The Detention Center
Franklin County Detention Center
- Operated byFranklin County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address748 Walnut Gate Road, Russellville, AL 35654
- CapacityApproximately 220 inmates
- Opened17 March 2008
- VisitationTwo free 30-minute visits a week; additional visits $7.50 each
- BondCash, property or bail bondsman; $35 bond-filing fee by money order
- Service providers namedSouthern Health Partners (medical), Kimble's (commissary), Viapath (phones)
- Population on rosterRoster header showed 124 in custody when read 29 Sep 2026
- Jail AdministratorCaptain Felisha Weeks, Jail Administrator
Source: Franklin County AL Sheriff's Office — Detention Center · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
5/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓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
- ✓Phone, video and commissary rates
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built2008 (opened 17 March 2008)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsApproximately 220
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Shannon M. Oliver
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff has legal custody of the jail by law (Ala. Code 14-6-1); the Sheriff's Office runs the Franklin County Detention Center
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- In office sinceJanuary 2011 (per the office's history page)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Franklin County AL Sheriff's Office — History · 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 Franklin County
- Circuit Court: Alabama's Thirty-Fourth Judicial Circuit, which serves Franklin County alone. Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and try felony cases.
- District Court: the Franklin 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.
- NoteThe sheriff's site links the county site franklincountyal.org, but our reader was refused there, so the commission and its minutes could not be checked.
- The boardFranklin County Commission
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's own site franklinsheriff.org confirmed Franklin County, Alabama; home page and history page name Sheriff Shannon M. Oliver.
- Detention Center page names the jail, address, capacity (about 220), opening date (2008), jail administrator, visitation rules and $7.50 extra-visit fee, commissary and phone providers, and how to post bond with a $35 bond-filing fee.
- Phone call rates are not stated. Vendors are named but no contracts are posted.
- No PREA, death-in-custody, or inspection material found on the detention, forms, administration, FAQ or history pages.
- County seat not stated on any page we could open.
- County site franklincountyal.org (linked from the sheriff's site) was refused by our reader, so the county budget and commission minutes were not checked.
- What was tried: guessed domains franklincountysheriff.com, franklinso.org, franklincountyal.gov and franklincountyal.org refused; 1 search found franklinsheriff.org.
- 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 Franklin 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