The Detention Center
Alachua County Jail (Alachua County Sheriff's Office Department of the Jail)
- Operated byAlachua County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address3333 NE 39th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32609
- Design capacity1,148 beds; optimum occupancy 975 after 2007-2009 upgrades
- Year builtCore facility completed January 1994
- Jail AdministratorMajors Dorian Keith (Security Operations Division) and Laura Rivera (Support Services Division), per the sheriff's Department of the Jail page
Source: Alachua County Sheriff's Office — Department of the Jail · checked 2026-09-28
Transparency rating
5/10Partial- ✓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
- ✓Phone, video and commissary rates
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built1994 (core facility completed January 1994)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds1,148 design capacity; optimum occupancy 975
Since then
- Upgrades 2007-2009 (per the sheriff's jail page)
The Sheriff
Sheriff Chad D. Scott
- Runs the jailYes — the Alachua County Sheriff's Office Department of the Jail
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Alachua County Sheriff's Office — home page · checked 2026-09-28
The Judges
Florida's circuit and county judges are elected state judicial officers, not county officials. A judge sets the first conditions of release at first appearance, within 24 hours of arrest.
Who sets bail in Alachua County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Eighth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy and Union (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Alachua County Court. County judges are elected countywide to six-year terms and hear misdemeanors.
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-28
The Board of County Commissioners
They pay for the jail. In most counties the sheriff runs it; in some, the county does.
- What they controlThe sheriff's budget, including its separate line for corrections and detention: the sheriff submits it by June 1 and the board may amend, increase or reduce it (Fla. Stat. 30.49). The board also owns the jail building, and it decides by ordinance whether the sheriff or a county corrections department runs the jail (Fla. Stat. 951.061).
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations where the sheriff runs the jail. The sheriff is separately elected, and can appeal the board's budget cuts to the Governor and Cabinet sitting as the Administration Commission. No state agency inspects the jail; peer inspectors from other sheriffs' offices do.
- NoteCounty government site could not be opened; board page not verified.
- The boardAlachua County Board of County Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- The sheriff's Department of the Jail runs the jail; the sheriff's pages name it and give 1,148 design beds.
- Inmate search page says it shows whether a person is currently in the Alachua County Jail and offers a view of all current inmates; the lookup tool itself (asosite.alachuasheriff.org) could not be opened.
- Bail page explains posting cash, money order or cashier's check bonds at the jail lobby, surety bonds and child-support purges.
- Internet video visits: 30 minutes for $7.95 via Securus (inmate services page).
- Annual reports are linked from the sheriff's site but hosted on PowerDMS; not opened. No budget, PREA, death-in-custody, inspection or contract material found on the pages opened.
- What was tried: alachuasheriff.org (old lead) refused; acso.us/prea/ refused; alachuacounty.us refused, so the county budget, board page and county seat source could not be checked.
- State inspection/oversight: Florida requires every county jail to meet the Florida Model Jail Standards and to be inspected each year, but the inspectors come from other sheriffs' offices, not a state agency, and state law does not require the reports to be published.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Alachua 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 is elected. So are the county commissioners who pay for the jail, and the judges who set bail.
Names verified 2026-09-28 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered