The Detention Center
Charlotte County Jail
- Operated byCharlotte County Sheriff's Office (Bureau of Detention)
- Jail address26601 Airport Road, Punta Gorda, FL 33982
- Capacity1,074 inmates
- OpenedFebruary 2001
- Average daily population585 in 2024 (501 Charlotte County, 63 federal), per the Bureau of Detention 2024 annual report
- Bookings6,016 in 2024
- Federal prisonersThe annual report says the Bureau maintains its contract with the U.S. Marshals Service to house federal inmates
- Detention budget$35,643,388 in the sheriff's FY 2025-26 submitted budget (total sheriff budget $136,141,776)
- Jail AdministratorMajor Ryan Barber, Bureau of Detention Commander (sheriff's Bureau of Detention page)
Source: Charlotte County Sheriff's Office — Detention · checked 2026-09-28
Transparency rating
5/10Partial- ✓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 — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtOpened February 2001
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds1,074
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Bill Prummell
- Runs the jailYes — the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office Bureau of Detention runs the Charlotte County 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: Charlotte 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 Charlotte County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Twentieth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Charlotte 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 boardCharlotte County Board of County Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- The sheriff's Bureau of Detention runs the jail; the Detention page gives capacity 1,074 and opening in February 2001.
- Sheriff posts line-item budgets FY15–FY27; FY 2025-26 submitted budget shows Detention total $35,643,388.
- Sheriff posts PREA pamphlets, the 2020 PREA audit summary report and a 2025 year-end PREA analysis.
- The Bureau of Detention 2024 annual report says a scheduled Florida Model Jail Standards inspection (May 16) and an unannounced one (Nov 5) "met standard requirements", and that FCAC reaccreditation was recommended; the inspection reports themselves are not posted, so inspections is not credited.
- The annual report mentions the U.S. Marshals housing contract, but the contract itself is not posted.
- Inmate funds page lists ways to deposit money for bond or commissary and says per diem and daily subsistence fees are charged under F.S. 951.033, but gives no fee amounts and no bond instructions beyond payment channels.
- Local Arrest Database page links to the sheriff's bookings lookup (inmates.charlottecountyfl.revize.com), which returned 403.
- No death-in-custody information found.
- 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 Charlotte 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