Look Up Dixon Correctional Center Inmates

Dixon Correctional Center Overview

Dixon Correctional Center is run by the Illinois Department of Corrections at 2600 N. Brinton Avenue in Dixon. It is a medium-security prison for adult men who have been sentenced, not a county jail and not a place for new local arrests. Andrea Tack is listed as warden on the state facility page. The prison opened in July 1983 and sits on a large campus of about 462 acres in Lee County.

The facility is known for its medical and mental-health mission. It houses general-population men along with older people with special needs, people with disabilities, and infirmary patients. The Dixon Psychiatric Unit is the state's primary psychiatric correctional unit and is multi-security. The Special Treatment Center houses people who are seriously mentally ill or developmentally disabled. That makes Dixon larger and more specialized than the small county jail nearby.

Specialized Units at Dixon Correctional Center

Dixon is more than a standard medium-security yard. The state describes it as a multi-security facility built around mental-health care. The administration is split into specialized areas, including general population, a unit for older people with special needs, a unit for people with disabilities, and an infirmary. That mix is unusual for a single prison and is part of why Dixon is one of the larger and more complex sites in the state system.

Two units stand out. The Dixon Psychiatric Unit is the state's primary psychiatric correctional unit and is multi-security, with its own operational capacity of 213. The Special Treatment Center, rated at 462, houses people who are seriously mentally ill or developmentally disabled. Together they give Dixon a treatment role that a typical prison does not carry, and they shape how people are classified and assigned here.

Dixon Correctional Center Capacity and Population

Dixon is far larger than the Lee County Jail. The state facility page lists an operational capacity of 1,975, with the Psychiatric Unit rated at 213 and the Special Treatment Center at 462. Population figures come from the state. The facility page listed 991 people on June 30, 2024, and the state annual report listed 1,034 on June 30, 2025 with an average daily population near 998.

The state annual report breaks the 2025 count into a general-population medium group, the maximum-security psychiatric unit, and the medium-security Special Treatment Center, all listed as Lee County male. For cost context, the state reported an average annual cost of about $47,695 per person in an earlier fiscal year. These are state figures for the prison and should never be mixed into the small county jail count.

How to Look Up an Inmate at Dixon Correctional Center

Because Dixon is a state prison, the lookup is the statewide tool, not the county list. The IDOC Individual in Custody Search covers everyone in Illinois prison custody, and you can search by last name, IDOC number, or birthdate. The county jail list will never show a Dixon prisoner.

1. Open the IDOC Individual in Custody Search.
2. Choose to search by last name, IDOC number, or birthdate.
3. Open the matching profile and confirm the parent institution is Dixon.
4. Read the status, location, admission date, and sentencing details.

An IDOC profile shows a photo, the parent institution, custody status, physical details, admission and projected release dates, and sentencing information. It does not carry a county jail booking number, since that belongs to the local system. The jail inmate records page covers the county side for people who are not yet sentenced.

Dixon Correctional Center Address and Contact

Use the state facility line for general prison questions. Staff will not confirm by phone whether a visitor is on an approved list, so plan ahead through the mail and the visitation process instead. The prison sits north of central Dixon on its large Brinton Avenue campus, well apart from the Lee County Jail, so visitors should confirm they are headed to the right facility before they travel.

Visiting Someone at Dixon Correctional Center

Prison visits work differently from jail visits. Except for legal and government visitors, a person must be on the individual's approved visitation list, and visits are scheduled in advance. The facility offers video visitation across the week. The schedule below follows the state facility page.

Visitors should log in about 15 minutes before a scheduled video visit. To get on the approved list, write to the person in custody, since the prison will not confirm list status by phone. Statewide rules on identification and conduct also apply.

Mail, Phone, and Money at Dixon Correctional Center

State rules govern mail, phone, and deposits, and the vendors differ from the county jail. Mail goes to the person by name and IDOC number at the Brinton Avenue address and is subject to inspection, with most non-privileged mail scanned. Phone service is through ICSolutions, and people in custody can call approved numbers but cannot receive calls. Money is sent through state-approved channels.

The state deposit page shown above lists the money channels. The table sums up the three services for Dixon.

Electronic transfers are capped, with most limited to $5,000 and MoneyGram to $3,000, and a mailed money order may not exceed $999.99. MoneyGram uses a receiving code, and a money order can be sent to the JPay lockbox in Florida. Expected posting runs about 24 to 48 business hours for JPay and Western Union and longer for MoneyGram. The state notes it no longer uses its older deposit vendor.

Common State Prison Terms

State custody uses its own vocabulary, and it differs from the county jail. The plain meanings below help when reading an IDOC profile for someone at Dixon.

IDOC number

The state identifier for a sentenced person, used in place of a county booking number.

Parent institution

The prison responsible for the person, such as Dixon Correctional Center.

Mittimus

The court commitment document that sends a person into state custody.

Projected parole date

The estimated date a person becomes eligible for parole or supervised release.

Projected discharge date

The estimated date a sentence and any supervision fully end.

Reception and classification

The state intake process that decides security level and facility assignment.

Reception and Intake at Dixon Correctional Center

A person does not arrive at Dixon from a street arrest. They arrive after a conviction and a prison sentence, following reception and classification in the state system. Once classified, a person may be assigned to Dixon based on security level and needs, including the prison's psychiatric and special-treatment roles. That is the opposite end of the process from a county jail booking, which is why the lookup and the rules here are all state-run. A Lee County defendant who is sentenced leaves the local jail list at that point and shows up in the state locator instead, sometimes at Dixon and sometimes at another Illinois prison, depending on the classification decision.

About Dixon Correctional Center

Dixon is a working prison with a wide program list. Education runs from adult basic education through high-school equivalency. Vocational offerings include career technologies, cosmetology, commercial cooking, and construction trades. The prison also runs an eyeglass industry through Illinois Correctional Industries that has made prescription eyewear since the mid-1980s and produced more than nine thousand pairs in the most recent reported year. Volunteer and religious services, Alcoholics Anonymous, and literacy programs round out the offerings. Other programs cover life skills, substance abuse, anger management, veterans transition, hospice and adult care, individual and group therapy, community work crews, and reentry. The state annual report also notes mental-health therapeutic services that fit the prison's treatment role.

For families, the key point is custody level. A person sentenced from the Lee County courts may move from the Lee County Jail into state custody and could land at Dixon or another state prison after classification. From that point, the county jail list no longer applies and the IDOC locator is the tool to use.