The Detention Center
Mobile County Metro Jail
- Operated byMobile County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address450 St. Emmanuel Street, Mobile, AL 36601
- Average daily populationAbout 1,500 per day (Sheriff's own site)
- VisitationVideo visits; on-site video free, remote video paid
- CommissaryDeposits via inmatecanteen.com
- Jail AdministratorPat Mitchell, Warden (Deputy Warden: Russell Mitchell)
Source: Mobile County Sheriff's Office — Metro Jail · 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
- ✗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
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 Paul Burch
- Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's corrections division operates the Mobile Metro Jail (Ala. Code 14-6-1 gives the sheriff legal custody of the jail)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Office address510 South Royal St, Mobile, AL 36603
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Mobile County Sheriff's Office — Staff · 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 Mobile County
- Circuit Court: Alabama's Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, which serves Mobile County alone. Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and try felony cases.
- District Court: the Mobile 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 (mobilecountyal.gov) was refused by our reader; board page not opened.
- The boardMobile County Commission
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff Paul Burch is named on the Sheriff's own Staff and Contact pages; Warden and Deputy Warden named on the Staff page.
- About Us page: the corrections division operates the Mobile Metro Jail with an average daily population of some 1,500.
- Who's in Jail links to a current-inmate list on the Sheriff's own subdomain showing name, date, charges and bond amounts.
- Inmate Handbook (March 2025) covers PREA zero-tolerance reporting and lists fees: $35 filing fee per charge, $10 medical copay plus $3 per prescription, $0.25 per minute for virtual visits.
- Bonding link goes to a login portal; no public written guidance on how to post bond was found.
- No budget, deaths-in-custody, inspection report or contracts found on the Sheriff's site; history page gives no build date or cost.
- What was tried: county guessed domains (mobilecountyal.gov, mobileso.org) refused by our reader; one search located mobileso.com.
- 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 Mobile 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