The Detention Center
Not found
- Operated byJackson County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address102 East Laurel St, Scottsboro, AL 35768 (sheriff's office address)
- Jail non-emergency phone256-574-1884
- FY2025 county jail budgetCounty Jail subtotal $2,971,057, incl. inmate medical & dental $450,000
Source: Jackson County 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 Rocky Harnen Jr.
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff has legal custody of the county jail by law (Ala. Code 14-6-1); the sheriff's site lists a jail phone and Jail Staff page
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Office address102 East Laurel St, Scottsboro, AL 35768
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Jackson County 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 Jackson County
- Circuit Court: Alabama's Thirty-Eighth Judicial Circuit, which serves Jackson County alone. Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and try felony cases.
- District Court: the Jackson 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 Jackson County Commission is the governing body of the county; chaired by an elected Chairman.
- The boardJackson County Commission →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- County site jacksoncountyal.gov (Alabama confirmed) opened; it links the sheriff's site jacksoncountysheriffal.org.
- Sheriff's home page opened and names the sheriff; it links an Inmate Roster page on its own domain (roster page itself was refused by our reader).
- Sheriff sub-pages (Jail Staff, Inmate Roster, FAQs, Administration, Sheriff's Message) were refused by our reader, so jail name, capacity, visitation, bond and fee details could not be checked there.
- Sheriff's home page still links a Facebook page under a previous sheriff's name.
- County posts annual revenue and expenditure budgets; FY2025 expenditures show Sheriff's Dept subtotal $3,691,846 and County Jail subtotal $2,971,057.
- What was tried: jacksoncountyal.gov (opened); jacksoncountysheriffal.org home (opened), sub-pages refused; FY2026 and FY2023 budget PDFs had no readable text.
- Not scored: Only the sheriff's home page opened; roster, jail staff, FAQ and administration pages were all refused. Marking the rest 'not published' would claim more than was checked. Found published on the pages that did open: roster, budget.
- 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 Jackson 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