The Detention Center
Conway County Detention Center (listed as "Detention Center" in the county service directory)
- Operated byConway County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address30 Southern Valley Dr., Morrilton, AR (county service directory)
- Jail line501-354-9627
- Beds published by the countyNot published
- Daily populationNot published
- What was triedCounty sheriff, judge, quorum court, about and service-directory pages opened. The sheriff's own site, conwaycountysheriff.org, was refused (robots.txt disallowed). No roster, bond, fees, budget or minutes found on the county domain.
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryHolds: Male & Female; capacity 106; jail phone (501) 354-9627; jail administrator Shane West. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/conway-county-sheriff/
Source: Conway County, Arkansas - County Service Directory · checked 2026-09-18
Transparency rating
1/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗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
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Mike Smith
- Runs the jailYes - the sheriff is the jailer under Arkansas law; the county directory lists the Detention Center at the sheriff's address
- How the office is filledElected county sheriff (Ark. Const. art. 7, § 46), four-year term
- Statutory basisA.C.A. § 12-41-502 gives the county sheriff the custody, rule, and charge of the jail within the county and all prisoners committed in the county.
- Office address30 Southern Valley Dr., Morrilton, AR 72110
- Office phone(501) 354-2411
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryLists Mike Smith ('Elected in 2007'); office 30 Southern Valley Drive, Morrilton, AR 72110, phone (501) 354-2411. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/conway-county-sheriff/
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Conway County, Arkansas - County Sheriff · 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 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 judgeJimmy Hart — 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 courtQuorum court page →
Notes on the record
- 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.
- The county's own site (conwaycountyar.com) was read; the sheriff's separate site, conwaycountysheriff.org, is linked from the county page but was refused with a robots.txt disallow, so it could not be examined. Checks reflect the county domain only.
- The named check is met by the county service directory, which lists a 'Detention Center' at 30 Southern Valley Dr. with its own phone line; the facility's formal name was not found on a page opened.
- No roster, capacity, budget, deaths, PREA, inspection report, boarding contract, bond guidance or fee schedule was found on the county domain. No quorum court minutes were linked, so no inspection report could be sought there.
- Search results were dominated by commercial inmate-lookup sites (arkansasprisons.org, conwaycountyjailar.org, conwaycountydetentionar.org, arkansasinmaterosters.org and similar); none was opened or cited.
- County Judge Jimmy Hart (the county's chief executive, 117 S. Moose St., Morrilton) and an 11-member Quorum Court of justices of the peace: Philip Hoyt (D1), Patrick Hartman (D2), Steven Davenport (D3), Thomas Flowers (D4), Keith Long (D5), Brigham Jones, Jr (D6), Johnathan Trafford (D7), Michael Hammons (D8), John Trafford (D9), Leslie Griffiths (D10), Jimmy Miller (D11). The full Quorum Court meets on the fourth Monday each month. The quorum court page links no minutes or agendas. County judge source: https://conwaycountyar.com/home/county-judge/
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Conway 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