The Detention Center
Main Detention Center and West Detention Center
- Operated byPalm Beach County Sheriff's Office (Department of Corrections)
- Main Detention Center3228 Gun Club Road, West Palm Beach, FL 33406 — 2,166 beds (South Tower 1,285; East 418; West 404); average population 1,769
- Main Detention Center builtEast and West Towers 1983; 12-storey South Tower 1993 at a cost of $52 million
- West Detention Center38811 James Wheeler Way, Belle Glade, FL 33430 — 998 beds; built 1983; $72 million renovation/expansion completed 9 April 2011
- Contracted servicesWellpath LLC (healthcare), Trinity Services Group (food), Keefe Group dba Swanson Services (commissary)
- AccreditationFCAC, ACA, PREA and NCCHC (sheriff's Corrections page)
- Jail AdministratorColonel Alfonso Starling, Department of Corrections Operations (PBSO)
Source: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office — Main Detention Center · checked 2026-09-28
Transparency rating
7/10Open- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✓PREA audits
- ✓Independent inspection
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✓How to post bond
- ✓Phone, video and commissary rates
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built1983 (Main Detention Center East/West Towers and West Detention Center); Main Detention Center South Tower 1993
- Original costSouth Tower $52 million; original 1983 costs not found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds3,164 (Main 2,166 + West 998)
Since then
- Main Detention Center South Tower, 1993, $52 million
- West Detention Center renovation/expansion, completed 9 April 2011, $72 million
The Sheriff
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw
- Runs the jailYes — the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Department of Corrections runs the Main Detention Center and the West Detention Center
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- In office since4 January 2005 (sheriff's Executive Staff page)
- Office size4,464 staff, including 700 sworn corrections (sheriff's General Facts page)
Still needed
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office — Executive 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 Palm Beach County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which serves Palm Beach County alone (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Palm Beach 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 pages (pbcgov.org) could not be opened; board agenda/minutes URL not recorded.
- The boardPalm Beach County Board of County Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's site pbso.org confirmed Palm Beach County, Florida; both detention centers recorded.
- Inspections: the sheriff posts the Florida Corrections Accreditation Commission full assessment report (on-site 16-18 July 2024; 91 mandatory and 29 other standards 'In compliance', none non-compliant; team 'unanimously recommends ... reaccreditation with excelsior status'). It also posts an ACA final report (2024), not opened.
- PREA: annual PREA reports 2017-2025, statistics 2012-2022, and 2025 PREA audit reports for both detention centers are posted.
- Bond (Corrections FAQ): cash bond by cash, money order or certified check payable to Palm Beach County Sheriff; surety bond through a bondsman; card payment via GovPayNet (pay codes 7020 Main, 7021 West).
- Fees published (Corrections FAQ): $25 initial processing per incarceration, $3.00/day subsistence, medical $5-$100, $4.50 kiosk commissary deposit fee.
- Roster: the sheriff links its own Inmate Search (www3.pbso.org/blotter) from the jail pages; that page is blocked to our reader by robots.txt.
- Contracts: the Contract Compliance Division page names the healthcare, food and commissary contractors and their scope, but posts no contract documents, so contracts = no.
- Budget: General Facts gives a total FY2024 PBSO adopted budget of $877,025,755 but no corrections line; the county's FY2026 budget book (discover.pbcgov.org) was found but blocked to our reader. Budget left 'no' as not verified.
- No deaths-in-custody material found. County seat not stated on any page opened.
- What was tried: pbso.org/inside-pbso/administration/budget (404); discover.pbcgov.org budget page and FY2026 budget book PDF (robots.txt refused); www3.pbso.org/blotter (robots.txt 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 Palm Beach 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