The Detention Center
Baker County Jail & Detention Center
- Operated byBaker County Sheriff's Office
- Sheriff's Office address1 Sheriff's Office Drive, Macclenny, FL 32063
- ICE operationsThe sheriff's contact page lists a Director of Detention for ICE Operations
- Jail AdministratorLt. Joshua Whitehead (Director of Detention, Security Ops) and Lt. Thomas E. Dyal, Jr. (Director of Detention, ICE Operations), per the sheriff's contact page
Source: Baker County Sheriff's Office — Contact · checked 2026-09-28
Transparency rating
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 Scotty Rhoden
- CurrentNamed in the FDLE Sheriff's Office Directory, 2 Sep 2025; not confirmed on a county page
- 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: FDLE Sheriff's Office Directory (2 Sep 2025) · 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 Baker County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Eighth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Alachua, 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 Baker 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 not opened.
- The boardBaker County Board of County Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Only the sheriff's Contact page could be opened; the home page and jail pages were refused, so the ten checks could not be judged.
- The contact page names the Baker County Jail & Detention Center and lists detention directors for security operations and for ICE operations; it does not name the sheriff.
- What was tried: bakercountyfl.org/bcso (old lead) refused; bakercountysheriffsoffice.com root refused; /detention blocked (robots); ice.gov facility page 403.
- 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 Baker 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