The Detention Center
Henry County Jail
- Operated byHenry County Sheriff's Office
- Jail phone334-585-3293
- Sheriff's Office address101 Court Square, Suite G, Abbeville, AL 36310
Source: Henry County Sheriff's Office — County Jail · 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 Eric Blankenship
- CurrentNamed in the Alabama Sheriffs Association directory; not confirmed on a county page
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff has legal custody of the jail by law (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: 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 Henry County
- Circuit Court: Alabama's Twentieth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Houston. Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and try felony cases.
- District Court: the Henry 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 county site links a Commission page (henrycountyal.com/county-commission) but our reader was refused there.
- The boardHenry County Commission
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Official county site henrycountyal.com opened (directory page): lists the courthouse at 101 Court Square, Abbeville and links the Sheriff's Office site hcsoalabama.org; it does not name the sheriff.
- Sheriff's site hcsoalabama.org/county-jail opened but our reader extracted only headings (Facility Information, Personal Mail, Commissary, Inmate Telephone) and contact details: Sheriff's Office 334-585-3131, County Jail 334-585-3293, 101 Court Square, Suite G, Abbeville.
- Sub-pages (facility-information, inmate-telephone, public-information, the sheriff's home page) and the county commission page were refused by our reader, so the ten checks could not be judged; they are left empty rather than scored no.
- What was tried: guessed domains henrycountysheriff.com, henrycountyal.gov and henrycountyal.org refused; 1 search (the last of the group's cap) found the county and sheriff sites.
- Sheriff name is the Alabama Sheriffs Association directory lead, 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 Henry 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