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 byLincoln County Sheriff (by statute)
- What was triedinmateroster.lincolncountysheriff.us returned a redirect loop (https to http) and could not be read; its state was never confirmed. No Lincoln County, Arkansas government domain was returned by search.
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryHolds: Males Only; capacity 22; jail phone (870) 628-6084; jail administrator Amanda Rodgers. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/lincoln-county-sheriff/
Source: Association of Arkansas Counties - Lincoln · 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 Steve Young
- How the office is filledElected county sheriff, four-year term
- Statutory basisA.C.A. § 12-41-502 gives the county sheriff the custody, rule, and charge of the county jail and all prisoners committed in the county
- Office phone(870) 628-4271
- Source caveatNamed on the Association of Arkansas Counties directory, which is undated; not confirmed on a county or sheriff page
- Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryLists Steve Young ('Elected in 2023'); office 30270 State Hwy 11 South, Star City, AR 71667, phone (870) 628-4271. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/lincoln-county-sheriff/
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Association of Arkansas Counties - Lincoln · 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 judgeBuddy Lynn Earnest — 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
- Not examined: the only candidate sheriff site could not be read and no county site was found, so no transparency check is scored.
- Whether the county operates its own jail was not established from any page opened.
- Search results were dominated by commercial inmate-lookup sites (for example arkansasprisonroster.org, arkansassheriffsassociation.com, arkansasinmateroster.org); none was opened as a source, cited or counted.
- 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 judge and quorum court. Per the Association of Arkansas Counties directory (undated, secondary): County Judge Buddy Lynn Earnest; justices of the peace Kip Dutton, Corey Dial, Brad Henley, Jeffery L. Frizzell, Drew I. Steed, Edwin Branson, Phillip Thomas, Bill Dowdy and Jax Gasaway. No county page was opened, so no board or minutes URL is recorded.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Lincoln 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