The Detention Center
Limestone County Jail
- Operated byLimestone County Sheriff's Office
- Inmate mailSent through JailATM to a Decatur, AL mailing address (not the jail's street address)
- Medical contractCounty Commission special meeting set for 29 Sep 2026 to consider an inmate medical services contract for the jail
Source: Limestone County — Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗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 Joshua McLaughlin
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff has legal custody of the county jail by law (Ala. Code 14-6-1); the Sheriff's Office page lists a Detention division and the jail's inmate search
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Office address101 West Elm Street, Athens, AL 35611
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Limestone 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 Limestone County
- Circuit Court: Alabama's Thirty-Ninth Judicial Circuit, which serves Limestone County alone. Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and try felony cases.
- District Court: the Limestone 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.
- NoteMeetings & Minutes page is linked from the county site but was refused by our reader.
- The boardLimestone County Commission
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- County site limestonecounty-al.gov (Alabama confirmed) Sheriff's Office page opened; it names Sheriff Joshua McLaughlin and the Limestone County Jail.
- The sheriff page links an Inmate Search on the county's Zuercher portal (limestone-al-911.zuercherportal.com); the portal itself was not opened.
- The sheriff page announces a County Commission special meeting to consider an inmate medical services contract; the contract itself was not seen.
- No capacity, bond guidance, fee rates, PREA, deaths or inspection material on the page opened. No budget link on that page.
- What was tried: guessed domains (limestonecountyal.gov, limestonecountysheriff.com/.org) refused or not found; one search found the county site; Meetings & Minutes sub-page refused by our reader.
- County seat not stated on the page opened (sheriff's office and county contact addresses are in Athens).
- 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 Limestone 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