Lawrence Center Release Outcomes
Leaving Lawrence Correctional Center does not always mean entering the community. IDOC may transfer a person to another prison, take the person to court on a writ, place the person in a hospital, or move the person to an adult transition center. Those are changes of location within a continuing custody or placement system. A transfer entry should never be reported as freedom from custody.
A community outcome may be parole or mandatory supervised release, often shortened to MSR. Both mean the person has left the prison building under conditions and remains subject to state supervision. Final discharge is different. It means the sentence and its supervision obligation have ended. The most reliable record identifies the status, effective date, parent institution, and destination or supervision category instead of merely showing that the person is no longer at Lawrence.
The Lawrence County released-inmate guide compares these state paths with county-jail records. For this facility, IDOC is the custodian. The Lawrence County Sheriff does not create the prison release record merely because the prison stands within the county.
Confirm a Lawrence Center Release
Use the IDOC Individual in Custody Search first. An IDOC number is the strongest search key. A name search can also work, but common names require a careful match against birth information, physical descriptors, commitment county, and sentence details.
- Search by IDOC number when it is known. Otherwise, enter the name and use the other available fields to narrow the result.
- Open the matching profile and read the status, current or parent location, admission details, sentence entries, and every labeled release-related date together.
- Distinguish an actual parole or release entry from a projected parole date or projected discharge date. A projection may change and does not prove that the person left.
- If the profile shows parole, confirm that the person left the prison but remains supervised. Use the parole and probation guide for the next check.
- If no profile appears after full discharge, use the archived-record or IDOC FOIA route. Do not treat a missing result as proof of release.
IDOC says its public web search covers people who are incarcerated or on parole. A profile can disappear after the sentence is complete even though archived agency records still exist. A spelling error, old identifier, or final discharge can therefore produce no result. The Lawrence County current-inmate roster cannot fill this gap because it covers a separate county custody system.
Lawrence Center Records Contact
Lawrence Correctional Center
Business mail: 10940 Lawrence Road
Sumner, IL 62466
Telephone: (618) 936-2064
Fax: (618) 936-2577
The business address is not the address IDOC lists for mail to an individual in custody. Individual mail uses 10930 Lawrence Road and must follow current IDOC addressing and mail rules. Call the facility for current operational information, but send a formal statewide release-record request to IDOC when the desired document is held at the department level.
The IDOC FOIA office accepts requests at DOC.FOIARequest@illinois.gov. Mail may be addressed to FOIA Officer, 1301 Concordia Court, P.O. Box 19277, Springfield, IL 62794-9277. The telephone is 217-558-2200 extension 4166, and the fax is 217-558-5612. Ask for electronic delivery and recheck fees before ordering paper copies. IDOC lists an initial five-working-day response period, subject to a written five-working-day extension, and its posted copying rules provide the first 50 black-and-white pages without charge before a per-page fee applies.
Lawrence Correctional Center Profile
Lawrence Correctional Center is a maximum-security Illinois Department of Corrections prison for adult men. IDOC says the facility opened in November 2001. Its published operational capacity is 1,241, and the department reported a population of 879 as of June 30, 2024. Those are dated facility figures, not a current count and not statistics about people released from the Lawrence County Jail.
The official IDOC Lawrence Correctional Center page supplies the facility description and current contact context.
The captured official page helps identify the correct state prison before a search. Release status still belongs in the IDOC person profile, a VINE event, or a department record rather than in the general facility description.
Two Lawrence Release Systems
Lawrence County contains both Lawrence Correctional Center and Lawrence County Jail. Their similar names create a serious records trap. The jail holds local arrests and court detainees under the Sheriff. The correctional center is a state prison holding people convicted across Illinois. A person at the prison may have no Lawrence County criminal case at all.
For a Lawrence County Jail event, the key sources are the Sheriff’s release or movement record, VINE, and the Lawrence County court docket. For Lawrence Correctional Center, use IDOC search and archives, VINE, and Prisoner Review Board material when a hearing applies. Geographic location does not merge these records. The local Circuit Clerk usually has no relevant conviction file unless the case or another proceeding actually occurred in Lawrence County.
Request Lawrence Release Records
A focused request gives IDOC enough detail to locate the correct record. Supply the full name, birth date, IDOC number when known, approximate reception and release years, facility, conviction county, and relevant dates. Ask for publicly disclosable admission, release, status, and sentencing fields. State separately whether a photograph is sought.
IDOC directive 01.07.211 identifies useful existing record classes. A requester may ask for the publicly disclosable “Notification of Final Discharge” or release and community-placement entry for a named person. Such material may include a register number, parent or transitional facility, community status, release date, projected discharge date, committing county, mittimus number, most serious offense, and parole office or agent details. Private addresses and sensitive identifiers may be withheld or redacted.
The directive also describes monthly notice work for people released or placed in the community. Notice material can distinguish release, transitional security, electronic detention, and final discharge. That distinction is useful when the question is whether someone left Lawrence Correctional Center but remained within an IDOC placement. Phrase the request around the named record and the specific person instead of asking for an entire master file. A narrow request reduces ambiguity and gives the agency a clearer path to release nonexempt fields while redacting protected details.
IDOC’s FAQ also offers a Contact Us option labeled “Record Search” for archived information. This route matters after the person completes the sentence and no longer appears in the public offender search. FOIA requires existing public records; it does not require IDOC to calculate a new date or write a custom explanation.
Read Lawrence Release Dates Carefully
IDOC uses several date labels. A projected parole date estimates when confinement may end and supervision may begin. A projected discharge date can describe the expected end of the full sentence. An actual release or parole date records an event that occurred. Preserve the label shown on the source because these dates do not answer the same question.
Projections can move when jail credit, statutory credit, eligible program credit, discretionary Earned Sentence Credit, discipline, sentence amendments, consecutive or concurrent terms, or parole-violation time is posted. Illinois law may require different percentages of a sentence depending on the offense. There is no sound universal formula. County-jail good-behavior rules under 730 ILCS 130/3 should not be used to calculate a Lawrence Correctional Center date. IDOC applies the state prison credit framework, including 730 ILCS 5/3-6-3, and its own calculation is authoritative.
A projected date is planning information, not a confirmed gate-release time. Verify any change through IDOC, and do not assume a weekend or holiday adjustment that no official source has stated.
Lawrence Release Alerts and Hearings
Illinois VINE can provide agency-fed custody notifications. Search the person, match the supplying agency and identifiers, read the event literally, and register for offered alerts. VINE may report a release, transfer, or other change, but it is not a certified release sheet and may lag the source system. IDOC Victim Services assistance is available at 877-776-0755. The statewide VINE telephone service is 866-566-8439.
The Illinois Prisoner Review Board publishes hearing calendars and dockets for matters within its authority. Lawrence Correctional Center may appear as a facility row when a hearing is scheduled. An empty row proves nothing about a named person. A hearing date or favorable decision is also not the physical release time. Confirm the later custody status through IDOC.
Traditional parole is not routine for every Illinois prison sentence. Older indeterminate cases and certain statutory review categories follow distinct rules. PRB notification is separate from VINE registration, and the board does not operate a universal public name search for every person on supervision.
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