The Detention Center
Madison County Detention Facility
- Operated byMadison County Sheriff's Office, Corrections Division
- Jail address815 Wheeler Ave, Huntsville, AL 35804
- Current populationInmate Roster heading showed 1,231 on 29 Sep 2026
- Food serviceSummit
- MedicalSouthern Health Partners
- Phone/videoNCIC Inmate Communications
- VisitationRemote only, $0.30 per minute plus tax
Source: Madison County Sheriff's Office — Jail Information · 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 builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Kevin Turner
- Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Corrections Division runs the Madison County Detention Facility (Ala. Code 14-6-1 gives the sheriff legal custody of the jail)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Office address100 Northside Square Room 206, Huntsville, AL 35801
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Madison County Sheriff's Office — home page · 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 Madison County
- Circuit Court: Alabama's Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit, which serves Madison County alone. Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and try felony cases.
- District Court: the Madison 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 (madisoncountyal.gov) was refused by our reader; board page not opened.
- The boardMadison County Commission
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff Kevin Turner is named on the Sheriff's own home page.
- Jail Information page names the Madison County Detention Facility, explains three places to post bond (City of Huntsville, City of Madison, District Court Clerk) and online options, and lists fees: calls $0.16 per minute, remote visits $0.30 per minute plus tax, kiosk deposit $3.00, card deposits 10% (minimum $3.25).
- Current inmate roster is public on the Sheriff's own site; its heading showed 1,231 people in custody on 29 Sep 2026 (live population count; rated beds not published).
- Vendors are named (Summit food, Southern Health Partners medical, NCIC phones) but no contracts are posted.
- No PREA, deaths-in-custody, inspection report or budget found on the Sheriff's site; history page gives no jail build date or cost.
- What was tried: guessed county domain madisoncountyal.gov refused by our reader; one search located madisoncountysheriffal.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 Madison 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