Leon County, Florida — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Leon County Detention Facility

Operated byLeon County Sheriff's Office
Jail address535 Appleyard Dr., Tallahassee, FL 32304
Designed capacity1,427 (2022 PREA audit report posted by the sheriff)
Average daily population1,084 in the 12 months before the June 2022 PREA audit; 987 in the sheriff's 2025 annual report
Housing19 housing pods, including 2 mental-health pods (2025 annual report)
Detention budget$50,846,985 proposed for FY2026 (sheriff's FY2026 budget report)

Source: Leon County Sheriff's Office — Detention Facility · checked 2026-09-28

Transparency rating

7/10Open

✓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 — not published
✓How to post bond
✓Phone, video and commissary rates

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Leon County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-28. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

Year builtNot found
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
Beds1,427 designed capacity (2022 PREA audit)

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Walt McNeil

Runs the jailYes — the Leon County Sheriff's Office operates the Leon County Detention Facility
How the office is filledElected, four-year term

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: Leon 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 Leon County

Circuit Court: Florida's Second Judicial Circuit, which also serves Franklin, Gadsden, Jefferson, Liberty and Wakulla (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
County Court: the Leon 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.
NoteBoard page not opened — the county government site (leoncountyfl.gov) was refused by the fetch tool.
The boardLeon County Board of County Commissioners
Where the jail money is decidedNot found

Notes on the record

Sheriff's site confirmed as Leon County, Florida (Tallahassee); the old lcso.leonfl.org lead was refused by the fetch tool, current site is leoncountyso.com.
Sheriff Walt McNeil is named on the sheriff's own home page and detention page.
PREA page posts audit reports (2016, 2019, 2022 and a newer one) and annual PREA reviews 2014-2022; the 2022 audit found 0 standards not met.
Sheriff posts budget reports FY2020-FY2027 and annual reports; FY2026 detention budget $50,846,985.
Inmate handbook (Oct 2024) lists fees: $20 booking fee, $2.70/day food fee, medical copays ($10 nurse sick call, $6 doctor/dental/prescription).
FAQ explains bond posting: releasing office 850-606-3526, card payment in person at the releasing area, list of bonding agents in the lobby.
No Florida Model Jail Standards inspection report, deaths-in-custody record or contracts found on the sheriff's site.
Seat source is the sheriff's jail page (Tallahassee address); no county-government page could be opened.
What was tried: http://lcso.leonfl.org and https://www.leoncountyfl.gov/ — refused by the fetch tool.
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 Leon 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