The Detention Center
DeKalb County Detention Center
- Operated byDeKalb County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address2801 Jordan Road SW, Fort Payne, AL 35968
- Rated capacityNot found
Source: DeKalb County Alabama Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
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 Nick Welden
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff's site names the DeKalb County Detention Center and has a Jail page; by law the sheriff has legal custody of the jail (Ala. Code 14-6-1)
- 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: DeKalb County Alabama 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 DeKalb County
- Circuit Court: Alabama's Ninth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Cherokee. Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and try felony cases.
- District Court: the DeKalb 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 commission site not found or not opened; commission not confirmed on a county page.
- The boardDeKalb County Commission
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Only the sheriff's home page dekalbcountysheriff.org opened (confirmed DeKalb County, Alabama; names Sheriff Nick Welden and the DeKalb County Detention Center in Fort Payne).
- The home page links to the sheriff's own Inmate Roster, a Jail page and an FAQ page, but our reader was refused on every sub-page, so capacity, bond, fees, PREA and the rest are unverified, not confirmed absent.
- dekalbsheriff.org is the DeKalb County, GEORGIA sheriff — not used.
- Seat recorded as Fort Payne from the detention center address; not stated as the seat on an opened page.
- What was tried: dekalbcountysheriff.com, dekalbcountyal.gov (no such host), dekalbcountyal.org, co.dekalb.al.us (refused); one web search; dekalbcountysheriff.org/jail, /faq, /inmate-roster/disclaim, /administration (refused).
- Not scored: Only the sheriff's home page opened; the Jail, Inmate Roster and FAQ pages were all refused. Marking the rest 'not published' would claim more than was checked. Found published on the pages that did open: named, roster.
- 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 DeKalb 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