access via Law Enforcement Agencies in Lake County’s Cities & Villages

The cities and villages within Lake County have police departments that help protect and ensure the community’s safety. Some of them contract with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, while others have their own police departments.

As the arresting agency of a specific city or village, these police departments have records of arrested individuals, which include their mugshots.

The police departments don’t have online databases to view arrest records. However, record seekers may process a record request online, by mail, by email, fax, or in person. Before processing any request, interested parties should call the police department to inquire about the requirements needed and the possible charges to access a specific type of record.

The table below lists all city police departments within Lake County with their address, contact information and own process to obtain a record.

The table below lists all police departments in various villages of Lake County, along with their basic information, which can be used to process requests and obtain arrest records.

How To View & Obtain Mugshots of Convicted Inmates in IL (State or Federal)

Mugshots can also be found within state and federal resources. State resources can be taken from the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), while federal resources can be found from the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) with various institutions spread throughout the United States.

At the state level, the IDOC agency – with 46 facilities – has several search tools where anyone may run a mugshot search. The Individual in Custody Search is one of these tools, which can be browsed by providing the last name, IDOC number, or birthdate of the offender.⁹

In the matching results, find the correct record and then click the “Query A Highlighted Inmate” to view the full details of the offender, including the following information: mugshots, IDOC number, full name, parent institution, custody status, location, physical profile, admission/release/discharge information, and sentencing information.

The other tools available where record seekers can find mugshots include the following: Wanted Fugitives, Illinois State Police Sex Offender Registry, Parolee Sex Registrant Search, and Inmate Early Release Community Notification.

At the federal level, searchers may look up details of anyone incarcerated through the inmate locator provided by the BOP agency.¹⁰ Whether released or still in custody, a federal offender’s information can be found in the inmate locator by searching through their name or BOP register number.

The search results will show the following information, but excludes mugshots: the offender’s full name, register number, race, age, sex, release date, and location.

For additional information, review the process on how to access the arrest and criminal records of individuals in Illinois.

The Illinois Freedom of Information Act states that any records possessed by public agencies can be accessed by the public upon request.¹¹ These records include the arrest and criminal records of an individual. However, there are limitations on how detailed an individual’s information can be released, who can view it, and how the record should be used.

Public records can be used personally and professionally, but they should not be used to harm an individual or to discriminate against anyone, such as at work or for any benefit that anyone has the right to obtain. Anyone committing such acts may be charged with a criminal offense.

Retrieve police photographs through a Lake County mugshot search via various official resources efficiently, but be a responsible citizen and maintain ethical conduct in accessing and using these records.