Kenosha County Detention Center

Kenosha County Detention Center Information

An In-Depth Look at Kenosha County Detention Center and Its Operations

Kenosha County Detention Center (KCDC) serves a vital role as the central correctional facility in the Kenosha County criminal justice system. With origins as a progressive direct supervision jail, KCDC now provides comprehensive detention services through modern facilities tailored to safely and securely housing various inmate populations. 

## History and Developments

KCDC first began operations when it opened in November 1998 under the management of the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department. The initial goals were to implement direct supervision housing for sentenced misdemeanant inmates along with vocational programming as an alternative to unproductive incarceration.

With a capacity of nearly 1,200 inmates, the new facility significantly expanded Kenosha County’s detention capabilities. Further expansion in infrastructure and housing units in the early 2000s allowed KCDC to reach its current capacity and range of services.

The Detentions Division within the Sheriff’s Department oversees all jail facilities and operations. The division adopted a clear mission statement and set of core values to guide standards:

Values like human life, integrity, accountability, and cooperation shape facility policies and deputy conduct when interacting with inmates.

## Housing Facilities and Units

KCDC contains various housing facilities and units tailored to different inmate populations and security levels.

### The Pre-Trial Detention Facility 

Based within the Kenosha County Public Safety Building, the Pre-Trial Detention Facility serves the crucial role of central booking and intake for all arrests by Kenosha County law enforcement agencies. 

With 24/7 operations and flexible housing capabilities, the facility provides constant availability for incoming arrestees. Specialized features allow for secure accommodation of inmates with diverse security classifications and special needs. Violence-prone and medically unstable arrestees require tailored supervision and housing options.

A staff of 80 trained deputies and support personnel operate the facility continuously to provide public safety services. Responsibilities range from intake processing to inmate monitoring and transport for court appearances.   

#### Visitation Policies and Property Storage

Given the pre-trial status of inmates, visitation policies aim to provide access while maintaining stringent security protocols:

- Valid ID required for all adult visitors
- One approved adult and one minor allowed per visit 
- No food or drinks permitted
- Dress code enforcement, subject to search

Inmate personal property storage follows meticulous tracking and release procedures. Only individuals designated by an inmate can receive property after release.

### Main Housing Units 

For sentenced individuals classified as minimum or medium custody, the main housing units at KCDC provide direct supervision environments. 

Deputies are stationed within housing pods rather than isolated control rooms, allowing for closer observation and engagement with inmates. This method enhances security and relationships.

Objective classification systems determine pod assignments based on risk and special needs. Vocational and therapeutic programming focuses on providing life skills and rehabilitation tools.

### Medical Unit

To maintain inmate health and provide care when needed, KCDC’s medical unit delivers comprehensive health services.

Nurses and doctors from the contracted Visiting Nurses Association oversee medical, dental and mental health treatment. Having on-site resources avoids transportation for off-site appointments.

### Work Release and Community Service Programs

Minimum custody inmates with non-violent histories may qualify for supervised work details through the Community Service Work Crew program.

Daily crews of up to 100 inmates deploy to local nonprofits and public agencies to provide manual labor and services. Assignments range from groundskeeping and sanitation to construction projects and disaster relief.

This alternative to standard incarceration reduces participants’ sentences in exchange for completing productive work that benefits the community.

## Daily Life for Inmates at KCDC

Inmates follow structured daily schedules and routines across all housing units. Rules and procedures govern conduct, privileges, and responsibilities.

### Typical Daily Schedule 

A typical weekday schedule may include:

- 5:00 AM - Wake up for breakfast 
- 6:00 AM - Cell cleaning  
- 8:00 AM - Program assignments
- 12:00 PM - Lunch
- 1:00 PM - Recreation time 
- 4:30 PM - Dinner
- 9:00 PM - Lockdown and lights out

Formal inmate counts occur before and after meals to verify presence. Weekly shakedowns, cell searches, and pat downs enhance security.

### Clothing, Laundry, and Commissary

Issued clothing includes uniforms and underwear. Laundry services clean garments and linens. Inmates can purchase supplemental items from their trust account funds.

Friends and family can deposit monies into this account for commissary spending on food, hygiene supplies, writing materials, and more. Strict protocols govern property storage and release. 

### Communication and Recreation

Permitted communication methods include mail, monitored phone calls, and electronic tablets for messaging. Televisions provide entertainment and education. Limited library access allows for reading.

Daily recreation time provides exercise and socializing. Outdoor areas accommodate fresh air and sports when weather allows. Indoor multipurpose rooms offer space for programs and table games.  

## Importance and Impact on Community 

As the central correctional facility, KCDC is intrinsically tied to Kenosha County’s criminal justice system and law enforcement operations. Objective inmate classification enhances security. Vocational programming facilities rehabilitation.

KCDC provides secure detention to facilitate court proceedings. Work release offers alternatives to unproductive incarceration. Healthcare resources on-site maintain inmate wellness.  

The Detention Services Division oversees ongoing evolution to match community needs, public safety priorities, and reform efforts. KCDC operations impact inmates, victims, families, and the community at large.

## Conclusion

Kenosha County Detention Center serves diverse and essential functions as part of the local criminal justice system. Its origins as a direct supervision focused facility have grown into comprehensive incarceration services through modern housing units, vocational programming, and on-site healthcare. KCDC continues adapting to serve Kenosha County inmates while prioritizing public safety, accountability, and rehabilitation.

## Frequently Asked Questions 

**What types of inmates are housed at KCDC?**

KCDC houses both pre-trial detainees awaiting court proceedings as well as sentenced individuals classified as minimum or medium custody based on risk factors. High-risk inmates are housed elsewhere.

**How can I visit an inmate at KCDC?**

Each housing facility has different visitation policies. Confirm schedules and sign-up procedures in advance for in-person visits. Video visitation may also be available. Valid ID is always required for adult visitors.

**What communication options exist for inmates?**

Permitted communication includes mail, phone calls through Securus, and electronic tablets for messaging. Follow all account deposit procedures and communication rules.

**How does the inmate disciplinary system work?** 

Inmates are held accountable to strict rules of conduct. Minor infractions may result in loss of privileges. Major violations can elicit transfers to higher security units. 

**What types of items can inmates purchase through commissary?**

Commissary items that can be purchased using trust account funds include food, hygiene supplies, writing materials, puzzle books, radios, sweatshirts, and more. Certain items have quantity limits.

Phone: 312-347-2400

Physical Address:
Kenosha County Detention Center
4777 88th Street
Kenosha, WI 53144

Mailing Address (personal mail):
Inmate's Full Name & A-Number
Kenosha County Detention Center
4777 88th Street
Kenosha, WI 53144

Other Jails and Prisons

Search Kenosha County Detention Center Inmates

Search Kenosha County Detention Center Inmates

How Do You Find Someone in the Kenosha County Detention Center?

How to Find Someone in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detainee Locator

When someone that is not a US Citizen gets arrested in the United States, and they are here illegally, depending on what state or city they are arrested in, the person may be turned over to ICE. 

Many states such as New York and California, as well as hundreds of US cities, have declared themselves 'sanctuary cities' and do not turn over foreigners here illegally, even if they are committing crimes in their jurisdiction.

However, when an alien here illegally is turned over to ICE, and sent to one of the over 100 Immigration Detention Centers in the United States, the only way to try and locate where they are being detained is using the Online Detainee Locator System.


There are two ways to search for an ICE Detainee:

You can look them up using their assigned A-Number.

  • An A-Number is a 9-digit number that either looks like this: A-123456789, or like this 123-456-789. This is required if you do not know their name.
    It is also called a Registration Number when on a visa, or a USCIS# when on a Green Card.
    If for whatever reason the A-Number you have does not have 9-digits, you need to add 0s (zeroes) to the front of the number until the number has 9-digits.

    That number might then look like this:  001234567.


You can also try and look them up by using their name.

  • In order for this to be effective, you need to have the exact name that is either on their paperwork, or the the name with the exact spelling that they gave ICE. This is required.
  • You also need to know the country of their birth, or the country of their birth that they gave ICE. This is required.
  • Knowing their Date of Birth is helpful but not required to find them in the system.


Important things to know about using the ICE Detainee Locator

  • You do not need to set up an account to use the Detainee Locator System.
  • A-Number stands for 'Alien Registration Number'.
  • The System does not have information on all detainees in custody.
  • Juvenile names are NOT in the System.
  • The Detainee Locator System is updated every 8 hours, sometimes sooner.
  • If the detainee is being moved to a new facility, the new location will not be shown until they have arrived and are processed. 
  • No warnings or prior notice are given in advance of a detainee being moved.
  • While being transferred to a different facility they may still be shown online as being in the original facility.
  • If you are planning a visit, always call before you come to confirm the detainee is still at the facility and has not been moved.
  • To visit a detainee you must have some type of government issued photo ID, or other identification when photo identification is unavailable for religious reasons.
  • If you are unable to find the detainee using the System, contact the ICE Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in the area where you believe the person's immigration case was initiated or the Detainee Reporting and Information Line (DRIL) at 888-351-4024.

Pamphlets in various languages with Instructions on how to use the Online Detainee Locator System:

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Directions / Map to the Kenosha County Detention Center
Understanding US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

What is an ICE Detention Center?

Men, women, and children that are in the United States illegally and are apprehended by the US Border Patrol or ICE will most likely be placed in removal proceedings and may be detained in one of the more than 200 jails and detention centers that make up ICE’s detention system.

Many of the illegal immigrants that are detained are held in county and local jails that contract with ICE to detain immigrants. The rest are held in dedicated immigration detention facilities run by ICE or contracted to private prison corporations, including family detention centers that hold mothers and children.

What Determines if an Illegal Immigrant gets Detained?

ICE will typically detain an immigrant because DHS (Homeland Security) believes that an illegal immigrant is either a “flight risk” and may move to another location within the U.S. or that they pose a public safety threat. Detaining the person allows the government to guarantee that the person will show up for their hearing before an Immigration Court.

Some of the reasons that causes an illegal immigrant to get arrested and held in detention prior to their day in court is as follows:

The illegal immigrant has:

  • committed a crime, or multiple crimes
  • arrived at the border without a visa prior to formally applying for asylum or refugee status
  • an outstanding removal (deportation) order on record, either pending or past due, or
  • missed prior immigration hearing dates.

 

How do you find someone that is in an ICE Detention Center?

The first step to finding out if an illegal immigrant is in ICE or DHS custody is by using the ICE Detainee Locator.

It’s easier to find the person if you have an Alien Number (A#), if one exists. A green card or work permit will show this number. If you don’t have an A# the person is much more difficult to locate.

The information you will need is as follows:

  • the person’s full name as it appears in the ICE System. The exact spelling and the order of how the name is listed is required.
  • the person’s date of birth
  • the person’s country of birth

If you are having difficulty, try different spellings and the order of how the name is listed.

If the illegal immigrant was only recently detained, the ICE Detainee Locator may not be updated with the latest information. Keep in mind that ICE does not give information (online or over the phone) for people under 18 years of age. In such cases, you can only get information on them from the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations field office nearest you.

If the person you are looking for is not in an ICE Detention Center, they may have been taken to a local jail that contracts with ICE, so contact their local City and County Jail, all which can be found here.

Another option, short of the expense of hiring an Immigration Lawyer, is to go to this website and use their online form to get their help.

Once an illegal immigrant is located and you find out the facility where they are being held you need to find out the Deportation Officer that has been assigned to their case. The Officer can tell you how to call or visit the detainee, or pay for the detainee to be able to call you, or how you can send any needed items such as clothing, prescriptions, etc.

The last option, and the most expensive, is to hire an experienced immigration attorney to assist you in tracking down the Deportation Officer. If the person being detained requires specific medical care, an attorney can ensure that they receive that care.

If the detained illegal immigrant has been deported from America previously or has an outstanding removal order - in which case they have no right to see an immigration judge - they can be removed within a few days, or even hours, of the initial arrest.

Even if the government does not immediately remove the person, it is possible that they can be moved around to different Detention Centers. There is never a warning that a person is being moved around and during the transfer there is a complete blackout of any information.

How long are people held in ICE Immigration Detention Centers?

The time that an illegal immigrant is held in an ICE Detention Center can vary. It all depends on several factors such as the individual’s personal situation, criminal record, the severity of the crime they are being charged with, previous deportations and the current caseload that the Detention Center is dealing with.

This image portrays the most recent data available on the time a detained illegal immigrant remains in custody before their release and/or deportation.

Can you visit someone in ICE Detention Centers?

The short answer is yes. The person visiting an illegal immigrant in an ICE Detention Center must be lawfully present in the United States. In other words the visitor must have some form of currently valid immigration status at the time of the visit. A detention center or jail will not allow the visit unless visitor can show valid I.D. and offer proof that they are lawfully in the United States.

If you want to become a volunteer that visits illegal immigrants in order to offer emotional support, it may be possible. You can join one of these visitation networks by going here and contacting the network in your area.

What crimes can cause an illegal immigrant to be deported?

(The following information comes from Nolo.com, a trusted legal resource)

  • Conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude (see list). This includes any attempt or conspiracy to commit such a crime. It does not include crimes that were committed that the illegal immigrant committed when they were under the age of 18 years, however the person must have been released from jail more than five years before applying for a visa or other immigration benefit. It also does not include crimes for which the maximum penalty did not exceed one year in prison and the person was not, in fact, sentenced to more than six months in prison.
  • Conviction or admission of a controlled substance violation, whether under U.S. or foreign law. This includes any conspiracy to commit such a crime.
  • Convictions for two or more crimes (other than purely political ones) for which the prison sentences totaled at least five years. This multiple-offense ground of inadmissibility applies whether or not the convictions came from a single trial and whether or not the offenses arose from a single scheme of misconduct or involved moral turpitude.
  • Conviction of or participation in (according to the reasonable belief of the U.S. government) controlled substance trafficking. This includes anyone who knowingly aided, abetted, assisted, conspired, or colluded in illicit drug trafficking. It also includes the spouse, son, or daughter of the inadmissible applicant if that person has, within the last five years, received any financial or other benefit from the illicit activities, and knew or reasonably should have known where the money or benefit came from.
  • Having the purpose of engaging in prostitution or commercialized vice upon coming to the United States, or a history, within the previous ten years, of having engaged in prostitution.
  • Procurement or attempted procurement or importation of prostitutes, directly or indirectly, or receipt of proceeds of prostitution, any of which occurred within the previous ten years.
  • Assertion of immunity from prosecution after committing a serious criminal offense in the U.S., if the person was thus able to depart the U.S. and has not since submitted fully to the jurisdiction of the relevant U.S. Court.
  • Commission of particularly severe violations of religious freedom while serving as a foreign government official.
  • Commission of or conspiracy to commit human trafficking offenses, within or outside the U.S., or being a knowing aider, abettor, assister, conspirator, or colluder with such a trafficker according to the knowledge or reasonable belief of the U.S. government. Also inadmissible are the spouse, son, or daughter the applicant if they, within the previous five years (but when older than children), received financial or other benefits from the illicit activity and knew or reasonably should have known that the money or other benefit came from the illicit activity.
  • Conviction of an aggravated felony, if the person was removed from the U.S. and seeks to return (this ground of inadmissibility lasts for 20 years)
  • Seeking to enter the U.S. to engage in money laundering, or a history of having laundered money, or having been (according to the knowledge of the U.S. government) a knowing aider, abettor, assister, conspirator, or colluder with money launderers.

These are the straightforward crimes that are mentioned in the immigration law. The statute also lists a number of security violations, such as involvement in espionage, sabotage, terrorism, Nazi persecution, totalitarian parties, and so forth.

Once an illegal immigrant is deported, how long before they can come back to the United States?

If an illegal immigrant has a deportation or removal order in their immigration file, it's possible that they won’t be allowed to enter the U.S. for five, ten, or even 20 years.

The applicable law comes from Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (I.N.A.).

Five-Year Ban: If they were summarily removed or deported upon arrival at a U.S. port of entry because they were found inadmissible, or if they came to the U.S. but were immediately put into removal proceedings and then removed or deported, they may be ineligible to return to the U.S. for five years. The five-year ban also applies if they failed to show up for their removal hearing in the United States.

Ten-Year Ban: If a ‘removal order’ was issued at the conclusion of their removal hearing in Immigration Court, they may not be able to return for ten years after their removal or departure.

Twenty-Year Ban: If they were convicted of an aggravated felony or have received more than one order of removal, they are barred from returning to the U.S. for 20 years. And if they entered without permission after having been removed, or illegally reentered the U.S. after having previously been in the U.S. unlawfully for more than one year, they may be barred from entering the United States for 20 years or permanently.

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This facility, known as "Kenosha County Detention Center" is also known as ICE Detention Facility, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.