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

The Detention Center

Not found

Operated byClay County Sheriff's Office (by law, Ala. Code § 14-6-1)

Source: Alabama Sheriffs Association directory · checked 2026-09-29

Transparency rating

Not scored. Clay County's and its sheriff's own websites could not be reached or read in the session that produced this record, so their disclosures were never examined. This is a gap in the research, not a finding about the county.

The Building

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

Year builtNot found
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
BedsNot found

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Henry Lambert

Runs the jailYes — the sheriff has legal custody of the county jail by law (Ala. Code § 14-6-1)
CurrentNamed in the Alabama Sheriffs Association directory; not confirmed on a county page
How the office is filledElected, four-year term; seat on the 3 November 2026 ballot

Still needed

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

Source: Alabama Sheriffs Association directory · 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 Clay County

Circuit Court: Alabama's Fortieth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Coosa. Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and try felony cases.
District Court: the Clay 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 site not openable; agendas/minutes not read.
The boardClay County Commission
Where the jail money is decidedNot found

Notes on the record

Not examined: no page on the county's or sheriff's own site could be opened.
What was tried: guessed domain claycountysheriff.com and the county site listed on Wikipedia (alabamaclaycounty.com) were refused by our reader; search cap reached before this county.
Sheriff name from the Sheriffs Association directory; not confirmed on a county page.
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 Clay 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