The Detention Center
Pima County Adult Detention Complex (PCADC), with a second facility, the Ajo District Jail
- Operated byPima County Sheriff's Department, Corrections Bureau
- Jail addresses'There are two Pima County Jail locations (front desk is closed on all county holidays): Pima County Adult Detention Complex, 1270 W. Silverlake Road, Tucson, Arizona 85713, (520) 351-8111' and 'Ajo District Jail, 1249 W. Ajo Well Road, Ajo, Arizona 85321, (520) 387-8511'
- Size'The PCADC today is a 385,000 sq.ft. maximum and medium security facility located west of Downtown Tucson close to courts and services with a total bed-capacity of 2,030'
- Population1,701 average daily inmate population and 19,510 people booked, from the Sheriff's 2025 Annual Report. The Blue Ribbon Commission's December 2023 report described the population as 'currently 1,700+'
- Why it exists'With its original design dating back to the 1970s, voters approved a bond initiative in 1979 to satisfy a Federal consent decree ordering Pima County to construct a new jail to address living conditions and overcrowding'
- How it was built, piece by piece'Main Tower - approved in 1979 to satisfy Federal consent decree and completed five years later. The single bunked cells had to be double bunked in the ensuing years to meet increasing bed space needs - increased from 486 to 910 beds.' 'West Unit - in 1988 the first expansion to the Tower was constructed with capacity for 594 beds.' 'East Unit - bonds approved in 1997 and completed in 2004 for a second expansion to keep up with demands placed on the jail facility, adding capacity for 526 beds'
- What the county's own commission found'Initial observations reveal several areas of concern, such as overcrowding in certain sections, lack of critical space for medical, mental health and detoxification services, staffing levels and pervasive signs of deteriorating sanitation and water line infrastructure, common areas and lack of space for support services'
- Housing units were designed for half the people in themUnits were 'sized to support the original design capacity of 36 inmates per housing unit. Today, units are... double bunked and their capacity doubled'. The commission also records that 'inmates must still sleep on boats (floor cots) when there is overcapacity'
- How the commission defines the problem'For purposes of this report, jail "Design Capacity" is defined as the maximum number of beds available in a facility. "Operational Capacity" is 85% of the Design Capacity. Usually when inmate populations exceed Operational Capacity, overcrowding and improper segregation is the result'
- Who is in it'The Sheriff's Department reported that in years past, the make-up of the jail population was approximately 40% of inmates charged or sentenced for misdemeanors and 60% of inmates charged with felonies. Those numbers have changed significantly at least in part because of efforts by Pima County to depopulate the jail with funding from the McArthur Foundation.' 'More recently, on December 6, 2023, of individuals with pending charges, 94% were held on leading felony charges'
- Who else it holdsThe county budget states the Corrections programme's function as: 'Provide custodial supervision of incarcerated persons for Pima County, the State of Arizona, and contracted municipalities under intergovernmental agreements.' Corrections revenue is budgeted at $9,962,000 for FY2025/26. No per-day rate is published
- Court transport17,969 inmate-to-court transports and 859 extraditions or prisoner transports in the year covered by the Sheriff's 2025 annual report
- Health and harm reductionThe Corrections programme description includes 'detox management, infirmary and clinic, return to competency program, custodial care for juvenile inmates, and custodial care for inmates on suicide watch and/or diagnosed as mentally ill'. The 2025 annual report records naloxone (Narcan) administered 37 times, 160 drug or paraphernalia contraband seizures with scanners and 26 weapons seizures, and '11 various recovery programs offered and 1,104 recovery classes a year'
- VisitationAll visits must be scheduled at least a day ahead at pimacountyaz.gtlvisitme.com; 'We will no longer accept same day walk-in visits.' The jail visits hotline is (520) 351-8114. ViaPath runs remote visits, and the county publishes a long list of visitation restrictions covering dress, conduct and electronic devices
- Tablets'GTL's GettingOut provides wireless tablets to incarcerated individuals... Tablets will be provided at no cost to incarcerated individuals, although access to certain premium features, such as streaming music services, may incur charges.' 'All incarcerated individuals receive one (1) free visit per week'
- Telephones and voicemail'A GTL AdvancePay prepaid account must be set up for an inmate to make calls or receive voicemail messages.' The one price published is for voicemail: 'Messages can be up to two minutes long. Cost per message is $2.00 and is deducted from the AdvancePay account. Cost is non-refundable.' No per-minute call rate is published
- Jail records'Pima County Adult Detention Complex, Attn: Jail Records Requests, 1270 W. Silverlake Road, Tucson, AZ 85713, (520) 351-8228 (Message Line)'
- Capital work on the buildingThe FY2025/26 adopted budget carries an 'Adult Detention Center Study' at $500,000, 'Adult Detention Complex Public Front Entrance Improvements' at $155,248, 'Adult Detention Security Replacement' at $861,890, 'Main Jail Inmate Shower Upgrades' at $1,100,000, 'Main Jail Upgrades to Holding Areas' at $1,430,000 and 'Main Jail East Chillers' at $700,000
- What was triedThe Sheriff's Department site at pimasheriff.org - Jail, Inmate Lookup, Pay a Bond, Transfer Money, Commissary Ordering, Court Information, Inmate Property, Inmate Visitation, Inmate Phone Service, Postal Service, Report Sexual Misconduct, Tablet Services, Obtain Jail Report, Police Reform and Annual Report pages; the inmate roster at sheriff.pima.gov; the county site at pima.gov including the Adult Detention Center Blue Ribbon Commission page, County Budget page and sitemap; the Commission's December 2023 Initial Findings Report; the FY2025/26 adopted county budget; the Sheriff's 2025 Annual Report; and the courts at sc.pima.gov and jp.pima.gov. No death in custody, no independent inspection or accreditation result, no per-day contract rate and no telephone call, video-visit or commissary price list was found
Source: Pima County Adult Detention Center Blue Ribbon Commission - Initial Findings Report, 21 December 2023 · checked 2026-08-23
Transparency rating
6/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✓PREA audits
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✓How to post bond
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built1984 for the Main Tower - 'approved in 1979 to satisfy Federal consent decree and completed five years later'. The county elsewhere dates the facility as 'Completed in 1984' and describes it as built '40 years ago'
- Original costNot found. The county publishes that the Main Tower was funded by a bond initiative approved by voters in 1979 and that the East Unit was funded by bonds approved in 1997, but not the amounts
- Paid for byGeneral fund, with capital work funded by bonds. Pima County has no jail district and no jail excise tax; the budget notes that voters could be asked to approve one of up to a quarter cent, worth about $60 million a year. Corrections is budgeted at $61,383,525 for FY2025/26 with 600.00 FTE inside a Sheriff's Department total of $190,704,726
- Beds2,030 total bed capacity across a 385,000 square foot complex, against an average daily population of 1,701 and 19,510 bookings a year. The Main Tower alone went 'from 486 to 910 beds' by double bunking cells designed for one person
Since then
- Main Tower, approved 1979 to satisfy a federal consent decree, completed 1984, later double bunked from 486 to 910 beds
- West Unit, 1988, 'the first expansion to the Tower was constructed with capacity for 594 beds'
- East Unit, 'bonds approved in 1997 and completed in 2004 for a second expansion to keep up with demands placed on the jail facility, adding capacity for 526 beds'
The Sheriff
Sheriff Chris Nanos
- Runs the jailYes. The Sheriff's Department's Corrections Bureau 'oversees the mandated care, security, supervision, and necessary services for all pretrial detainees housed at the Pima County Adult Detention Complex (PCADC)', and Corrections is a named programme inside the Sheriff's county budget. ARS 31-101 and ARS 11-441(A)(5) make the sheriff the jailer in every Arizona county
- How the office is filledElected. Arizona county sheriffs are elected countywide to four-year terms
- Headquarters1750 E. Benson Highway, Tucson, AZ 85714, (520) 351-4600. Non-emergency (520) 351-4900. The jail's own line is (520) 351-8111
- Mission'As a leader in public safety, we are committed to serving with Honor, Courage, and Integrity in the fight against crime, and to work relentlessly toward making our community safe for the people of Pima County.' The department's motto is 'Keeping the Peace Since 1865'
- He asked for a new jail, publicly'In December 2022, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos addressed the Pima County Board of Supervisors to provide information on the current condition of the Pima County Adult Detention Complex (PCADC) and requested their support in passing a half-cent sales tax for the construction of a new detention complex'
- Reform position'Sheriff Chris Nanos is devoted to returning the American police culture from "warriors" to "guardians" and restoring law enforcement to the worthwhile and rewarding career it is meant to be.' The department keeps a Police Reform page listing news coverage of body cameras, ankle monitors and the jail commission
- Corrections Bureau structureFour divisions - Administration, General Population Housing, Health Services and Specialty Housing
- Corrections staffing, from the Sheriff's own 2025 annual report411 corrections officers, 48 corrections sergeants, 11 corrections and 2 commissioned lieutenants, 3 corrections captains and 1 commissioned captain
Still needed
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Pima County Sheriff's Department · checked 2026-08-23
The Judges
Pima is one of the two Arizona counties where Superior Court judges are not elected in the first instance. In Maricopa and Pima the Governor appoints Superior Court judges from a list supplied by a judicial nominating commission, and the judge then stands for retention rather than in a contested election; in Arizona's other thirteen counties Superior Court judges are elected countywide in nonpartisan four-year races. The court's leadership is a further step removed from any ballot: a Presiding Judge and an Associate Presiding Judge oversee all 53 judicial officers, and each of the five benches - criminal, civil, family, juvenile and probate - has its own presiding judge. Justices of the peace, by contrast, remain elected to four-year terms in their precinct, and in Arizona it is normally the justice of the peace or a municipal magistrate who sets release conditions at the initial appearance. So the officer who holds the prisoner is elected countywide, the judge who sets the bond is elected in a precinct, and the judges who try the felony case that keeps most of this jail full are appointed and then retained. All of them are state judicial officers, not county officials, even though the county pays for the justice courts and the jail's own budget funds 'transportation to the Superior Court'.
Arizona Superior Court in Pima County - Presiding Judge
- Danelle Liwski, Division 6, Presiding Judge, (520) 724-3686
- Kellie L. Johnson, Division 26, Associate Presiding Judge, (520) 724-2966
Arizona Superior Court in Pima County - bench presiding judges
- Casey F. McGinley - Division 18, Presiding Judge, Criminal
- Scott McDonald - Division 29, Presiding Judge, Civil
- Laine McDonald - Division 3, Presiding Judge, Family
- D. Douglas Metcalf - Division 16, Presiding Judge, Juvenile
- Sandra Bensley - Division 15, Presiding Judge, Probate
- The court explains its own shape: 'The Arizona Superior Court in Pima County is comprised of 53 judicial officers that hear criminal, civil, family law, juvenile, and probate matters. The Court is led by a Presiding Judge and Associate Presiding Judge, both of whom oversee the entire court. The criminal, civil, family law, juvenile, and probate courts, also referred to as "benches," are each led by a bench presiding judge.' It sits at 110 West Congress Street, Tucson, AZ 85701
Pima County Consolidated Justice Court, and the Ajo and Green Valley Justice Courts
- Not found. Pima County's justice courts are consolidated into the Pima County Consolidated Justice Court at jp.pima.gov, with separate Justice Court Ajo and Justice Court Green Valley pages listed on the county site. The Consolidated Justice Court's own site welcomes the public - 'Welcome to the Pima County Consolidated Justice Court Website. We understand that courts can be complex, confusing and stressful' - and offers payments, calendars, case search and eviction statistics, but no page naming its justices of the peace could be reached by this researcher; the site's navigation is script-driven and the obvious judge-listing paths return 404
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 2026-08-23
The County Commissioners
They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.
- What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and answers to voters, not to the board.
- The boardBoard of County Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Pima County has done something none of its neighbours in this group has done: it commissioned an outside examination of its own jail and published the findings, including the unflattering ones. The Blue Ribbon Commission's December 2023 initial findings report is the single most detailed public document about any jail in this group, and it is the county's own.
- roster is marked yes. The Sheriff's Department runs an inmate lookup at sheriff.pima.gov which states its own purpose carefully: 'The roster contains information about inmates who have been sentenced, who are being held for another jurisdiction, and who stand accused (but not convicted) of a crime. We note these facts to respect the rights of those who may be wrongfully accused.' It covers only people currently in custody at the Adult Detention Complex and is 'updated regularly'.
- capacity is marked yes and both halves are on the record from county sources: 2,030 beds from the Blue Ribbon Commission report, and an average daily population of 1,701 from the Sheriff's own 2025 Annual Report.
- prea is marked yes, but what is published needs describing precisely. The Sheriff's 'Report Sexual Misconduct' page carries seven documents - annual 'Prison Rape Elimination Act' statistics for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, plus the department's Sexual Misconduct Policy. These are statistical reports and a policy, not a PREA auditor's certification, and the most recent year covered is 2018, though the files were re-posted on 10 April 2026. The page also publishes a reporting route: 'The telephone number for reporting Sexual Misconduct is (520) 351-8414. This is a message line... You may remain anonymous.' The county states the standard it holds itself to: 'The Pima County Adult Detention Complex is a ZERO tolerance facility when it comes to sexual assault and abuse against persons in our custody.'
- bond_info is marked yes and it is unusually complete. The Pay a Bond page names the office and address, lists four accepted routes - surety and currency bonds from bail bond agents taken 24 hours a day, cash, credit and debit at lobby kiosks 24 hours a day, card payments online through TouchPay or by phone, and cash, money order or cashier's cheque at the Inmate Accounts window - warns that 'There are fees associated with the electronic payment services', gives counter hours, and sets expectations honestly: 'Most bond transactions are processed within the hour', but release 'may take up to five hours' and 'individuals are not released between 10pm and 8am'. It also states a limit on its own role: 'The Pima County Sheriff's Department is not permitted to recommend a bondsman, nor assist you in contacting a bondsman.'
- fees is marked no, though Pima publishes more than most. The one price on the record is for voicemail - '$2.00' per message of up to two minutes - and the tablet page states that tablets are free and that every incarcerated person gets one free video visit a week. What is not published is a per-minute telephone rate, a price for additional video visits, or any commissary price list; commissary is simply a link out to a vendor at pimacountypackages.com.
- deaths is marked no. Neither the Sheriff's site, the Sheriff's 2025 Annual Report, the Blue Ribbon Commission's initial findings report nor the county budget records a death in custody. The Corrections Bureau's own statistics page in the annual report counts bookings, transports, contraband seizures and naloxone administrations - naloxone 37 times - but not deaths.
- inspections is marked no. Arizona has no state jail inspector, and no accreditation or independent inspection result was found. The Blue Ribbon Commission is close to one in spirit - it toured the facility and reported publicly - but it was empanelled by the County Administrator to advise on whether to build a new jail, not to inspect the existing one against a standard, and it says so: its charge was to 'Assess the current condition' and 'Provide recommendations to the County Administrator'.
- contracts is marked no. The county states in its budget that the jail holds people 'for Pima County, the State of Arizona, and contracted municipalities under intergovernmental agreements' and budgets $9,962,000 of Corrections revenue against that, but neither the agreements nor any per-day rate is published.
- The commission's findings are worth recording in the county's own words because they are the county's own words, not a characterisation from outside: units built for 36 people now hold double that; people sleep on floor cots when the unit is over capacity; the detox unit's use of lower-level beds for safety 'is causing serious overcapacity issues'; the mental health unit 'is at capacity and a large portion of the inmate population is supported with psychotropic' medication; the observation unit 'more often than not is filled beyond capacity'; and the building shows 'pervasive signs of deteriorating sanitation and water line infrastructure'.
- There is a second, much smaller jail. The Ajo District Jail at 1249 W. Ajo Well Road is the county's other detention location, roughly a hundred miles west of Tucson. Almost everything the county publishes - the roster, the bed count, the population figures, the visitation and bond arrangements - describes the Adult Detention Complex in Tucson; the inmate lookup says explicitly that it covers people 'currently in the custody of the Pima County Adult Detention Center'. Nothing was found giving Ajo's capacity, population or conditions.
- Board of Supervisors, five members: Rex Scott (District 1), Dr. Matt Heinz (District 2), Jennifer Allen (District 3), Steve Christy (District 4) and Andrés Cano (District 5). Pima County has no jail district and no jail tax, and the budget says why that is a live question rather than a settled one: 'The County can request voter approval of a Jail Excise tax up to the equivalent of a quarter cent sales tax (0.25 percent). If approved by the voters, this jail tax could produce approximately $60 million in revenue for the full year.' The jail is instead a programme inside the Sheriff's general fund budget. For FY2025/26 the Sheriff's Department is budgeted at $190,704,726 with 1,570.50 FTE, of which Corrections is 32.19 per cent of expenditure - $61,383,525 against $9,962,000 of revenue, with 600.00 FTE. The board's most consequential act on the jail was to create an outside body to examine it: 'A Blue Ribbon Commission was empaneled by the County Administrator for the purpose of assessing the need for a new Adult Detention Complex or facility renovation and design improvements, including feasible funding options.' Its ten members were appointed by the County Administrator and drawn from law enforcement, the justice system, construction and social services, chaired by former Oro Valley Police Chief Daniel Sharp and including a former Director of the Pima County Adult Detention Center, the chair of the Sheriff's Citizen's Advisory Review Board, the Public Defender's Office, two former police chiefs and a former Sheriff's Department bureau chief. It reported initial findings on 21 December 2023, ran a public survey, and delivered a final report to the County Administrator by 31 January 2024.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Pima 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 commissioners who pay for it.
The sheriff is on your ballot
The county recorder runs the election in Pima County and prints the ballot the sheriff’s name is on. Links from USA.gov and vote.gov.
Names verified 2026-08-23 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered