The Detention Center
The county publishes no formal name for this facility.
- Operated byThere is no county jail in Sussex County
- Who holds people awaiting trialDelaware Department of Correction
- WhyDelaware has no county jails. The state Department of Correction holds everyone in adult custody, from the night of arrest through the end of a sentence.
- What this means for this pageThe ten transparency checks ask what a county publishes about its own jail. This county does not have one, so it is not scored. The questions belong to the state.
Source: Delaware Department of Correction · checked 2026-08-23
The Sheriff
Sheriff Still needed
- Does the sheriff run a jail here?No
- What the office doesElected in all three counties. Attends the courts, summons juries and witnesses, serves writs and other process, and conducts sheriff's sales. Does not operate a jail. The Delaware Supreme Court held in 2013 that the office carries no general arrest or police power beyond the common-law power to arrest for an offense committed in the sheriff's presence.
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Delaware — how corrections is organised · checked 2026-08-23
The Judges
- 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
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Sussex 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.
Delaware runs elections through county Departments of Elections. Links from vote.gov and USA.gov.
Names verified 2026-08-23 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered