The Detention Center
Jackson County Detention Center
- Operated byJackson County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address3300 Theater Drive, Newport, AR 72112
- Jail line(870) 523-5842
- Roster'Current Inmates' page describes people currently held in the Jackson County Detention Center; the list loads by script and showed no records to the fetch tool
- Secondary figuresThe ASA directory lists capacity 110, male and female, jail administrator Katelyn Dodson; not confirmed on a county page
- Former jailThe 1905 Jackson County Jail at 503 3rd Street, Newport, is a historic former jail, not the current facility (Wikipedia)
- What was triedSheriff home, inmates and careers pages opened. No county government (county judge / quorum court) domain surfaced in the search
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryHolds: Male & Female; capacity 110; jail phone (870) 523-5842; jail administrator Katelyn Dodson. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/jackson-county-sheriff/
Source: Jackson County Sheriff's Office - Current Inmates · checked 2026-09-18
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗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
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 Russell Brinsfield
- Runs the jailYes - the sheriff's office holds prisoners in the Jackson 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 checkNamed on the sheriff's own home page (3300 Theater Drive, Newport, AR 72112); the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association lists him as elected 2023
- Office address3300 Theater Drive, Newport, AR 72112; (870) 523-5842
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryLists Russell Brinsfield ('Elected in 2023'); office 3300 Theater Drive, Newport, AR 72112, phone (870) 523-5842. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/jackson-county-sheriff/
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Jackson County Sheriff's Office (Arkansas) · 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 judgeJeff Phillips — 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 confirmed: the sheriff's own domain, jacksonsheriff.org, gives 3300 Theater Drive, Newport, AR 72112. The Missouri Jackson County researched earlier is unrelated.
- The sheriff's Current Inmates page names the Jackson County Detention Center and publishes a searchable live roster, so named and roster are met; the records load by script and could not be counted.
- No beds, population, bond guidance, rates, budget, PREA audit, contracts, death in custody or inspection report 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 Jackson 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 Jackson 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