The Detention Center
Volusia County Branch Jail and Volusia County Correctional Facility
- Operated byVolusia County Division of Corrections (county government)
- Branch Jail address1300 Red John Drive, Daytona Beach, FL 32124
- Correctional Facility address1354 Indian Lake Road, Daytona Beach, FL 32124
- Design capacity1,722 total — Branch Jail 1,042, Correctional Facility 680 (2024 Annual Report)
- Average daily population1,345 in 2024
- Bookings18,788 people in 2024
- BudgetFY2023-24 actual $48,849,005; FY2024-25 adopted $63,537,210; 2024 per diem $100.55
- Staffing374 funded positions at year-end 2024 (270 sworn, 104 civilian)
- Jail AdministratorJoseph DeMore, Director, Volusia County Division of Corrections
Source: Volusia County Division of Corrections 2024 Annual Report · 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
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtCorrectional Facility opened 1977; Branch Jail opened 1987
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds1,722 design capacity (2024)
Since then
- Dorm replacement 2013
- New dorm completed 2024, bringing capacity to 1,722
The Sheriff
Sheriff Michael J. Chitwood
- Runs the jailNo — the jail is run by the Volusia County Division of Corrections, a county department that operates separately from the Sheriff's Office
- 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: Volusia 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 Volusia County
- Circuit Court: Florida's Seventh Judicial Circuit, which also serves Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns (Fla. Stat. 26.021). Circuit judges are elected circuit-wide to six-year terms and hear felonies.
- County Court: the Volusia 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.
- NoteCharter county governed by a seven-member County Council (five district members, an at-large member and a countywide County Chair). Agendas/minutes at https://vcservices.vcgov.org/agenda/agenda-minutes.asp (linked from the council page).
- The boardVolusia County Council →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Confirmed county-run: volusia.org states the Division of Corrections operates independently of the Sheriff's Office.
- Corrections pages read: home, jail and bond information, FAQ, PREA, inmate accounts PDF and the 2024 Annual Report.
- Roster: the county's inmate search (volusiamug.vcgov.org, county domain) opened to its disclaimer page.
- Budget: the 2024 Annual Report gives corrections actual and adopted budget figures and a per-diem cost.
- PREA page posts a 2017 PREA audit report and 2022 and 2023 PREA survey reports, and names a PREA coordinator.
- Bond: anyone may post bond in cash or through a bondsman at the Branch Jail, 24/7; no releases 10pm-6am since 29 Apr 2024 unless a responsible party is present.
- Fees: $30 booking fee and $5/day subsistence fee published; $1 per commissary photo. Phone (IC Solutions) per-minute rates are not posted.
- No deaths-in-custody, inspection report or contract material found; the 2024 Annual Report does not cover them.
- What was tried: vcso.us (certificate error). The old lead volusia.org/sheriff redirects to volusiasheriff.gov, which 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 Volusia 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