The Detention Center
Citrus County Detention Facility
- Operated byCoreCivic (private company), per the Citrus County Sheriff's Office contact page
- Jail address2604 W. Woodland Ridge Drive, Lecanto, FL 34461
- OperatorCoreCivic — the sheriff's page says the facility is not run by the Sheriff's Office
- County detention budget$21.9 million for detention services plus $400,000 for inmate medical expenses in the county's FY 2025-26 final budget
- Sheriff budget$44,831,490 approved for FY 2025-26 (county final budget)
- Takeover debateNo county or sheriff page opened states that the sheriff has taken over or will take over the jail
Source: Citrus County Sheriff's Office — Contact Us · checked 2026-09-28
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗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 — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
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 David E. Vincent
- Runs the jailNo — the sheriff's own Contact page says the Citrus County Detention Facility is "NOT run by the Sheriff's Office" and is operated by CoreCivic, a private company
- 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: Citrus County Sheriff's Office — Contact Us · 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 Citrus County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Fifth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Hernando, Lake, Marion and Sumter (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Citrus 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 site (citruscounty.gov, formerly citrusbocc.com) opened; agenda/minutes page not located.
- The boardCitrus County Board of County Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- The Citrus County Sheriff's Office Contact page, as of 28 Sep 2026, says the Detention Facility is NOT run by the Sheriff's Office and is operated by CoreCivic, and sends all jail inquiries to CoreCivic.
- The county's FY 2025-26 final budget says the county is financially responsible for detention services and budgets $21.9 million for them plus $400,000 for inmate medical; no CoreCivic contract amount is itemized.
- No county or sheriff page opened mentions a completed sheriff takeover of the jail; the commission debate is reported only in news coverage, which is not cited.
- The sheriff's Recent Arrests page covers only the last 10 days of arrests, not who is in custody, so roster is not credited.
- Clerk of Court FAQ explains first appearance within 24 hours and that most felonies are bondable under the bail schedule, but gives no instructions on how to post bond.
- A staffing report on CoreCivic's operation appears in the Clerk's Nov 7, 2022 meeting supporting documents; it gives no capacity or cost figures.
- What was tried: http://www.sheriffcitrus.org and https://www.sheriffcitrus.org/ root refused before search; sheriff sub-pages opened after search. The jail's own information is on CoreCivic's site, which is not a county domain and is not credited.
- 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 Citrus 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