The Detention Center
Jackson County Jail
- Operated byJackson County Sheriff's Department
- Jail address150 E. State Rd. 250, Brownstown, IN 47220
- Staff (county site)25 employees
- Function (county site)Custody and care of pre-trial and sentenced individuals
- Jail contact listed (county site)Charlie Murphy (title not stated)
Source: Jackson County jail page · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
1/10Closed- ✓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 — not published
- ✗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 Rick Meyer
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term; no more than eight years in any twelve (Ind. Const. art. 6, §2)
- Runs the jailYes — the county site lists the jail under the Sheriff's Department / Jail
- Office address150 East SR 250, Brownstown, IN 47220
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Jackson County IN Sheriff's Office - Message from the Sheriff · 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.
Jackson 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).
- NoteThe county site links a Board of Commissioners page and a County Council page (the seven-member fiscal body); neither could be opened, so names were not confirmed. Meetings & Agendas: https://www.jacksoncounty.in.gov/meetings___agendas/index.php (linked, not opened).
- The boardJackson County Board of Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- County jail page and sheriff's site both name the Jackson County Jail at 150 E. State Rd. 250, Brownstown; the county page says the jail has 25 employees.
- The sheriff's site has a 'Current Inmates' roster page (jacksoncountysheriffin.org/roster.php), but when opened it read 'Roster Offline For Maintenance', so it was not counted.
- Sheriff's name is not stated in the text of the sheriff's home page (only a Facebook handle is linked), so it is recorded as Not found.
- Sheriff's Public Information and jail-information pages carry contact details only: no bond, fee, PREA, capacity, inspection, deaths or contract material.
- What was tried: sheriff contact page and county commissioners page refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED). Search budget was exhausted.
- 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 Jackson 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