Rock County Jail

Type the name into Rock County Inmate Search. Adults arrested in Rock County are held in the Rock County Jail, 200 East U.S. Highway 14, Janesville, WI 53545, and the search shows custody and any bail.

If you have a question about a warrant, the Sheriff's Office warrant line is 608-757-7947, Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

A bondable warrant carries a bail amount. Paying that bond satisfies the warrant, and the person is not arrested. A body-only warrant has no bond option, so the person must turn himself in and be seen by a judge on the next business day.

Every warrant is verified before any action is taken. Call the warrant line before you travel so you know which kind it is.

Pay in person at the Rock County Sheriff's Office, or at any other law enforcement agency that takes payment. State law lets officers accept bail only at a sheriff's office or a police station and requires them to give you a receipt.

The Clerk of Circuit Court, 51 South Main Street, handles court questions at 608-743-2200.

The Sheriff's Office takes cash or a credit card. Anyone may pay the required bond for the person who is wanted; it does not have to be a relative.

Whoever pays becomes the person the court returns the money to later, so pay with your own funds and keep your receipt.

State law bars the business. Wis. Stat. 969.12 requires a surety to be an individual who lives in Wisconsin and bars paying that surety.

The money you give the Sheriff's Office is the court's cash bail itself. An offer of release for a fee from a bonding company is not a legal route in this state.

A person arrested must see a judge within a reasonable time, and for a warrantless arrest, court decisions set 48 hours as the limit for a judge to review probable cause. A person who completes the initial jail appearance may be offered a risk and substance use screening there.

Call the Clerk of Circuit Court at 608-743-2200 for the court calendar.

JusticePoint runs Pretrial Services for the county. Case managers supervise defendants whom a judge ordered under supervision as a bail condition, check compliance with release conditions, refer them to programs and report to the court. The office is at 1717 Center Avenue, Suite 150, Janesville, and the phone is 608-741-3400.

Supervision is a condition of bail, so breaking its rules can bring the person back before the judge.

They are alternatives the district attorney's office offers for some cases. A defendant who wants one can ask for a screening of criminal risk and substance use.

JusticePoint, 608-741-3400, performs the screening. Ask your lawyer whether your relative's charge is a good fit.

A judge can release a person without bail, on an unsecured appearance bond that costs nothing unless the terms are broken, or under conditions such as a custodian, travel limits or no weapons.

A relative can also sign as an unpaid surety if the judge accepts that person's financial ability. Ask your lawyer to request these options at the first hearing.

Yes. It cannot go above the highest fine for the offense. The statewide misdemeanor schedule tells officers when to release without cash, such as when the person has ID, local ties and no history of skipping court.

No felony ceiling exists. Judges look at the charge, the person's record, the evidence and the ability to pay.

Yes, in narrow cases governed by Wis. Stat. 969.035. A serious listed charge, or a violent-crime charge with a prior violent conviction, must be alleged, and the prosecutor must show that conditions cannot protect people.

The court must hold the hearing within 10 days. The proof standard is clear and convincing, and a denial can run up to 60 days after the hearing.

Under Wis. Stat. 968.075, deputies arrest whenever the statute's tests are satisfied, and the arrested person stays in custody until bail is posted or a judge has seen the case.

Release carries a 72-hour no-contact period covering the alleged victim and the home. The person signs an acknowledgment, and anyone who refuses stays in. A knowing violation is punishable by a fine up to $10,000 or nine months in jail.

Huber is for people sentenced to the county jail. A judge grants it, and it lets the person leave at set hours for work, school, treatment or family care.

The Community Programs Bureau runs electronic monitoring, which lets qualified inmates with Huber privileges serve their sentence from an approved home in Rock County. A person who is waiting for trial and cannot post bail is not eligible.

RECAP is the Rock County Education and Criminal Addictions Program, a five-month in-house drug and alcohol treatment program with education and community service.

The Sheriff's Community Programs Bureau oversees it. It also supports OWI, Drug and Veterans Courts.

If the charge is dismissed or the defendant is acquitted, the money goes back to whoever deposited it. After a conviction the leftover cash goes first to restitution, then to the judgment.

A broken bond term or a missed hearing can lead to forfeiture under Wis. Stat. 969.13. A released person must give the clerk any new address in writing within 48 hours.

Intentionally violating the terms of a bond is bail jumping under Wis. Stat. 946.49. It is a Class A misdemeanor when the released person faced a misdemeanor and a Class H felony when the underlying case was a felony.

The conviction does not depend on a conviction in the original case. Protect your relative by reading the bond terms line by line.

The State Public Defender's Janesville office, 101 East Milwaukee Street, Suite 503, Janesville, WI 53545, phone 608-758-6170, serves Rock County.

Ask the judge at the initial appearance. A person who is still held 72 hours afterward may ask the judge to review the release terms.

Rock County runs its own Juvenile Detention Center at 210 Highway 14 East in Janesville. It is one of the 12 county-run secure youth facilities in Wisconsin.

The Clerk of Circuit Court at 608-743-2200 gives the next juvenile hearing date.

Which court hears your case. Ordinance violations and a first-offense OWI, which Wisconsin treats as a civil forfeiture rather than a crime unless a child under 16 was in the vehicle, go to the municipal court of the city, village or town where the stop happened if that community has one; Beloit, Milton, Edgerton, Evansville, Clinton, Footville, Orfordville and the Town of Turtle all run such courts. Janesville does not appear in the state's municipal court directory, so its ordinance citations, like those from other communities without a court, are heard in the circuit court. Misdemeanors and criminal traffic charges, such as a second OWI or driving after revocation, belong to the Rock County Circuit Court, where several of the seven branches are assigned to a criminal division. A felony also starts and ends in the circuit court: initial appearance, preliminary hearing, arraignment, and plea or trial all take place at 51 South Main Street.

Where pretrial inmates are held. Every law enforcement agency in Rock County, from the Janesville and Beloit police to the State Patrol on the interstates, brings adults who will be held to the Rock County Jail at 200 East U.S. Highway 14, Janesville. People charged in Rock County stay there until they post bail or their case ends; anyone sentenced to less than a year usually serves the time there as well, often with Huber work-release or electronic monitoring. To check whether someone is in custody, call the Sheriff's Office at (608) 757-8000.

• Rock County Circuit Court and Clerk of Circuit Court, Rock County Courthouse, 51 South Main Street, Janesville, WI 53545; Clerk (criminal and traffic) (608) 743-2200
• Rock County District Attorney, Rock County Courthouse, 51 South Main Street, Janesville, WI 53545, (608) 757-5615
• Rock County Sheriff's Office, 200 East U.S. Highway 14, Janesville, WI 53545, (608) 757-8000
• Rock County Jail, 200 East U.S. Highway 14, Janesville, WI 53545, (608) 757-8000; jail records (608) 757-7958
• Wisconsin State Public Defender, Janesville office (serves Rock County), 101 East Milwaukee Street, Suite 503, Janesville, WI 53545, (608) 758-6170
• Rock County Pretrial Services (operated by JusticePoint), 1717 Center Avenue, Suite 150, Janesville, WI 53546, (608) 741-3400
• Rock County Human Services Department (youth justice intake), 1717 Center Avenue, Janesville, WI 53546, (608) 757-5200
• Rock County Juvenile Detention Center, 210 East U.S. Highway 14, Janesville, WI 53545

Two kinds of courts touch criminal and quasi-criminal matters in Rock County. The circuit court is the state trial court for the whole county. Municipal courts are run by individual communities, sometimes jointly, and decide only violations of local ordinances, which are punished by forfeitures (money penalties) rather than jail. A municipal judge can order jail only as a way of enforcing an unpaid forfeiture in limited situations. In some instances a defendant can ask to have a municipal case moved to the circuit court, for example by requesting a jury; the rules and deadlines are technical, so check with the court or a lawyer promptly.

Circuit court

• Rock County Circuit Court (Branches 1 through 7), Rock County Courthouse, 51 South Main Street, Janesville, WI 53545. Clerk of Circuit Court, second floor, (608) 743-2200 for criminal, traffic and general questions.

Municipal courts serving Rock County communities

• Beloit Municipal Court (City of Beloit), 100 State Street, Beloit, WI 53511, (608) 364-6613
• Clinton Municipal Court (Village of Clinton), P.O. Box 129, Clinton, WI 53525, (608) 676-5304
• Edgerton Joint Municipal Court (City of Edgerton and the Towns of Albion and Fulton), 12 Albion Street, Edgerton, WI 53534, (608) 884-2671
• Evansville-Union Municipal Court (City of Evansville and Town of Union), P.O. Box 529, Evansville, WI 53536, (608) 490-0544
• Footville Municipal Court (Village of Footville), P.O. Box 445, Footville, WI 53537, (608) 876-6005
• Milton City Municipal Court (City of Milton), 690 South Janesville Street, Milton, WI 53563, (608) 868-6910
• Milton Joint Municipal Court (Towns of Milton, Harmony and Lima), 23 First Street, Milton, WI 53563, (608) 868-6656
• Orfordville Municipal Court (Village of Orfordville), P.O. Box 409, Orfordville, WI 53576, (608) 879-9212
• Turtle Municipal Court (Town of Turtle), 6016 County Trunk J, Beloit, WI 53511, (608) 362-0655
• Brodhead Municipal Court (City of Brodhead, which lies mostly in Green County but extends into Rock County), P.O. Box 168, Brodhead, WI 53520, (608) 897-4176

Janesville, the Town of Beloit and the remaining towns are not listed in the state's municipal court directory, so ordinance citations written there are filed in the Rock County Circuit Court.

Prosecution, defense and juvenile intake

• Rock County District Attorney, 51 South Main Street, Janesville, WI 53545, (608) 757-5615
• State Public Defender, Janesville office, 101 East Milwaukee Street, Suite 503, Janesville, WI 53545, (608) 758-6170
• Rock County Human Services, Youth Justice, 1717 Center Avenue, Janesville, WI 53546; northern Rock County supervisor (608) 757-5913, southern Rock County supervisor (608) 363-6226

Law enforcement

• Rock County Sheriff's Office, 200 East U.S. Highway 14, Janesville, WI 53545, (608) 757-8000
• Janesville Police Department, Police Services Building, 100 North Jackson Street, Janesville, WI 53548, (608) 755-3100
• Beloit Police Department, 100 State Street, Beloit, WI 53511
• Town of Beloit Police Department, 1133 East Inman Parkway, Beloit, WI 53511, (608) 364-2984
• Police departments in Milton, Edgerton, Evansville, Clinton and Orfordville patrol their own communities; the Sheriff covers the towns.
• Rock County's 911 Communications Center takes non-emergency calls for agencies across the county at (608) 757-2244.

People held at the Rock County Jail on a circuit court charge deal with the clerk in Janesville, not a municipal court, when they post bail or ask about a court date.

The Rock County Courthouse at 51 South Main Street, on the Rock River in downtown Janesville, holds the courtrooms for all seven circuit court branches along with the Clerk of Circuit Court, the District Attorney and the court commissioners. Rock County belongs to the state's Fifth Judicial Administrative District, which also includes Dane, Green and Lafayette counties.

How the work is divided

Rock County's judges are grouped into criminal, civil and juvenile divisions, and assignments rotate from time to time, so the branch number on a summons is the best guide to which courtroom to find. Court commissioners, who are appointed judicial officers, commonly conduct initial appearances, set release conditions and handle some preliminary hearings, leaving trials, plea hearings and sentencings to the elected judges. Most courtrooms are on the second through fourth floors; the clerk's office on the second floor accepts filings and payments.

Practical points

• Expect a security screening at the entrance and allow extra time to clear it before a scheduled hearing.
• Court dates, branch assignments and case histories can be checked by calling the clerk at (608) 743-2200.
• People in custody appear from the Rock County Jail in person or by video, depending on the hearing.
• Cash bail on a circuit court case can generally be posted with the clerk during business hours as well as at the jail.

Appeals from Rock County go to District IV of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in Madison and, if review is granted, to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Booking

After an arrest anywhere in the county, the officer either issues a citation and releases the person or transports them to the Rock County Jail in Janesville. Booking there means photographs, fingerprints, a property inventory, medical and mental-health screening, and a records check for warrants. Many people facing lower-level misdemeanors are released after booking on a signature bond, a written promise to appear that may carry a dollar amount owed only if the person misses court.

Initial appearance

Someone who stays in custody is brought before a judge or court commissioner for an initial appearance, usually within about 48 hours of a warrantless arrest and often by video from the jail. The court reads the charge from the criminal complaint the District Attorney has filed, explains the right to a lawyer, and decides the conditions of release. Pretrial Services staff from JusticePoint may screen defendants at the jail beforehand, and the court can order pretrial supervision as a condition of release.

Release conditions

• Signature bond: release on a promise, sometimes with a set amount owed if the person fails to appear.
• Cash bail: a set amount that must be paid in full by the defendant or someone on their behalf. Wisconsin does not permit commercial bail bondsmen, so there is no bail-agent fee; the money is returned at the end of the case, minus anything the court applies to fines, costs or restitution.
• Conditions: no contact with an alleged victim, no alcohol or drugs, no new crimes, reporting to Pretrial Services, or electronic monitoring.

A 2023 change to the Wisconsin Constitution allows judges, when someone is charged with a violent crime, to consider the risk of serious bodily harm to the public in deciding conditions and the amount of cash. After a domestic abuse arrest, Wisconsin law usually requires the person to stay away from the alleged victim's residence and avoid contact for 72 hours unless the victim waives it in writing.

Crossing the state line

Beloit sits directly on the Illinois border opposite South Beloit. A person arrested in Illinois on a Rock County warrant is held there and must either waive extradition or go through an extradition hearing before being brought back to Janesville.

The Rock County Jail stands at 200 East U.S. Highway 14 in Janesville, next to the Sheriff's Office headquarters and the county's juvenile detention center. It is the only county jail in Rock County, and it holds people awaiting trial on state charges, people serving county jail sentences, and people held on probation holds and warrants from other places.

Contacts

• Sheriff's Office and jail operations (24 hours): (608) 757-8000
• Inmate and jail records (weekdays): (608) 757-7958

Posting money and sentenced inmates

Cash bail set by the court can be posted at the jail; ask the jail which forms of payment it accepts and whether a fee applies before you go. Sentenced inmates with Huber privileges may leave the jail for work, school or treatment. The Sheriff's Community Programs Bureau runs an electronic monitoring program that lets some Huber-eligible inmates serve their sentence at an approved Rock County residence, and RECAP, a five-month in-custody alcohol and drug treatment program for people sentenced by the courts or referred by probation agents as an alternative to revocation.

Indigent defense in Rock County is provided by the Wisconsin State Public Defender (SPD) Janesville office, 101 East Milwaukee Street, Suite 503, Janesville, WI 53545, (608) 758-6170. Staff attorneys handle many cases and private lawyers who accept SPD appointments handle the rest.

How to apply

• Ask for the public defender at the jail; SPD staff can take applications from people held at the Rock County Jail.
• If you are out of custody, call or visit the Janesville office as soon as you are charged, ideally before your first court date.
• Bring proof of income, assets and household expenses. Wisconsin's financial eligibility test is strict, and money posted as bail can count as an available asset.

Someone who does not qualify under the SPD test but still cannot afford a lawyer can ask the judge to appoint counsel at county expense; whether that happens depends on the court's own review of the person's finances. Municipal court cases do not carry a right to an appointed lawyer, because they cannot lead to a criminal conviction.

The Rock County District Attorney's Office, in the courthouse at 51 South Main Street ((608) 757-5615), reviews referrals from police agencies and decides whether to file a criminal complaint. The office cannot charge a case until a police agency refers it, and once a person is charged, the office talks with that person's lawyer rather than the defendant directly. Victims are notified when charges are filed or declined.

Alternatives to a conviction

The office runs three programs from the courthouse's fourth floor (Floor 4R), reachable at (608) 757-5677:

• Diversion: for some people charged with crimes or county ordinance violations who meet the program's criteria. Participants attend an education session and pay any restitution ordered; the charge is then dismissed.
• Domestic Violence Intervention Program (DVIP): for some people charged with domestic violence offenses who accept responsibility and receive an offer from the assistant district attorney. Completing group sessions leads to a reduced or amended charge.
• Deferred Prosecution Program (DPP): for people assessed as low to medium risk who do not fit diversion. The defendant signs a written agreement and enters a plea, but the judgment of conviction is held off; finishing the program brings a dismissal, while failing it sends the case back to court for sentencing.

Pretrial Services at (608) 741-3400 conducts the risk and substance-use screening for these programs, including for defendants still at the Rock County Jail after their initial appearance. A person released on bail who is offered one of these programs should talk it over with a lawyer before signing anything, because some agreements require a guilty plea up front.

Rock County operates several treatment courts that pair close judicial supervision with substance-use or mental-health treatment, in place of or alongside a standard sentence:

• Drug Treatment Court, for defendants whose offenses are driven by addiction.
• OWI Treatment Court, for repeat impaired drivers, often people facing a third or later OWI.
• Veterans Treatment Court, for military veterans whose charges are tied to service-related problems such as substance use or post-traumatic stress, usually with volunteer veteran mentors.
• Family Recovery Court, a related program for parents in child welfare cases rather than criminal cases.

Participants appear before the treatment court judge regularly, submit to frequent testing, attend treatment and earn incentives or sanctions, which can include short stays at the Rock County Jail. Entry usually follows a referral from the defense lawyer, prosecutor, judge or a probation agent, followed by an eligibility screening; eligibility rules differ by program and often exclude violent offenses. Admission can be a condition of bond, part of a deferred agreement, or part of a probation sentence, and successful graduates may see charges reduced or jail time stayed. The Sheriff's Community Programs Bureau and the circuit court coordinate these programs; ask the public defender or the clerk at (608) 743-2200 how to request a screening.

Shoplifting at the big-box stores along Milton Avenue and in Beloit, domestic disturbances, bar fights and repeat OWI stops on the interstates make up much of the misdemeanor docket in Rock County. These cases are prosecuted by the District Attorney in the Rock County Circuit Court.

From arrest to the first court date

Many people are cited and released or freed from the Rock County Jail on a signature bond with a court date. A person held in custody sees a court commissioner or judge, usually by video, who sets release conditions. At the first appearance the defendant can enter a plea of not guilty, guilty or no contest, and should ask about the State Public Defender (Janesville office, (608) 758-6170) if jail is possible and they cannot pay a lawyer.

Penalties under Wisconsin law, as applied in Janesville courtrooms

• Class A misdemeanor (up to 9 months in jail and/or a $10,000 fine): theft of property worth $2,500 or less, battery, criminal damage to property, criminal trespass to a dwelling.
• Class B misdemeanor (up to 90 days and/or $1,000): disorderly conduct, which Rock County prosecutors often charge with a domestic abuse modifier that brings a mandatory assessment and surcharge.
• Class C misdemeanor (up to 30 days and/or $500): a small group of minor offenses.
• Second OWI within 10 years: a criminal misdemeanor with mandatory jail of 5 days to 6 months, a fine, license revocation, an alcohol and drug assessment and an ignition interlock order. A first OWI is a civil forfeiture ($150 to $300 plus costs, 6 to 9 months of revocation, an assessment, and an interlock at a 0.15 or higher test or a refusal) heard in a municipal court or the circuit court, unless a child under 16 was a passenger, which makes it a crime.

How cases end

Many Rock County misdemeanors are resolved through diversion, deferred prosecution or a plea to a reduced charge. Anyone who insists on a trial in a Rock County misdemeanor is entitled to have six jurors decide it. Sentences range from fines and costs to probation or county jail, which is often served with Huber work release or electronic monitoring. A speedy trial demand generally requires trial within 60 days for a misdemeanor, but most people do not make one. Expect two to six months from charge to resolution.

Rock County's location on the I-90/I-39 corridor between Chicago, Rockford and Madison brings a steady stream of drug-delivery cases, along with burglaries, vehicle thefts and serious batteries in Janesville and Beloit. Every felony stays in the Rock County Circuit Court from start to finish.

Step by step

1. Complaint and initial appearance. The District Attorney files a criminal complaint. At the initial appearance, often by video from the Rock County Jail, a court commissioner or judge reviews the complaint and sets bail and conditions.
2. Preliminary hearing. A judge or commissioner decides whether there is probable cause to believe a felony was committed. It must be held within 10 days if the defendant is in custody on cash the defendant cannot pay, or within 20 days otherwise. Defendants frequently waive it, sometimes as part of plea talks.
3. Information and arraignment. The District Attorney files an information, the formal charging document, and the defendant enters a plea at the arraignment before an assigned criminal-division judge.
4. Motions and plea talks. Discovery, suppression motions and negotiations follow. Most felonies end with a plea agreement.
5. Trial. Twelve jurors hear a felony trial in Janesville, and their verdict must be unanimous. Once a Rock County defendant files a speedy trial demand, the trial generally must begin within 90 days.
6. Sentencing. The judge may order a presentence investigation by the Department of Corrections before sentencing.

Maximum terms for the example charges

• Burglary: a Class F felony, so a Rock County judge can impose as much as 12½ years and a $25,000 fine.
• Theft over $2,500: Class I (up to 3 years 6 months) for $2,500 to $5,000, Class H (up to 6 years) for $5,000 to $10,000, and Class G (up to 10 years) or higher for larger amounts.
• Possession with intent to deliver: the class depends on the drug and the weight; fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine cases can reach Class C (up to 40 years) at high amounts.
• Substantial battery: Class I. Aggravated battery: Class H, or Class E (up to 15 years) when great bodily harm was intended.

Wisconsin's truth-in-sentencing law splits a prison term into initial confinement and extended supervision, with no parole for crimes committed after 1999; some inmates qualify for the Challenge Incarceration Program or the Substance Abuse Program, which can shorten confinement. Terms under a year are served in county jail; longer ones go to the Department of Corrections. Most Rock County felony cases take six months to a year. Ask the State Public Defender's Janesville office about representation at the first hearing.

Homicides, shootings, armed robberies and sexual assaults in Rock County are investigated by the Janesville or Beloit police, the Sheriff's detectives, or the state Division of Criminal Investigation, and they are prosecuted by the most experienced assistant district attorneys. Release is the first major battle: judges may set high cash bail, and under the 2023 constitutional amendment they may weigh the danger of serious harm to the public. A defendant who cannot meet the conditions remains at the Rock County Jail.

Penalties

• First-degree intentional homicide: Class A; a Rock County Circuit Court conviction brings life in prison automatically. The judge decides whether the defendant may ever petition for release to extended supervision, and if so, when.
• First-degree reckless homicide, including many overdose-death prosecutions, and second-degree intentional homicide: Class B, up to 60 years.
• First-degree sexual assault: Class B, up to 60 years; certain child sexual assault charges carry mandatory minimum confinement.
• Armed robbery: a Class C felony that can put a Rock County defendant away for as long as 40 years. Robbery without a weapon: Class E, up to 15 years.

Wisconsin abolished the death penalty in 1853, so no Rock County case can be capital.

What to expect

The steps are the same as any felony, but forensic work, expert witnesses, competency or mental-responsibility questions and heavy motion practice usually stretch these cases to one to two years. Victims have constitutional rights under Marsy's Law (adopted in 2020), including notice, the right to be heard at release and sentencing hearings, and restitution; the District Attorney's victim-witness staff can explain them. The State Public Defender assigns experienced attorneys to homicide and major-felony cases for defendants who qualify.

In Wisconsin, juvenile court covers offenses committed by children ages 10 through 16. A 17-year-old charged with a crime goes to adult court, is booked at the Rock County Jail and handled like any other adult defendant. Rock County's juvenile cases are heard by the circuit court sitting as juvenile court, generally the branch assigned to the juvenile division, in the courthouse at 51 South Main Street.

Intake

When police refer a youth, a Rock County Human Services Youth Justice intake worker reviews the case. Intake teams cover northern Rock County ((608) 757-5913) and southern Rock County, including Beloit ((608) 363-6226); the department's main address is 1717 Center Avenue, Janesville. The worker can close the case, offer a deferred prosecution agreement, or recommend that a delinquency petition be filed, which the District Attorney's Office does.

Secure detention

A youth who must be held is placed at the Rock County Juvenile Detention Center, 210 East U.S. Highway 14, Janesville, next to the Sheriff's Office. If a child is held, a custody hearing before a judge or juvenile court commissioner generally must take place within 24 hours after the intake decision, not counting weekends and legal holidays. The youth has a right to a lawyer, and the State Public Defender represents children in delinquency cases without the adult financial test.

Possible outcomes

• Dismissal, a deferred prosecution agreement, or a consent decree, which suspends the case under conditions.
• A delinquency adjudication followed by supervision at home, counseling, restitution or community service.
• Placement in a foster home, group home or residential treatment center (Type 2 placements included).
• For serious offenses, a Type 1 juvenile correctional placement at Lincoln Hills School (boys) or Copper Lake School (girls), or the Serious Juvenile Offender program.

Rock County youths in adult court

The District Attorney can ask the juvenile court to waive a youth into adult court, generally for youths 14 or older depending on the offense. Adult court also has original jurisdiction, with no waiver hearing, over a child 10 or older accused of first-degree intentional homicide or an attempt, first-degree reckless homicide, and certain other homicides, and over some youths previously adjudicated delinquent who are accused of certain new violent crimes. Juvenile records are generally confidential.

Rock County lies in the Western District of Wisconsin. Federal charges from Janesville, Beloit and the rest of the county are filed and heard at the federal courthouse in Madison, about 40 miles north of Janesville.

• U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin, Clerk, 120 North Henry Street, Room 320, Madison, WI 53703, (608) 264-5156
• U.S. Attorney's Office (prosecutes federal cases from Rock County), Suite 700, 222 West Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 53703, (608) 264-5158
• Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin (Madison), Suite 1000, 22 East Mifflin Street, Madison, WI 53703, (608) 260-9900; private lawyers on the Criminal Justice Act panel are appointed when the defender has a conflict
• U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services (supervises federal defendants on release), Suite 340, 222 West Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 53703, (608) 264-5165

Why a Rock County case might go federal

Federal agents and prosecutors focus on interstate drug trafficking along I-90 and I-39, guns possessed by people with felony records or used in drug deals, bank robberies, child exploitation, and fraud, sometimes picking up a case that began with the Janesville or Beloit police. Rock County contains no national forest or national park land. Wisconsin is a Public Law 280 state, so crimes on tribal trust land elsewhere in Wisconsin are generally handled by state courts, with the Menominee Reservation the main exception.

How federal cases move

A federal arrestee first appears before a U.S. magistrate judge in Madison, who explains the charges and appoints the Federal Defender or a panel lawyer for someone who cannot pay. There is no cash bail schedule: under the Bail Reform Act the judge either releases the defendant on conditions supervised by Pretrial Services or orders detention, and if the government seeks detention, a hearing is usually held within three court days. A case begun by complaint needs a grand jury indictment within 30 days, and the Speedy Trial Act sets a 70-day trial clock that is frequently extended. Most cases end in plea agreements; if a Rock County defendant goes to trial instead, all 12 federal jurors must agree on the verdict.

Sentencing follows a presentence report and the advisory federal Sentencing Guidelines, subject to any mandatory minimum. Federal prison has no parole; inmates serve roughly 85 percent of the sentence in the Bureau of Prisons and then a term of supervised release. Appeals from Rock County federal convictions go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which hears them in its Chicago courthouse. Juveniles rarely face federal prosecution.

Locating a federal prisoner

Families of Rock County defendants can enter a name or an eight-digit register number in the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator. Anyone the U.S. Marshals are housing in a county jail by contract while a Rock County federal case is pending can also turn up on the roster of that jail.