The Detention Center
Benton County Sheriff's Department & Jail
- Operated byBenton County Sheriff's Department
- Jail address105 S Lincoln Avenue, Fowler, IN 47944
- Phone765-884-0080 (option 1 for jail)
- Visit schedulinginmatesales.com / 1-866-340-7879
- Jail AdministratorPatty Clouse — Jail Commander
Source: Benton County — Jail Visitation & Bond Info · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗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
- ✗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
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff John Cox
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff keeps the county jail (IC 36-2-13-5)
- 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: Benton County staff page — Sheriff's Department and Jail · checked 2026-09-20
The Judges
Indiana circuit and superior court judges are state judicial officers, not county officials. In most counties they are elected to six-year terms; a few counties choose some judges through a nominating commission followed by retention votes.
Benton County Circuit Court
- Not found
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-20
The Commissioners and County Council
They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.
- What they controlThe three county commissioners own and maintain the jail building and sign its contracts; the seven-member county council adopts the budget and appropriates the jail's money.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and keeps the jail by state law (IC 36-2-13-5).
- NoteThree-member Board of Commissioners plus seven-member County Council (fiscal body). County homepage could not be opened (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED); no board page confirmed.
- The boardBenton County Board of Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- County bond page: "Bonds are taken daily until 10pm. MONEY ORDER ONLY / NO CHECKS OR CASH."
- Visits: one 30-minute or two 15-minute visits every seven days, scheduled 24 hours ahead via inmatesales.com; no rates published.
- Sheriff's own site (bentoncountysheriff.com) opened; it has jail and commissary-deposit sections but no roster, PREA, fee rates or inspection reports seen, and did not name the sheriff.
- What was tried: bentoncounty.in.gov homepage and sheriffs-department-and-jail page refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED).
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail Services inspects annually (IC 11-12-4); reports are public record on request but not posted by the state. None found on the county's own site.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Benton 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 who runs this jail is elected. So are the commissioners and council members who pay for it.
Names verified 2026-09-20 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered