The Detention Center
Walker County Jail
- Operated byWalker County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address2001 2nd Avenue, Jasper, AL 35501
- Rated capacity250 inmates
- OpenedAugust 1998
- Housing128-bed housing unit, 31-bed maximum security, 20-bed female, 3-bed medical, 9-bed booking, 24-bed trustee, 35-bed minimum security
- DesignModular design allowing future expansion
- ServicesDoctor on site with nursing staff; kitchen; laundry
- Jail AdministratorJustin White (Jail Administrator)
Source: Walker County Sheriff's Office — County Jail · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓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 — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built1998 (opened August 1998)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds250
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Nick Smith
- Runs the jailYes — by law the sheriff has legal custody and charge of the county jail (Ala. Code § 14-6-1); the sheriff's site hosts the County Jail page
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- CurrentNamed on the sheriff's own site
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Walker County Sheriff's Office — Meet the Sheriff · 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 Walker County
- Circuit Court: Alabama's Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, which serves Walker County alone. Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and try felony cases.
- District Court: the Walker 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 not found; not examined.
- The boardWalker County Commission
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's site walkercountysheriff.com (found by search; guessed URL was refused earlier) opened: home, County Jail, Meet the Sheriff and Visitation Policy pages. Confirmed Walker County, Alabama.
- County Jail page names the Walker County Jail, 2001 2nd Avenue, Jasper; capacity 250; opened August 1998; Jail Administrator Justin White.
- Bond: the only guidance is that a $35 money order payable to the Circuit Clerk must be brought when bonding out an inmate — no process or bail schedule, so bond_info recorded as no.
- Visitation Policy page describes the jail store (commissary) and a lobby deposit machine but gives no fee or phone/video rates.
- No roster, PREA, budget, death, inspection or contract material found on the sheriff's site.
- What was tried: walkercountysheriff.org, walkercountyal.gov, walkercountyal.org, walkercounty.org — refused or nonexistent. County commission site not located.
- 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 Walker 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