The Detention Center
Orient Road Jail and Falkenburg Road Jail
- Operated byHillsborough County Sheriff's Office (Department of Detention Services)
- Orient Road Jail (Jail Division I)1201 Orient Road, Tampa, FL 33619 — central booking and intake
- Falkenburg Road Jail (Jail Divisions II and III)520 N. Falkenburg Road, Tampa, FL 33619 — direct-supervision facility on 142 acres
- Rated capacityFalkenburg Road Jail 3,300 beds; the sheriff describes a 4,947-bed jail system
- Medical providerNaphCare
- Canteen / accountsAramark
- Phone and video visitsSmartInmate; two hours of no-cost video visitation per week, on-demand visits for a fee
- Jail AdministratorColonel Robert Ura, Department of Detention Services Commander
Source: HCSO — Department of Detention Services · checked 2026-09-28
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗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
- ✗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
- Beds3,300 rated at Falkenburg Road; 4,947-bed system stated
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Chad Chronister
- Runs the jailYes — the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Department of Detention Services runs the Orient Road and Falkenburg Road jails
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term; the sheriff's own page says he was appointed by Governor Rick Scott in 2017 and re-elected three times
Still needed
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: HCSO — Sheriff Chad Chronister · 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 Hillsborough County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, which serves Hillsborough County alone (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Hillsborough 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.
- NoteCounty government site (hillsboroughcounty.org) could not be opened; board page not confirmed.
- The boardHillsborough County Board of County Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- The sheriff runs both jails; Jail Division I is Orient Road, Divisions II and III share the Falkenburg Road address on the sheriff's Locations page.
- Division commanders named on HCSO pages: Major Justin Johnson (Division I), Major Cedric Battle (Division II), Major Kawanna Brown (Division III).
- Roster: the sheriff's pages link an 'Arrest/Inmate Inquiry' at webapps.hcso.tampa.fl.us/ArrestInquiry, but WebFetch refused it (provenance), so it could not be confirmed as a live in-custody list — recorded no.
- Budget: the sheriff's Financial Reports page (teamhcso.com/FinancialReports) opened but showed no report documents to our reader — the list may be loaded by script. County budget site could not be opened. Recorded no.
- Contracts: the sheriff's Purchasing page lists awarded bids (e.g. inmate grooming supplies, inmate linens) but no contract documents — recorded no.
- Fees: communication and canteen pages say video visits and TouchPay deposits carry fees but publish no rates.
- Bond: the sheriff explains bonds are posted at Orient Road Jail, cash or money order in exact amounts only, no cards, surety through a registered bail agent.
- No PREA page, death-in-custody record or inspection report was found on the sheriff's pages opened.
- County seat (Tampa) not confirmed on an opened county page — seat_source left blank.
- What was tried: teamhcso.com root, hcso.tampa.fl.us (refused), hillsboroughcounty.org (refused), public.powerdms.com/HCSO7 policy library (refused), webapps.hcso.tampa.fl.us/ArrestInquiry (refused). One 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 Hillsborough 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