The Detention Center
Martin County Jail
- Operated byMartin County Sheriff's Office (Corrections Department)
- Jail address800 SE Monterey Road, Stuart, FL
- Beds696-bed maximum-security facility, plus a 144-bed direct-supervision unit opened in 2007
- ExpansionsReduced Custody Building (2001); 144-bed direct-supervision unit (2007)
- AccreditationFCAC-accredited since March 1998; medical unit NCCHC-accredited since October 2000 (sheriff's accreditation page)
- MedicalContracted medical services
- Jail AdministratorMajor Peter Croft, Corrections Department
Source: Martin County Sheriff's Office — Corrections Department · checked 2026-09-28
Transparency rating
4/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓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
- Beds696 (maximum-security facility) plus 144 (direct-supervision unit, 2007)
Since then
- Reduced Custody Building, 2001
- 144-bed direct-supervision unit, 2007
The Sheriff
Sheriff John M. Budensiek
- Runs the jailYes — the Martin County Sheriff's Office Corrections Department operates the Martin County Jail
- In officeSworn in January 7, 2025, the county's 9th sheriff (sheriff's own page)
- 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: Martin County Sheriff's Office — About Us · 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 Martin County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Indian River, Okeechobee and St. Lucie (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Martin 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.
- The boardMartin County Board of County Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- mcsofl.org confirmed as Martin County, Florida (Stuart); the old lead sheriff.martin.fl.us no longer resolves.
- Sheriff John Budensiek is named on the sheriff's own site, sworn in January 7, 2025.
- County FY2027 tentative budget summary shows "Sheriff $128,462,075" and "Sheriff Non-departmental $11,498,459"; the sheriff's finance page states a FY2025 general fund budget of $109,694,732.
- Sheriff's fees page: bonds paid by money order or cashier's check (no cash) or through a bondsperson; booking unit 772-220-7200 for bond details. It cites the statute allowing subsistence and medical charges but gives no dollar amounts; two free video visits a month via HomeWAV.
- Sheriff's inmate-search page links an in-custody search hosted by a vendor (correctionsrecordssearch.com/martincountyfl) that the fetch tool refused, so roster is not scored yes.
- Accreditation page cites FCAC and NCCHC accreditation but posts no reports; no PREA page, inspection report, deaths record or contracts found.
- What was tried: http://www.sheriff.martin.fl.us and /jail-inmate-search.html (domain does not resolve); https://correctionsrecordssearch.com/martincountyfl (refused).
- 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 Martin 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