Union County Parole Versus Probation
Union County probation comes from a court sentence and is supervised through Illinois's First Judicial Circuit. It may replace a prison term or follow a local jail component. Parole and mandatory supervised release, often called MSR, follow an Illinois Department of Corrections prison sentence. IDOC's Parole Division supervises the person in the community, while the Illinois Prisoner Review Board sets terms and decides alleged violations.
Pretrial supervision is a third category. It follows a release order before the criminal case is resolved. The Office of Statewide Pretrial Services handles that local court function. It is not parole, and it does not prove a sentence has ended. Use the controlling case and custody history before choosing a contact.
| System | Who orders it | Primary verification |
|---|---|---|
| Pretrial supervision | Union County court | Circuit docket and OSPS |
| Probation | First Judicial Circuit court | Court case and Union County Probation |
| Parole or MSR | Prison release framework and PRB terms | IDOC profile, Parole Division, and PRB records |
- Probation
- Court supervision in the community.
- Parole
- Supervised community release used in eligible prison cases.
- MSR
- A required supervised period after many determinate prison terms.
- Discharge
- The formal end of a sentence or supervision term.
Check Union County Release Supervision
Start with the legal event that placed the person in the community. A Union County court file may show pretrial release, probation, a jail sentence, or a mittimus committing the person to IDOC. A mittimus is the court order that sends a sentenced person into state custody. If IDOC took custody, the state profile is the better first public source.
- Search the Union County case by name or case number through Judici's Union County endpoint. Read the latest disposition and supervision entries.
- For probation, call Union County Probation and match the case before relying on a directory entry.
- For prison release, use the IDOC Individual in Custody Search. Match birth details, sentencing county, and IDOC number.
- Read Offender Status with Projected Discharge Date. “PAROLE” means community supervision, not final discharge.
- If the office is not public on the profile, call IDOC's public information line at 217-558-2200 and ask for the correct supervision contact.
- Confirm a claimed end date through the court or IDOC rather than treating an old screen as current.
Union County Probation Office Details
The First Judicial Circuit lists supervisor Richard Goines and Union County Probation at the Jonesboro courthouse. A statewide directory agrees on the supervisor and telephone number but gives a different room. That conflict matters for an in-person visit. Call first, state the case number if known, and ask which room currently receives visitors.
Union County Probation
309 W. Market Street
Jonesboro, IL 62952
Room 107 in the First Circuit directory; Room 104 in the statewide directory
Phone: 618-833-7913
Fax: 618-833-5600
Probation records are court-system records. They are not necessarily handled like executive-agency FOIA records. Ask the probation office or Circuit Clerk what can be accessed and how to request it. The First Judicial Circuit directory is the local source, while the statewide probation directory is useful as a cross-check.
Union County Violations and Absconders
Conditions vary by order and sentence. They may require reporting, approved travel, or compliance with treatment and other case-specific terms. A violation allegation is not the same as a final finding. It can lead to a warrant, a preliminary hearing, a final revocation hearing, changed terms, continued release, or return to custody.
An IDOC profile marked “ABSCONDER” is not a clean discharge. The term means the supervising agency reports loss of contact or noncompliance serious enough to trigger that status. Verify the current IDOC record, any court or warrant entry, and the responsible agency. Do not infer the outcome from rumor or a stale copy.
The Prisoner Review Board revocation results address decided revocation matters. They are not a general list of all released Union County residents. A VINE custody alert may flag a later event, but it does not replace the supervision record.
How Union County Supervision Ends
Each system ends in its own way. Pretrial supervision changes or ends through a court order and case disposition. Probation ends through successful completion, discharge, or further court action. IDOC parole or MSR ends at discharge, which should be read from the current state profile and confirmed by IDOC when an exact legal status matters.
A projected discharge date is not proof that discharge occurred. Credits, violations, a new court order, another sentence, or corrected data may change it. The broader Union County released inmate search and records path can help connect the court order, Pulaski release event, and IDOC status without treating one record as the whole history.
Illinois Prisoner Review Board calendars also need context. Modern determinate sentences generally move from secure custody to MSR based on sentence-credit rules. Older indeterminate cases and specified youthful-parole cases may have discretionary hearings. A name on a hearing docket does not show that release was granted, and a revocation result is not an initial parole decision.
Union County Release Property Records
IDOC's 2024 inspection of Pulaski County Detention Center evaluates a release process that returns inventoried property, documents released medication, and keeps the signed itemized property receipt permanently. That finding supports a records path. It does not prove that every step occurred in every individual release.
A former Union detainee who disputes returned property can request the signed receipt from Pulaski and ask Union County which agency kept items taken during arrest or transport. Specify the name, booking dates, and property at issue. The supervision office is not the right records custodian merely because the person later reported there.
Keep the two questions apart. The property receipt shows what the custodian recorded at departure. The probation or parole record shows legal duties after departure. One does not settle the other.
Union County Pretrial Supervision
The Office of Statewide Pretrial Services lists Michele Opp for the Union County Courthouse at 309 W. Market, Jonesboro. The local number is 217-801-0391 and the statewide line is 217-280-5873. The office states that GPS and supervision services carry no charge.
That no-fee statement helps distinguish a lawful court process from an unsupported demand for money said to arrange monitoring. Confirm the release order with the Circuit Clerk and contact OSPS through its official listing. Pretrial supervision still does not establish that the case was dismissed, that a sentence was served, or that later probation or IDOC supervision never began.
Note: Match every supervision claim to the current court order or IDOC record before treating a person as discharged.
Union County Parole Hearing Records
The Illinois Prisoner Review Board publishes several different records. Its yearly en banc schedule organizes full-Board dates by month. The parole-interviews page publishes interview dockets. Final revocation schedules and a separate results page answer different questions, so they should not be merged into one broad parole list.
A parole interview may concern an old-law indeterminate case or another eligible class. Most people serving modern determinate Illinois terms do not receive traditional discretionary parole in the same way. They generally serve the prison term less applicable sentence credit and then enter MSR. Natural life is not releasable through ordinary parole absent clemency.
Read the hearing type before reading the outcome. A grant or denial concerns a parole decision. A revocation result concerns someone already subject to supervision and may continue release, change conditions, or return the person to custody. A deferred matter has not produced a final release result.
The PRB annual calendar provides schedule context. Compare it with current IDOC status because a calendar entry alone does not show release or discharge.
Union County Supervision Record Boundaries
A court docket, an IDOC profile, and a VINE event describe different parts of the same history. The docket shows the judicial order. The IDOC profile shows state-prison status and projected discharge. VINE reports selected custody events. None should be stretched beyond the field it actually supplies.
For probation, request access through the Circuit Clerk or probation office because court-system records do not always follow county executive FOIA procedures. For parole or MSR, use IDOC and the Prisoner Review Board. If a warrant or revocation is claimed, check the current official entry rather than an old alert.
A complete verification names the system, agency, current status, and date checked. That keeps pretrial release, probation, parole, MSR, and final discharge from being confused.
View Illinois Parole Calendars
The official PRB annual calendar shows how hearing dates are organized.
Use the calendar to locate a proceeding, then check the correct decision source and current IDOC profile for the outcome.