The Detention Center
No county jail
- Operated byDesha County Sheriff's Office (custody); city jail (Dumas/McGehee)
- JailDesha County runs no county jail (Confirmed by phone with the Desha County Sheriff's Office, 18 September 2026)
- Where prisoners goThe city jail (the Dumas/McGehee jail named in the Sheriffs' Association directory) is used for holding; from there a person bonds out, serves a short sentence in the city jail, or is sent to prison (Confirmed by phone with the Desha County Sheriff's Office, 18 September 2026)
- What was triedOne search ("Desha County Arkansas sheriff jail detention roster quorum court official website") returned only commercial inmate-lookup and records sites (deshacountyjailar.org, jailexchange.com, deshacountyarrests.org, arkansasinmates.org, thepublicindex.org and similar), none first-party and none opened. Two county-domain guesses, deshacountyar.com and deshacounty.arkansas.gov, were refused with PROVENANCE_REQUIRED. The group's search budget was exhausted, so no further attempt was possible.
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryHolds: No Jail: Uses Dumas/McGhee Jail. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/desha-county-sheriff/
Source: · checked 2026-09-18
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 Everett Cox
- Runs the jailUnder A.C.A. § 12-41-502 the elected sheriff has custody of any county jail; no first-party page was opened to confirm this county's facility
- 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.
- Source of the nameName from the Association of Arkansas Counties directory, not a county page; checked 18 September 2026
- Office phone (directory)(870) 877-2580
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryLists Everett Cox; office 604 President St, Arkansas City, AR 71630, phone (870) 877-2580. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/desha-county-sheriff/
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Association of Arkansas Counties — Desha County page (statewide directory, checked 18 September 2026) · 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 judgeWayne Smith — 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
- 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.
- UNEXAMINED: no first-party page for Desha County or its sheriff could be reached - the one search returned only commercial inmate-lookup sites, and the two county-domain URLs tried were refused. audit.checks is left empty because the county was not examined; this is not a finding that the county publishes nothing.
- Whether Desha County operates its own jail or boards prisoners elsewhere was not established from any page opened.
- County seat Arkansas City is taken from the Association of Arkansas Counties page for this county, checked 18 September 2026.
- Arkansas county judge (chief executive) and quorum court. No county or sheriff page was opened, so no names are recorded.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Desha 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