Baldwin County, Alabama — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Baldwin County Sheriff's Corrections Center

Operated byBaldwin County Sheriff's Office (Corrections Command, led by a Major)
Average daily populationAbout 550, with periods exceeding that (sheriff's site)
AccreditationSheriff's site says it is one of two accredited facilities in Alabama (no report posted)
ExpansionTower B and a new booking & intake building; Phase I awarded March 2021 at $62 million via two Public Building Authority leases, plus a $13 million PBA lease in FY2024 — $75 million total (FY2026 county budget)
Jail addressNot found (sheriff's footer says Bay Minette)

Source: Baldwin County Sheriff's Office — Corrections Command · checked 2026-09-29

Transparency rating

3/10Closed

✓The jail is named
✗Who is in custody — not published
✓Beds and daily population
✓What it costs taxpayers
✗Deaths in custody — not published
✗PREA audits — not published
✗Independent inspection — not published
✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
✗How to post bond — not published
✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Baldwin County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-29. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

Year builtNot found
Original costNot found
Paid for byExpansion funded by Public Building Authority leases ($62M + $13M) per FY2026 county budget
BedsNot found (ADP about 550)

Since then

Tower B and new booking & intake building, Phase I awarded March 2021, $75 million project total (FY2026 county budget)

The Sheriff

Sheriff Anthony Lowery

Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Corrections Command runs the Baldwin County Sheriff's Corrections Center (Ala. Code 14-6-1)
How the office is filledElected, four-year term
Name checkSheriff's own site shows 'Sheriff Lowery'; first name from the Alabama Sheriffs Association directory

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: Baldwin County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-29

The Judges

Alabama's circuit and district judges are elected state judges. A district judge or magistrate usually sets bail soon after arrest; felony cases are tried in circuit court.

Who sets bail in Baldwin County

Circuit Court: Alabama's Twenty-Eighth Judicial Circuit, which serves Baldwin County alone. Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and try felony cases.
District Court: the Baldwin County District Court. District judges are elected countywide to six-year terms; a district judge or magistrate usually sets bail soon after arrest.

Still needed

The county's bond schedule
Share of the jail population held pretrial
Median time from booking to first appearance

Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-29

The County Commission

They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.

What they controlThe county budget that funds the sheriff's office and the jail, and the jail building itself.
What they don'tDay-to-day operations. By law the sheriff has legal custody and charge of the jail and everyone held in it (Ala. Code 14-6-1). No state agency sets and enforces standards for the jail.
NoteCounty budget: 43.7% of the FY2026 General Fund is appropriated for the Sheriff's Office.
The boardBaldwin County Commission →
Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →

Notes on the record

Sheriff's site sheriff.baldwincountyal.gov found by search; county site baldwincountyal.gov opened directly. Both confirmed Alabama.
Corrections page publishes an average daily population of about 550 and says the center is accredited, but no accreditation or inspection report was found.
Corrections page says the docket room gives 'bond amounts and charges only' — not clear bond guidance. Medical co-pays are mentioned without amounts.
County posts annual budgets; the FY2026 narrative budget shows Sheriff's Office staffing (Corrections 219 positions) and its General Fund share.
What was tried: guessed domains baldwincountysheriff.com, baldwinso.org (refused), co.baldwin.al.us (no connection); sheriff sub-pages arrest-search, inmate-services, about-sheriff-lowery, contact-us/sheriff-lowery were refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED), so roster and fees are unverified rather than confirmed absent.
Searches used for this county: 1.
State inspection/oversight: Alabama has no state agency that sets and enforces standards for county jails. The law that once gave a state agency jail-inspection duties was repealed in 2015.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Baldwin County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).

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

Your VOTE is POWERFUL.

The sheriff is elected — every Alabama sheriff's seat is on the November 2026 ballot. So are the commissioners who pay for the jail, and the judges who set bail.

Names verified 2026-09-29 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered