The Detention Center
Hempstead County Jail and Detention Center
- Operated byHempstead County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address312 South Washington, Hope, AR 71801
- Jail line870-777-6727 (24 hours)
- Beds100, published on the sheriff's detention center page
- StaffAdministrator Captain Johnny Godbolt; second in command Lt. James Wise; 21 full-time jailers/matrons (sheriff's detention page). The Arkansas Sheriffs' Association page instead lists Capt. James Wise as jail administrator - the sheriff's own page is preferred
- HousingSeparate areas for low/medium-security males, high-security males and females, plus isolation and temporary holding cells; in-house medical staffed by a physician and nurse practitioner
- Daily populationOnline roster showed 79 current inmates on 18 September 2026
- VisitationInmate video visitation is linked from the sheriff's site; no rates published
- What was triedSheriff home, detention center, roster and roster-choice pages opened; no county government (county judge / quorum court) domain surfaced in the search, so no minutes, budget or inspection report could be examined
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryHolds: Male & Female; capacity 100; jail phone (870) 777-7850; jail administrator Capt. James Wise. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/hempstead-county-sheriff/
Source: Hempstead County Sheriff's Office - Detention Center · 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
- Beds100
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff James Singleton
- Runs the jailYes - the sheriff's office operates the Hempstead County Jail and Detention Center
- How the office is filledElected county sheriff, four-year term (Ark. Const. art. 7, § 46; Amendment 95)
- Statutory basisA.C.A. § 12-41-502 gives the county sheriff custody, rule and charge of the jail and all prisoners committed in the county
- Name checkThe sheriff's own home page shows 'Sheriff Singleton' with a message from the sheriff but no first name; the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association page gives the full name James Singleton, elected 2011
- Office address312 South Washington, Hope, AR 71801
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryLists James Singleton ('Elected in 2011'); office 312 Washington Street, Hope, AR 71802, phone (870) 777-6727. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/hempstead-county-sheriff/
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Hempstead County Sheriff's Office (home page); Arkansas Sheriffs' Association - Hempstead 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 judgeJerry T. Crane — 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
- The sheriff runs his own domain, hempsteadcountysheriff.org; it names the jail, publishes 100 beds and runs a live roster (79 inmates on 18 September 2026), so named, roster and capacity are met.
- The roster shows bond amounts per inmate but the site gives no guidance on how to post bail, so bond_info is no. Video visitation is linked but no phone, video or commissary rates are published.
- The sheriff's full first name comes from the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association; the sheriff's own home page confirms only the surname Singleton as the current sheriff.
- No budget, PREA audit, housing contract, death in custody or inspection report was found on the sheriff's domain, and no county government domain was reached.
- 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 county government: an elected County Judge (chief executive) and a Quorum Court (legislative body). No county government website for Hempstead County surfaced in the search, so the county judge and justices of the peace are not named here (Not found).
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Hempstead 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