The Detention Center
Indian River County Sheriff's Office Department of Corrections (county jail)
- Operated byIndian River County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address4055 41st Avenue, Vero Beach, FL 32960
- Current populationSheriff's inmate search showed 'Current Inmates: 527' when opened on 28 Sep 2026
- Rated capacityNot found
- Corrections budgetFY 2025-26 sheriff budget packet: Corrections $27,573,126 (personnel $19,447,811; operating $7,944,315; capital $181,000)
- AccreditationFlorida Corrections Accreditation Commission — accredited 2010, reaccredited 2013, 2016 and 2019 (sheriff's accreditation page; no report posted)
- Phones / visitsSmart Communications (smartinmate.com); on-site video visitation Fridays 1-4 pm
- Jail AdministratorKent Campbell, Deputy Chief, Department of Corrections and Judicial Services
Source: Indian River County Sheriff's Office — Corrections · 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 — 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
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Eric Flowers
- Runs the jailYes — the Indian River County Sheriff's Office Department of Corrections runs the county jail
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Order of officeThe sheriff's own page calls him the 11th Sheriff of Indian River County
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Indian River County Sheriff's Office — Sheriff and Command Staff · 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 Indian River County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Indian River 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 (ircgov.com) refused by robots.txt; board page not confirmed.
- The boardIndian River County Board of County Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- The sheriff runs the jail; Deputy Chief Kent Campbell supervises the county jail, courthouse, medical services and the Pre-Trial Release Program.
- Capacity check passed on daily population: the sheriff's own inmate search shows a live 'Current Inmates' count (527 when opened). No rated bed capacity is published.
- Budget: the sheriff posts its FY 2026 budget packet with a separate Corrections line of $27,573,126. A board-action notice PDF is also posted but had no readable text.
- Bond: corrections page lists cash, cashier's check (banking hours), registered bail bondsmen, touchpaydirect.com and a phone line.
- Fees: the corrections page says an intake/booking fee, daily subsistence fee and a payment convenience fee exist, but publishes no amounts — recorded no.
- FCAC accreditation is stated on the accreditation page but no accreditation or inspection report is posted.
- No PREA, death-in-custody or contract material found on the corrections, resources, downloads or accreditation pages.
- County seat (Vero Beach) not confirmed on an opened county page — seat_source left blank.
- What was tried: ircsheriff.org via search result (opened), ircgov.com (robots.txt 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 Indian River 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