The Detention Center
Not scored. The county's own website was not reachable in the session that produced this record, so its disclosures were never examined. This is a gap in the research, not a finding about the county.
- Operated byHoward County Sheriff's Office
- Jail line(870) 845-2626, per the ASA directory
- Capacity (secondary)The ASA directory lists 41 inmates, male and female, and a jail administrator named Jana Tallant; not confirmed on a county page
- What was triedhowardcountysheriffar.com home, roster.php, roster.php?orderby=1, detention-center and roster-choose all returned empty content to the fetch tool. No county government (county judge / quorum court) domain surfaced in the search. Commercial inmate-lookup results (including one styled 'arkansassheriffsassociation.com' that calls itself privately owned) were ignored
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryHolds: Male & Female; capacity 41; jail phone (870) 845-2626; jail administrator Jana Tallant. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/howard-county-sheriff/
Source: Arkansas Sheriffs' Association - Howard County Sheriff · 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 Bryan McJunkins
- Runs the jailYes - the elected sheriff is the jailer under A.C.A. § 12-41-502
- How the office is filledElected county sheriff, four-year term (Ark. Const. art. 7, § 46; Amendment 95)
- Name checkFrom the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directory (Arkansas, Nashville AR 71852), which lists him as elected 2015; the sheriff's own site returned no readable content, so the name could not be confirmed first-party
- Office address101 Isaac Perkins Blvd, Nashville, AR 71852 (ASA directory)
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryLists Bryan McJunkins ('Elected in 2015'); office 101 Isaac Perkins Blvd., Nashville, AR 71852, phone (870) 845-2626. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/howard-county-sheriff/
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Arkansas Sheriffs' Association - Howard 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 judgeBrent Pinkerton — 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
- UNEXAMINED: the sheriff's own domain, howardcountysheriffar.com, returned empty content on every page tried (home, roster, detention center, roster choice), and no county government domain was found. The ten checks are left empty rather than scored no.
- Every fact here comes from the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directory, a statewide association page, which cannot satisfy any county check. Its 41-bed figure and administrator are recorded only as secondary.
- Arkansas confirmed on every page used: the ASA page gives Nashville, AR 71852. A Missouri Howard County researched earlier is unrelated.
- 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 Howard County, Arkansas 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 Howard 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