The Detention Center
Putnam County Jail
- Operated byPutnam County Sheriff's Office (Corrections Division)
- Jail address130 Orie Griffin Blvd, Palatka, FL 32177
- Phone386-329-0800
- ProgramsActive parenting, anger management, substance abuse assistance for sentenced inmates
- Jail AdministratorMajor Clayton Silva (Corrections Division)
Source: Putnam County Sheriff's Office — Corrections · checked 2026-09-28
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗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
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 H.D. "Gator" DeLoach III
- Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Corrections Division runs the Putnam County Jail; the sheriff's bio calls him the chief corrections officer of the county
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- In office sinceSworn in January 2017 (sheriff's own bio page)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Putnam County Sheriff's Office — Sheriff Homer "Gator" DeLoach III · 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 Putnam County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Seventh Judicial Circuit, which also serves Flagler, St. Johns and Volusia (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Putnam 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 not opened; agenda/minutes URL not recorded.
- The boardPutnam County Board of County Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- The sheriff's current site is putnamsherifffl.com (Putnam County, Florida); the old putnamsheriff.org lead was refused by the fetcher.
- The sheriff's Corrections Division, directed by Major Clayton Silva, runs the Putnam County Jail in Palatka.
- Roster: the sheriff's SmartCOP inmate search (linked from its home page) lists people booked, with charges and bond amounts.
- Fees published: video visitation $0.10 per minute; online deposit fees $3.25-$7.50 plus 3% (offender family resources page).
- No capacity, budget, PREA, bond-posting guidance, deaths-in-custody, inspection report or contracts were found on the corrections, family resources or public-records pages.
- What was tried: http://www.putnamsheriff.org refused by the fetcher; one search used. County government site not opened.
- 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 Putnam 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