The Detention Center
Izard County Detention Center
- Operated byIzard County Sheriff's Office
- AddressSheriff's office, 300 Circle Drive, Melbourne, AR 72556 (a separate jail address is not published)
- Daily populationOnline roster showed 36 inmates on 18 September 2026
- Jail budget (2026)Fund 3017 jail revenues projected at $1,089,461.00 in the county's 2026 budget; jail operation and maintenance appropriation reported as $1,120,414.00 (2025: $1,093,713.00)
- Jail revenue sources (2026 projection)Local sales tax (100% revenue) $859,485.00; housing state prisoners $180,369.00; housing other county inmates $12,348.00; district court fines $25,401.00
- Secondary figuresThe ASA directory lists capacity 34, male and female, jail administrator Sherry Davidson; not confirmed on a county page
- What was triedCounty sheriff, offices, quorum court and services pages, 2026 operating budget, sheriff's roster and roster-choice pages opened. Sheriff home page refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED). Quorum court minutes of 3 Aug 2026 (show_image.php?id=744) and the 2026 member list (id=726) returned unreadable binary
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryHolds: Male & Female; capacity 34; jail phone (870) 368-4203; jail administrator Sherry Davidson. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/izard-county-sheriff/
Source: Izard County Sheriff's Office - Detention Center roster choice · checked 2026-09-18
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗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 byCounty jail fund 3017, mainly a local sales tax credited 100% to the jail fund ($859,485.00 projected for 2026), plus payments for housing state prisoners and other counties' inmates, per the county's 2026 budget
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Charley Melton
- Runs the jailYes - the sheriff's office operates the Izard County 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 checkFrom the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directory (Melbourne, AR 72556), which lists him as elected 2023; the county's sheriff page names no sheriff and the sheriff's home page was refused
- Office address300 Circle Drive, Melbourne, AR 72556; 870-368-4203
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryLists Charley Melton ('Elected in 2023'); office 300 Circle Drive, Melbourne, AR 72556, phone (870) 368-4203. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/izard-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 - Izard 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 judgeEric 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 courtQuorum court page →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- The sheriff's site (izardcountysheriff.org) names the Izard County Detention Center and runs a live roster (36 inmates, 18 September 2026). No bed count is on a county page, so capacity is not scored.
- The county's 2026 operating budget, on izardcountyar.org, carries a separate jail fund (3017) whose largest revenue is 'LOCAL SALES TAX (100% REVENUE)'; budget is met. The document header reads 'IZARD COUNTY 2026 BUDGET'.
- County's own figure: the 2026 budget projects $180,369.00 in revenue for housing state prisoners and $12,348.00 for housing other county inmates. No housing contract or rate is published, so contracts is no.
- Quorum court minutes are posted as documents the fetch tool could not read, so they could not be searched for an inspection report under A.C.A. § 12-26-108.
- 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 form: County Judge (chief executive; office at 80 East Main Street, Melbourne, 870-368-4328) and Quorum Court. The county site links a 2026 Quorum Court member list only as an image/document that could not be read, and names no county judge in text, so no names are recorded. The quorum court page posts meeting documents from 2017 through 14 September 2026 and links the 2025 and 2026 operating budgets.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Izard 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