The Detention Center
Columbia County Detention Center
- Operated byColumbia County Sheriff's Office
- Jail addressSame facility as the sheriff's office (jail page); the sheriff's contact page gives 82 Columbia Rd 300, Magnolia, AR 71753
- Capacity'The Detention Center can house up to 78 males and 12 females' (sheriff's jail page)
- Daily populationSheriff's December 2025 monthly report: daily average 82; population Males-75 Females-7, of whom Sentenced to ADC Males-7 Females-1. November 2025 report: daily average 85
- State prisoners (county's own figures)December 2025 report: 'Billed this month ADC $15,200.00', 'Billed this month ACC $2920.00'. November 2025: 'Billed this month ADC $22,320', 'ACC $3080.00'. No per-day rate is published
- AdministratorGean Sieger, jail administrator since October 2022 (sheriff's staff); one assistant administrator, four sergeants, nine jailers
- Who is heldMisdemeanor and felony arrestees and persons sentenced to the Arkansas Department of Correction
- RosterCurrent inmates with charges and bond amounts, on the sheriff's linked ISOMS portal
- Bond and fine scheduleDistrict Court bond amounts by offense, $70.00 to $3,320.00; 'NO CASH ACCEPTED FOR PAYMENT'; amounts at the discretion of District Judge Steve Crane; the page does not explain how to post bond
- FeesNo phone, video or commissary rates published
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryHolds: Male & Female; capacity 100; jail phone (870) 901-1575; jail administrator Gean Seiger. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/columbia-county-sheriff/
Source: Columbia County Arkansas Sheriff's Office - Jail · checked 2026-09-18
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓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 — 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
- Beds90 (78 male, 12 female)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Leroy Martin
- Runs the jailYes - the sheriff's office operates the Columbia County Detention Center
- How the office is filledElected county sheriff, four-year term
- Statutory basisA.C.A. § 12-41-502 gives the county sheriff the custody, rule and charge of the jail and all prisoners committed in the county
- Tenure publishedThe sheriff's administration page states he was elected in 2022 and took office 1 January 2023
- Office address82 Columbia Rd 300, Magnolia, AR 71753; (870) 234-5331
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryLists Leroy Martin ('Elected in 2023'); office 82 Columbia 300, Magnolia, AR 71753, phone (870) 235-5655. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/columbia-county-sheriff/
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Columbia County Arkansas Sheriff's Office - Administration · checked 2026-09-18
The Judges
Arkansas circuit judges are elected on a nonpartisan ballot to six-year terms; the governor fills a mid-term vacancy by appointment until the next general election. They are state judicial officers, not county officials. Under Ark. R. Crim. P. 8.1 an arrested person goes before a judicial officer without unnecessary delay; depending on the court, that may be a circuit judge or a magistrate. Arkansas's "county judge" is the county's chief executive, not a judicial officer, and does not set bail. The sheriff's bond/fine page states that its District Court bond amounts can change at the discretion of District Judge Steve Crane. No page opened names the circuit number or a circuit judge.
District Court - District Judge (sets the district court bond schedule, per the sheriff's page)
- Steve Crane
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-18
The County Judge and Quorum Court
They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.
- County judgeDoug Fields — the county’s chief executive, not a judicial officer; named in the Association of Arkansas Counties directory, checked 2026-09-18
- What they controlThe county judge and quorum court fund and build the jail: the detention budget, the building itself, and any dedicated jail sales tax.
- What they don'tCustody of the jail. Under A.C.A. § 12-41-502 the elected sheriff has “the custody, rule, and charge” of the jail and its prisoners.
- The quorum courtNo quorum court page was found on the county's own site
Notes on the record
- Confirmed Columbia County, ARKANSAS on every page cited: the sheriff's own domain columbia-sheriff.org gives a Magnolia, AR address. Magnolia is recorded as the seat from the sheriff's address; no county page stating the seat was opened, so seat_source is blank.
- Strongest transparency record in this group. The sheriff's jail page publishes capacity (78 males, 12 females) and the sheriff's monthly reports publish daily average population, male/female counts, ADC-sentenced counts and the dollar amounts billed to ADC and ACC for state prisoners, so capacity is met.
- The roster is served from an ISOMS vendor portal (arccportal.isoms.cloud) linked from the sheriff's home page as the sheriff's own inmate roster; it is counted as the sheriff's publication.
- contracts is no: the monthly reports give amounts billed to the state for state prisoners, but no housing agreement or per-day rate is published. These are the county's own dated billing figures, not a state per-diem rate.
- bond_info is no: the sheriff publishes a District Court bond and fine schedule and says no cash is accepted, but does not explain how to post bond. Fees is no - no phone, video or commissary rates were found.
- Jail Administrator Gean Sieger is sheriff's staff; the elected sheriff remains the jailer, so jail_administrator is null.
- No county government site was found, so quorum court minutes and agenda packets - the likeliest place for a review-committee inspection report - were not examined. budget and inspections are no on the sheriff's site only.
- Search results also included a Facebook post and commercial inmate-lookup sites; none is cited or counted.
- Arkansas law requires each county jail to be inspected at least annually by a governor-appointed district criminal detention facility review committee (A.C.A. § 12-26-107), against mandatory state minimum standards. The written report goes to the district's administrative judge and to the county judge; state law does not require it to be published, and no public state repository of the reports was located.
- Arkansas form: an elected County Judge (the county's chief executive, not a judicial officer) and a Quorum Court (the legislative body), which hold the jail's funding and construction authority. No Columbia County government site appeared in search or was linked from the sheriff's site, so no County Judge or justice of the peace is named and no minutes or agendas were examined.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Columbia 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 who runs this jail is elected. So are the justices of the peace on the quorum court who pay for it.
Names verified 2026-09-18 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered