St. Francis County, Arkansas — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

St. Francis County Detention Center

Operated bySt. Francis County Sheriff's Office
Jail address2124 South Washington, Forrest City, AR 72335
Jail line870-633-2611
Jail AdministratorCaptain Kim Loveless (staff under the sheriff)
Design capacity144 inmates - 20 female, 124 adult male
Who is heldArkansas state prison inmates awaiting bed space, and federal inmates awaiting extradition, per the sheriff's page; no rates published
VisitationVideo visitation Monday-Friday 8am-4pm; commissary ordering in the same hours
ProgramsMisdemeanor work-release program
Inmate mailP.O. Box 1817, Forrest City, AR 72335
What was triedThe sheriff's /jail and /roster paths returned 404; the working pages are /detention-center and /inmate-roster/disclaim. The county's Quorum Court page lists members only - no agendas, minutes or budget.
Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryHolds: Male & Female; capacity 110; jail phone (870) 261-1795. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/st-francis-county-sheriff/

Source: St. Francis County Sheriff's Office - Detention Center · checked 2026-09-18

Transparency rating

3/10Closed

✓The jail is named
✓Who is in custody
✓Beds and daily population
✗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 St. Francis 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
Beds144 (design capacity)

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Bobby May

Runs the jailYes - the sheriff's office operates the St. Francis County Detention Center (A.C.A. § 12-41-502)
How the office is filledElected county sheriff, four-year term
Also named onThe county's own Sheriff department page and the Association of Arkansas Counties listing (which shows the office as Sheriff/Collector)
Chief DeputyJ.R. Kersey, per the county's Sheriff page
CurrencyThe sheriff's site carries a 2026 message from the sheriff and a booking dated 17 September 2026
Office address313 South Izard Ste. 10, Forrest City, AR; 870-261-1795; 24-hour non-emergency 870-633-2611
How confirmedReconfirmed as sheriff on the sheriff's own site, stfranciscountysheriff.org, on 18 September 2026. The Association of Arkansas Counties page for the county lists no sheriff.
Arkansas Sheriffs' Association directoryLists Bobby May ('Elected in 2007'); office 313 South Izard Rm 10, Forest City, AR 72336, phone (870) 261-1795. Checked 18 September 2026; an association directory, not a county source - https://arsheriffs.org/sheriffs/st-francis-county-sheriff/

Still needed

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

Source: St. Francis County Sheriff's Office - Message from the 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 judgeCraig Jones — 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

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.
Two first-party domains were read: the county's stfranciscountyar.gov and the sheriff's stfranciscountysheriff.org.
The roster check rests on the sheriff's roster gate page, which offers current inmates and 48-hour releases after a disclaimer; the list behind it was not opened.
The capacity check rests on the published design capacity of 144; no daily population is published.
The contracts check is no: the sheriff's page says the jail holds state and federal prisoners but publishes no agreement or rate.
No bond-posting guidance, fees, PREA material, budget or in-custody death was found. The county seat comes from the Association of Arkansas Counties; the county's own home page gives its address as Forrest City.
County Judge Craig Jones (the county's chief executive, not a judicial officer) and an 11-district Quorum Court: Charles Jones (1), Jimmy Long (2), Kevin Vandiver (3), David Coleman (4), Ernestine Weaver (5), Regan Hill (6), Nathaniel Murray (7), Christopher Ray (8), Maceo Hawkins (9), District 10 vacant, Jamie Busby (11). The Quorum Court page publishes no meeting schedule, agendas, minutes or budget.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in St. Francis 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