The Detention Center
Hernando County Detention Center
- Operated byHernando County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address16425 Spring Hill Dr., Brooksville, FL 34604
- Authorized capacity812 inmates
- Who is heldMen, women, and juveniles 14–17 charged as adults
- Former operatorCorrections Corporation of America (CCA), until 27 Aug 2010 (interlocal agreement)
- Transition moneyCounty start-up allocation of $848,556 and a $3,000,000 capital improvement fund (2010 interlocal agreement)
- FY2026 detention budget$23,628,696 (sheriff's approved budget book)
- AccreditationPREA audit June 2024; FCAC reaccredited 18 Jun 2025 (jail page)
- Phone ratesSmart Communications; $0.10/min phone, $0.17/min video (effective 6 Apr 2026)
- Inmate feesBooking fee $20.00; daily subsistence $3.00; medical co-pays $5–$10, ER $125, hospital admission $250
Source: Hernando County Sheriff's Office — Detention · checked 2026-09-28
Transparency rating
8/10Open- ✓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
- ✓How to post bond
- ✓Phone, video and commissary rates
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds812 (authorized capacity)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Al Nienhuis
- Runs the jailYes — the Hernando County Sheriff's Office runs the Hernando County Detention Center
- Took over from private operatorSheriff took over jail operation from Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) on 27 Aug 2010 under an interlocal agreement with the county
- 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: Hernando 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 Hernando County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Fifth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Citrus, Lake, Marion and Sumter (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Hernando 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 says agendas, minutes and meeting streams are on its Legistar calendar.
- The boardHernando County Board of County Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff site hernandosheriff.org confirmed Hernando County, Florida, and names Sheriff Al Nienhuis (matches FDLE lead). The old lead hcso.hernando.fl.us was not needed.
- Jail page states an authorized capacity of 812. The Jail Statistics page exists but its figures did not render for our reader.
- Sheriff posts budget books FY2016–FY2027 and audited financial statements; the FY2026 approved book shows Detention at $23,628,696.
- Contracts: the sheriff posts the 2010 interlocal agreement with the county transferring jail operation from Corrections Corporation of America to the sheriff (county owns the building and pays outside medical care). It also posts a timeline of federal inmate revenue (2014–2017) but no per-diem contract with a federal agency was seen.
- PREA: policy, reporting hotline, 2022–2025 annual reports and the 2024 PREA audit report are posted.
- Bond page explains bond is set from the Chief Judge's bond schedule, may be changed at first appearance (advisory hearings daily at 1:00 PM), and links online cash-bond payment.
- Fees: phone/video/tablet rates, $20 booking fee, $3 daily subsistence and medical co-pays are all posted.
- No Florida Model Jail Standards or fire inspection report was found on the Accreditation page or jail pages; no deaths-in-custody information found.
- 1 WebSearch 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 Hernando 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