Independence County, Arkansas — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Not found

Operated byIndependence County Sheriff's Office
Jail on county pagesReferred to only generically as 'the County Jail' on the county's sheriff page
StaffingThe sheriff's home page says the office is accepting applications for Jail Administrator
Roster (vendor-hosted)A roster headed 'Independence County Jail' is hosted by the vendor Relativity at myr2m.com, showing 98 inmates on 18 September 2026; it is not on a county domain and is not scored
Secondary figuresThe Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directory lists 118 inmates capacity, male and female, jail line (870) 612-6880; not confirmed on a county page
What was triedCounty sheriff, county judge and quorum court pages and the sheriff's home page opened. The sheriff's current-inmate-list page and an amplifyapp roster were blocked by robots.txt. The county's 2025 annual report PDF (independencecounty.com/sites/default/files/2026-02/2025-annual-report.pdf) returned no readable text
Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryHolds: Male & Female; capacity 118; jail phone (870) 612-6880. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/independence-county-sheriff/

Source: Independence County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-18

Transparency rating

0/10Closed

✗The jail is named — not published
✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Independence County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-18. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

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 Shawn Stephens

Runs the jailYes - the county's sheriff page says the office handles administration of the County Jail
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 checkNamed on both the county's sheriff page and the sheriff's own home page
Office address1750 Myers Street, Batesville, AR 72501; 870-793-8838
Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryLists Shawn Stephens ('Elected in 2017'); office 1750 Myers Street, Batesville, AR 72501, phone (870) 793-8838. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/independence-county-sheriff/

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: Independence County - 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.

Still needed

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 judgeKevin Jeffery — 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

County domain independencecounty.com and the sheriff's own domain independencesheriff.org are both first-party; the sheriff's roster page on his domain is blocked to automated fetch by robots.txt, so it could not be opened and roster is scored no.
The only live roster read is hosted by the vendor Relativity (myr2m.com) and is not on a county domain.
The county publishes a 2025 annual report PDF, but it returned no readable text to the fetch tool; any jail figures in it could not be examined.
No jail name, beds, budget, bond guidance, rates, PREA audit, contracts, death in custody or inspection report found on the pages opened; the quorum court page links no minutes.
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.
County Judge Kevin B. Jeffery, described on the county's page as the chief executive officer of county government, presides over the Quorum Court. The Quorum Court page lists 11 justices of the peace: Dennis Stephens, Charles Jordan, Johnathan Abbott, Kenny Hurley, Jason Jones, Tammy Pearce, Cliff Barnett, Brad Covington, Brent Henderson, Johnny McMullin and Tim Stewart (no districts shown). No minutes, agendas or budget are linked from the quorum court page. Courthouse: 192 E. Main Street, Batesville.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Independence 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