The Detention Center
Not found
- Operated byJefferson County Sheriff's Office
- Location given by the sheriff171 Industrial Park, Monticello, FL 32344 (sheriff's office; deposit kiosk is in 'the jail lobby')
- Rated capacityNot found
- Corrections budgetCounty FY 2024-25 final budget: total corrections $1,900,884 prior year to $2,051,739 requested, incl. care of prisoners/medical and inmate food
- PhonesPaytel; inmates may call out 8 am to 10 pm
- Jail AdministratorCaptain Lanetra Cooks, Jail Operations
Source: Jefferson County Sheriff's Office — FAQs · checked 2026-09-28
Transparency rating
1/10Closed- ✗The jail is named — not published
- ✗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 Mac McNeill
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff's staff page lists a Captain for Jail Operations, and the county budget carries a Corrections section under the Sheriff
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- FDLE directory nameAlfred "Mac" McNeill
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Jefferson County Sheriff's Office — Law Enforcement 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 Jefferson County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Second Judicial Circuit, which also serves Franklin, Gadsden, Leon, Liberty and Wakulla (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Jefferson 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.
- NoteFive commissioners; agendas on towncloud.io and minutes via the Clerk (jeffersonclerk.com), as the board page states.
- The boardJefferson County Board of County Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- The sheriff runs the jail: the staff page names Captain Lanetra Cooks for Jail Operations. The sheriff's site never gives the jail a name — it refers only to 'the jail' at 171 Industrial Park, Monticello — so named is recorded no.
- Budget: the county's FY 2024-25 final budget (budget-transparency page) shows Corrections as its own part of the Sheriff's budget — personnel, care of prisoners/medical, inmate food — rising to $2,051,739.
- Roster: the sheriff's FAQ points to a 'Media Intake Report' at usa-software.com/jefferson_jail/media.html, which returned 404 — recorded no.
- Fees: the FAQ names Paytel for phones but tells callers to phone Paytel for rates; no fee amounts posted.
- No bond guidance, capacity, PREA, death-in-custody, inspection or contract material found on any of the 19 pages in the sheriff's sitemap that were checked (home, staff, FAQs, services, court services, records).
- Sheriff's own site shows 'Mac McNeill'; the FDLE directory lists Alfred "Mac" McNeill. The sheriff's bio page is an unfilled placeholder.
- County seat (Monticello) is where the board meets per the county site, but no opened page states it is the county seat — seat_source left blank.
- What was tried: jcsofl.org (old lead; http refused, https no DNS). Current sheriff domain jcso-fl.org found via the county site jeffersoncountyfl.gov. 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 Jefferson 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