The Detention Center
Mac Sim Butler Detention Facility
- Operated byMontgomery County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address225 S. McDonough Street, Montgomery, AL 36104
- Rated capacity1,290 inmates (144 to a unit)
- ExpansionConstruction began October 2006 on a $50 million, 169,768 sq ft expansion
- FY2024-25 budgetDetention Facility $24,122,104; Sheriff's Office $20,044,826 (General Fund, Public Safety)
- Jail AdministratorColonel Sonja Pritchett, Director of Detention
Source: Montgomery County Sheriff — Mac Sim Butler Detention Facility · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
4/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗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
- Beds1,290
Since then
- Construction began October 2006 on a $50 million, 169,768 sq ft expansion
The Sheriff
Sheriff Derrick Cunningham
- CurrentNamed in the Alabama Sheriffs Association directory; not confirmed on a county page
- Runs the jailYes — the Mac Sim Butler Detention Facility is "operated by the Sheriff of Montgomery County" (Ala. Code 14-6-1 gives the sheriff legal custody of the jail)
- 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 Montgomery County
- Circuit Court: Alabama's Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which serves Montgomery County alone. Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and try felony cases.
- District Court: the Montgomery 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.
- NoteFive district commissioners; the Chairperson and Vice Chair are chosen by majority vote of the Commission.
- The boardMontgomery County Commission →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's jail page names the Mac Sim Butler Detention Facility, gives total capacity of 1,290, the 2006 $50 million expansion, and names Colonel Sonja Pritchett as Director of Detention.
- No own page opened named the sheriff: montgomerysheriff.com home page returned 403 and the county's sheriff page names no one; name taken from the Sheriffs Association directory.
- County FY2024-25 proposed budget on the county site shows Detention Facility $24,122,104 and Sheriff's Office $20,044,826.
- Current Inmates page is branded Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Inmate and Warrant Search (vendor-hosted); our reader saw the page but not its listing.
- No bond guidance, fees, PREA, deaths-in-custody, inspection report or contracts found on the pages opened.
- What was tried: county detention-center page, sheriff contact page and montgomerysheriff.com root returned 403; guessed domains refused; one search located the sheriff and county sites.
- 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 Montgomery 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