The Detention Center
Escambia County Correctional Facility
- Operated byEscambia County Corrections Department (Board of County Commissioners)
- Jail address3080 N Pace Blvd, Pensacola, FL 32505
- Beds840
- OpenedSpring 2021
- Construction fundingCounty budget carries a Series 2017 Capital Project Fund for construction of the new county jail facility
- Other facilityWork Annex
- AccreditationCounty states FCAC and NCCHC accreditation, most recently 2025; no reports posted
- Sheriff budgetSheriff's proposed FY 2026-27 budget $102,094,415 (county proposed budget book)
- Jail AdministratorRich Powell, Director of Corrections (Escambia County)
Source: Escambia County Corrections — 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
- ✗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 built2021 (opened spring 2021)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for bySeries 2017 Capital Project Fund (per county budget book)
- Beds840
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Chip Simmons
- Runs the jailNo — Escambia County's own Corrections Department runs the jail; the Board of County Commissioners took over jail operations from the Sheriff's Office on 1 October 2013
- 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: Escambia County — Elected Officials · 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 Escambia County
- Circuit Court: Florida's First Judicial Circuit, which also serves Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Escambia 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.
- NoteMinutes are kept by the Clerk of Court; agenda notices via CivicClerk.
- The boardEscambia County Board of County Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- County-run jail confirmed: Escambia County Corrections page says the Board of County Commissioners assumed jail operations from the Sheriff's Office on 1 October 2013.
- Jail page: Escambia County Correctional Facility, 840 beds, opened spring 2021.
- Roster: county's JAIL View lookup has a 'Current Inmates Only' filter.
- PREA page gives zero-tolerance policy, reporting routes and links to PREA policy documents; no audit reports posted.
- County FY 2026-27 proposed budget book has a Corrections department section (Director Rich Powell) and a Sheriff budget of $102,094,415; the FY 2025-26 adopted book was too large to open.
- Accreditations page lists FCAC and NCCHC accreditations but posts no reports, so inspections = no.
- Bond: jail page only says there is a public area to pay bonds; no posting instructions, so bond_info = no. Pretrial Release program page exists (no supervision fee; $15 breath and $25 urinalysis tests if ordered).
- No jail fee rates, deaths or contracts found on the corrections pages.
- Sheriff Chip Simmons named on the county's Elected Officials page; the sheriff's own site escambiaso.com was refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED) on http and https.
- No search used.
- 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 Escambia 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