The Detention Center
Santa Rosa County Detention Facility (Santa Rosa County Jail)
- Operated bySanta Rosa County Sheriff's Office (Department of Detention)
- Jail address5755 East Milton Road, Milton, FL 32583
- Rated capacity810 (sheriff's jail page and posted 2026 PREA audit)
- Average daily population677 over 12 months (2026 PREA audit posted by the sheriff)
- HousingPodular; 23 dorms plus a medical unit; pre-trial and sentences under one year
- Medical providerWellpath (named in the 2026 PREA audit)
Source: Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office — SRSO Jail · checked 2026-09-28
Transparency rating
5/10Partial- ✓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
- ✗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
- Beds810
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Bob Johnson
- Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Department of Detention runs the Santa Rosa County Detention Facility
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- In office sinceFirst elected 2016; ran unopposed in 2020 (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: Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office — Sheriff Bob Johnson · 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 Santa Rosa County
- Circuit Court: Florida's First Judicial Circuit, which also serves Escambia, Okaloosa and Walton (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Santa Rosa 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 boardSanta Rosa County Board of County Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's site confirmed at santarosasheriff.org (Santa Rosa County, Florida).
- The sheriff's Department of Detention runs the jail at 5755 East Milton Road, Milton; capacity 810.
- PREA: the sheriff posts its PREA policy, a 2026 PREA audit report (Aug 2026 audit: 4 standards exceeded, 41 met, 0 not met) and a 2025 PREA annual report.
- Budget: the sheriff posts revenue and appropriation returns (FY2022-FY2025) and annual financial audits; the FY2024 audit shows a corrections and detention expenditure function.
- Fees published: phone $0.21/min in-state, $0.25/min long distance, $3.00 card fee, $5.95 live-operator fee (contact page); $20 booking fee and $2.00/day subsistence (inmate accounts page).
- Roster: the sheriff's 'Jail View' page exists but our reader could not read its content, so roster is not scored yes.
- No bond-posting guidance, deaths-in-custody information, jail inspection report or service contracts were found on the pages opened.
- What was tried: http://www.santarosasheriff.org root lead not needed; FY2025 appropriation return PDF had no machine-readable text; 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 Santa Rosa 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