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Cody RoseMarion County Sheriff

Platform · Goal 09

How I will get the jail to pass its state inspection

Five inspections in a row, the same rule failed. Here is the plan to fix it, step by step, with a timeline you can hold me to.

The problem, in the state's own numbers

Illinois requires that a jail officer personally lay eyes on every person in custody at least once every 30 minutes. A camera does not count. It is how staff catch a medical emergency while there is still time to act.

The state inspects our jail every year and measures how many of those checks were done on time:

  • 56%2021
  • 73%2022
  • 72%2023
  • 85%2024
  • 94%2025

The officers on those floors earned that improvement and deserve credit for it. But the state grades this rule at 100 percent, and the jail has not passed it once in five inspections.

What the numbers tell me

In 2025 the inspector sampled 299 checks. 282 were on time. Seventeen were late.

In that same report, the inspector marked the jail as having sufficient personnel for 24-hour supervision. The reports list 18 full-time jail officers in every one of the five years, while the on-time rate climbed from 56 to 94 percent.

So this is not a problem that more hiring alone will solve. Seventeen late checks is a supervision and scheduling problem, and those can be fixed.

It has been done here in Illinois. The state found the LaSalle County jail at about 76 percent in July 2023 and at 100 percent in January 2024.

The plan

1. Find out exactly where the late checks happen

Before changing anything, I will pull the logs and sort every late check by hour, housing area, shift, and how many minutes late. Late by two minutes during booking is a different problem than a gap of an hour overnight. The fix has to match the cause.

Cost: staff time.

2. Set the jail's own standard at 25 minutes, and name who owns the round

The state allows no grace period. If the target is exactly 30 minutes, any interruption makes the check late. A 25-minute standard with varied timing builds in a margin. Post orders will say in writing which officer walks the round and who covers it when that officer is pulled to booking, an escort, or a break.

Cost: staff time.

3. Supervisors verify the checks every week

I will put in writing what a real check is: at the door, eyes on the person, signs of life. Each week a supervisor will compare a random block of logged checks against video. The jail will also test itself on a random 72-hour sample, so we know the score before the inspector arrives.

An honest late check gets corrected and coached. A check written down that was never made is a false record and will be treated as one, within the labor contract.

Cost: supervisor time.

4. Repair the surveillance system

On July 28, 2026, the County Board was told the jail surveillance system's encoders had failed. Video is how a supervisor confirms a logged check was actually walked. In my first 30 days I will get a written repair quote and bring it to the Board in open session.

5. Get the commissary audit done every year, on a fixed date

In four of the five inspections the jail could not produce a current audit of the inmate commissary account. I will work with the County Treasurer to put it on the calendar and keep it there.

6. Consider an electronic check system only after the first five are done

These systems have an officer scan a tag at each cell door. Other small counties have approved about $16,000 (Red River County, Texas) to about $43,000 (Creek County, Oklahoma) to start, and they carry a yearly fee. They prove an officer reached the door at a certain time. They do not prove anyone looked in, and state rule says no monitoring device replaces the officer. It is a tool for supervisors, not a substitute for them.

The timeline

  • First 30 days: late-check review finished, the 25-minute standard and post orders in writing, camera repair quote delivered to the Board.
  • By 60 days: weekly supervisor video audits running, weekly 72-hour self-test running, refresher training for every jail officer on what a check is and why it matters.
  • By 90 days: 100 percent on two self-tests in a row, then a request to the state for a follow-up inspection.

What you will see

Every state inspection report posted the week it arrives. The jail's on-time check percentage posted every month. If we miss, you will see that too.

This is one part of Goal 09, Fix the jail. The rest of the platform is on the same page.

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