Located at:
201 Warehouse Road
Lebanon, KY 40033
this jail holds adults arrested in Marion County on felony and misdemeanor charges.
Unlike most states, Kentucky generally places its county jails under an elected jailer or a regional jail authority rather than the sheriff. Sheriff’s deputies, city police and other local officers bring their arrests here for processing, where staff take photos and fingerprints, inventory property, check for warrants and complete a medical screening before housing.
Troopers from the Kentucky State Police book arrests here as well. Federal agencies, among them the U.S. Marshals and ICE, may also hold people at the jail.
Many Kentucky jails and law enforcement agencies have signed 287(g) agreements with ICE, which let trained local officers carry out certain immigration enforcement duties, and jails may hold people on federal immigration detainers. If someone is handed over to immigration authorities, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator to find them.
Recent bookings are pulled from the jail’s official booking list (opens in a new tab) or an official statewide jail list. Where permitted, entries may show a booking photo, the charges and the agency behind each one. To sort out missing details, call the Marion County Detention Center at 270-692-5802.
The wait from arrival to a housing assignment or release can run from about two hours to an entire day, depending on how many arrestees are already waiting in booking.
Kentucky is one of the few states that outlaws commercial bail bonding for profit, so there are no bail bond agents to call. Bail is posted directly with the court, and pretrial officers from the Administrative Office of the Courts interview most people soon after booking and give the judge a risk assessment. Many defendants are released on their own recognizance or an unsecured bond. A person arrested without a warrant is entitled to a judge’s probable-cause review within 48 hours. For how to post bail, see our Bail page.
Start by calling the Marion County Detention Center at 270-692-5802 and asking whether the person is in custody.
You might use an automated lookup by name or talk with a deputy jailer. Staff may ask for the person’s date of birth so they can confirm the right record without exposing anyone else’s information.
New arrests can take several hours to show up.
For an online search, check the Marion County Detention Center Booking Roster.
When an arrest is made and Miranda warnings are given, the officer transports the person to the jail serving Marion County, where jail staff take over custody and begin intake.
Booking moves through several steps. Most defense attorneys tell clients not to discuss the charges with anyone during this time, because statements to officers and many jail calls are recorded and can be used as evidence.
The person has a mugshot and fingerprints taken and answers questions about their background, health and mood. DNA may be collected in some serious cases. Warrant checks reach across Marion County, the rest of Kentucky and other states.
For a DUI arrest, refusing a breath, blood or urine test brings a license suspension and can increase penalties if convicted; a blood sample over the person’s objection generally requires a search warrant and is drawn by medical staff.
A strip search, which can include squatting and coughing in front of an officer, is possible, as is a pass through a metal detector or body scanner.
Jail staff ask about medications, medical history, allergies, drug or alcohol dependence, suicide risk, tattoos, gang connections and anyone the person needs to be kept apart from. A pretrial officer may separately ask about work, family and residence to help the judge decide on release.
Belongings are taken, counted and stored for the length of the stay. A person in custody can usually authorize the jail to release items to a relative or friend.
Stored items cover clothes, cash, wallets, purses, phones, jewelry, piercings and watches. Glasses can be withheld if staff consider them a risk, and any shoes the person keeps will have the laces removed.
The person can make a phone call to tell someone about the arrest and to begin arranging bail through the court clerk.
While awaiting arraignment, they receive a jail uniform, slip-on shoes, bedding, a towel and hygiene items from the Marion County Detention Center.
A shower is normally required before they enter a housing area, and some people are treated for lice or scabies at that point.
The process may take as little as an hour or more than a day. Crowding in intake, staffing and the arrestee’s conduct all play a part.
People who arrive heavily impaired or violent are often kept in a holding cell for hours until they settle down enough to be processed.