The Detention Center
Dallas County Jail
- Operated byDallas County Sheriff's Department
- Operator"The Dallas County Sheriff's Department maintains the County Jail" (county Jail page)
- Jail address4805 US-80 (Temporary Facility), 36786 — the county page marks it temporary
- Average populationAbout 180 inmates on average (county Jail page)
- Staff28 (county Jail page)
- WardenSteve Coleman
- Jail AdministratorSteve Coleman, Warden (county Jail page)
Source: County of Dallas, AL — Jail · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗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
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 Michael Granthum
- Runs the jailBy law the sheriff has legal custody of the county jail (Ala. Code 14-6-1); not confirmed on a county page
- CurrentNamed in the Alabama Sheriffs Association directory; not confirmed on a county page
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- 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 Dallas County
- Circuit Court: Alabama's Fourth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Bibb, Hale, Perry and Wilcox. Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and try felony cases.
- District Court: the Dallas County District Court. District judges are elected countywide to six-year terms; a district judge or magistrate usually sets bail soon after arrest.
- 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 found or not opened; commission not confirmed on a county page.
- The boardDallas County Commission
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Examined in the rescue pass (29 Sep 2026): search found the county's own site dallascounty-al.org; its Jail page opened and confirms Dallas County, Alabama (Selma area).
- The Jail page says the Sheriff's Department maintains the County Jail, gives an address marked '(Temporary Facility)', an average of about 180 inmates, a staff of 28, and names Warden Steve Coleman.
- The Jail page's full link list shows no roster, visitation, phone, commissary, bond, PREA or fee page. It does not name the sheriff.
- Budget 'no' is qualified: the county's Departments and Sheriff's Department pages were refused by our reader, so commission, minutes or budget pages could not be looked for.
- Why the jail is in a temporary facility is not stated on the page; not researched.
- Sheriff name remains the Sheriffs Association directory lead; the county Sheriff's Department page could not be opened.
- What was tried: first pass — dallascountysheriff.com, dallascountyal.gov, dallascountyal.org, co.dallas.al.us, dallassheriff.org (refused/nonexistent). Rescue pass — one search; dallascounty-al.org/County-Departments/Jail (opened); /County-Departments and /County-Departments/Sheriffs-Department (refused). Other results were aggregators, ignored.
- 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 Dallas 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