Receipts, not rhetoric

MoBetta USA

Every county in America is built the same way: a jail, a sheriff, and a judge. You pay for all three. This map is the front door — pick your state, then your county, and see the record.

Find your state

County records published County map · records in progress

Alabama — county map — records in progressAL Arkansas — county records publishedAR Arizona — county records publishedAZ California — county records publishedCA Colorado — county records publishedCO Connecticut — county map — records in progress District of Columbia — county map — records in progress Delaware — county records published Florida — county map — records in progressFL Georgia — county map — records in progressGA Iowa — county records publishedIA Idaho — county records publishedID Illinois — county records publishedIL Indiana — county records publishedIN Kansas — county records publishedKS Kentucky — county map — records in progressKY Louisiana — county records publishedLA Massachusetts — county records published Maryland — county map — records in progress Maine — county records publishedME Michigan — county records publishedMI Minnesota — county records publishedMN Missouri — county records publishedMO Mississippi — county map — records in progressMS Montana — county records publishedMT North Carolina — county map — records in progressNC North Dakota — county records publishedND Nebraska — county records publishedNE New Hampshire — county records published New Jersey — county map — records in progress New Mexico — county records publishedNM Nevada — county records publishedNV New York — county records publishedNY Ohio — county records publishedOH Oklahoma — county records publishedOK Oregon — county records publishedOR Pennsylvania — county map — records in progressPA Rhode Island — county records published South Carolina — county map — records in progressSC South Dakota — county records publishedSD Tennessee — county map — records in progressTN Texas — county records publishedTX Utah — county records publishedUT Virginia — county map — records in progressVA Vermont — county records published Washington — county records publishedWA Wisconsin — county records publishedWI West Virginia — county map — records in progressWV Wyoming — county records publishedWY New Hampshire — county records publishedNHNew Hampshire Vermont — county records publishedVTVermont Massachusetts — county records publishedMAMassachusetts Rhode Island — county records publishedRIRhode Island Connecticut — county map — records in progressCTConnecticut New Jersey — county map — records in progressNJNew Jersey Delaware — county records publishedDEDelaware Maryland — county map — records in progressMDMaryland District of Columbia — county map — records in progressDCWashington, D.C. Alaska — county records publishedAlaska Hawaiʻi — county records publishedHawaiʻi Puerto Rico — county map — records in progressPuerto Rico U.S. Virgin Islands — county map — records in progressVirgin Islands Guam — county map — records in progressGuam Northern Mariana Islands — county map — records in progressN. Marianas American Samoa — county map — records in progressAmerican Samoa

Alaska · Hawaiʻi · the territories — shown as insets, not to scale

All 56 jurisdictions

Why the county jail is the place to look

A county jail holds people who have mostly not been convicted of anything. It is paid for out of county taxes, run by an elected sheriff, and filled or emptied by the judges who set bond. When it is run badly, the people of that county pay twice — once in money, once in lives.

77%of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of a crime.Bureau of Justice Statistics
30%of all local jail deaths in 2019 were suicides — the leading single cause.Bureau of Justice Statistics
990+deaths in custody the Justice Department failed to identify in a single year (FY2021).U.S. Senate investigation, 2022

How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?

The State Line →
The county runs the jail. The state decides whether the county has to tell you anything about it. Does anybody inspect it, does a death have to be reported, does any of it reach the public — the same three questions, asked of every state.

Sources: Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019 and Suicide in Local Jails and State and Federal Prisons, 2000–2019, Bureau of Justice Statistics · Death in Custody Reporting Act: Background and Legislative Considerations, Congressional Research Service · Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, September 2022. Every figure on this page is drawn from a named public record. Nothing here is estimated.