Bay County, Florida — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Bay County Jail

Operated byBay County Sheriff's Office (Jail Division)
Jail address5700 Star Lane, Panama City, FL 32404
Daily populationApproximately 1,100 inmates, per the sheriff's Jail Division page
Operator historyCoreCivic once ran the jail; the sheriff's own page now presents it as a Sheriff's Office Jail Division. The date of the change was not found on an official page
Jail AdministratorMajor Rick Anglin (commands the Jail Division, per the sheriff's Jail Division page)

Source: Bay County Sheriff's Office — Jail Division · checked 2026-09-28

Transparency rating

7/10Open

✓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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Bay County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-28. 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
BedsNot found

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Tommy Ford

Runs the jailYes — the Bay County Sheriff's Office operates the Bay County Jail through its Jail Division
How the office is filledElected, four-year term

Still needed

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

Source: Bay 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 Bay County

Circuit Court: Florida's Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Calhoun, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson and Washington (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
County Court: the Bay County Court. County judges are elected countywide to six-year terms and hear misdemeanors.

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 2026-09-28

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.
NoteFive commissioners elected at-large; regular meetings 1st and 3rd Tuesdays.
The boardBay County Board of County Commissioners →
Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →

Notes on the record

The sheriff's Jail Division page says the Bay County Sheriff's Office operates the jail; CoreCivic is not mentioned there.
Daily population of about 1,100 is published; rated bed capacity was not found.
County FY2026 budget book shows fund 0121 Jail Operations: FY2025 adopted $29,389,170; FY2026 $30,841,594 (Sheriff general 0120: FY2026 $43,495,846).
PREA page posts audit reports (2016, 2022, 2025) and annual PREA reports.
Bonding page explains cash/money order for preset bonds, bail bondsmen, and in-person credit card payment.
Video visits via Via Path Technologies at $0.25 per minute; messages $0.25, photos $0.50 (visitation page). Phone rates (GTL) and commissary prices are not published.
What was tried: baysomobile.org/is refused; baycountyfl.gov root refused before search; Constitutional Budgets page carries only the Property Appraiser and Tax Collector budgets.
No death-in-custody records, inspection reports or contracts found on the sheriff's public records, jail or PREA pages.
Roster credited from the Inmate Search link on the sheriff's Jail Division page; the search tool itself (baysomobile.org/is) could not be opened.
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 Bay 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