Central Ohio Youth Center Family & Friends Information

Central Ohio Youth Center

Central Ohio Youth Center
18100 State Route #4
Marysville, OH 43040

937-642-1015

The Central Ohio Youth Center is the main jail in Union County Ohio. While the police in the cities and towns in Union County can arrest and detain offenders, the Central Ohio Youth Center is the facility that is accredited by Ohio to hold inmates for more than 72 hours.

The Central Ohio Youth Center is located at:
18100 State Route #4
Marysville, OH 43040 

It can be reached 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by calling 937-642-1015.

The main reason that people call 937-642-1015 is to find out if a particular person is in custody, although you can look up an inmate online by going here. You can also get answers to whatever questions about an inmate, and the services for Central Ohio Youth Center that you may have by clicking on any of the questions below:

How to search for an inmate?
Can you look up an inmate’s mugshot?
How do you look up an offender’s criminal charges, bond or inmate number?
How do you visit an inmate?
What are the visitation hours?
Can you visit inmates in Union County by video from home?
How do you get phone calls from an inmate?
Can you send mail, books, or newspapers to an inmate?
How do you send an inmate money?
Does Central Ohio Youth Center have inmate commissary?
Can an inmate receive and/or send email or text messages?
Do inmates in Union County have access to computers or tablets?
How do you pay an inmate’s bail or bond?

Every year the Central Ohio Youth Center has approximately 600 bookings, with a daily average of 30 inmates and maintains control of the facility with a staff of 7.

Inmates in this jail range from low level misdemeanor offenders to those being held and awaiting trial for violent crimes like robbery, rape, and murder. Therefore, given the mix of potentially dangerous inmates, the security level is very high. 

The Central Ohio Youth Center is equipped with a state-of-the-art locking system, closed circuit cameras covering every area where inmates are located, and jail staff that utilize a communication system that keeps each of the guards and civilian staff in constant contact. 

Guards that circulate in the same general area of the inmates are armed with eye-blinding mace that will turn an inmate having a violent outburst into a weeping child. They also carry stun weapons, short clubs, flashlights that have dual use as both a light source and as a weapon, and handcuffs. Guards at entrances and in areas not frequented by inmates are armed with various firearms. The goal of such tight security is to keep both the staff and the inmates safe.

• 937-642-1015

Go to this page for other jails in Union County, jails in neighboring counties, and local police jails and juvenile detention centers for young offenders under age 18 in this county.

Unlike the Ohio Department of Corrections, where inmates are sent once convicted of a crime and sentenced to a period of more than a year, the Union County Jail System is populated by short-term offenders; those who have just been arrested and awaiting to be bonded out by friends or family, those who cannot afford or get bailed and are awaiting trial, or those who have already been convicted of a crime and sentenced to a term of less than one year. Many of the latter inmates become ‘workers’, who can reduce their sentence by performing jail maintenance or working in the kitchen. An upside to being a worker is they also get paid a small stipend so when they get released, they have a few dollars in their pocket.

When an inmate is convicted and sentenced to a year or more, they are transferred to the Ohio Department of Corrections or the Federal Bureau of Prisons.  

Inmates that are convicted of a misdemeanor and/or sentenced to less than one year of a state crime serve their time in the Central Ohio Youth Center. 

Illegal immigrants convicted of a state or federal crime will first do their time, then may be transferred into ICE custody for deportation.