Monroe County, Indiana — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Monroe County Correctional Center

Operated byMonroe County Sheriff's Office
Location given by sheriff's jail pageCharlotte T. Zietlow Justice Center, 301 N. College Ave., Bloomington, IN 47404
Inmate information phone(812) 349-2750
VisitationSheriff's jail page: in-person inmate visitation suspended until further notice
Functional capacity (news report)186 beds per the sheriff's 2026 report, as reported by The Bloomington Chronicle; population reported up to 259 in July 2026
New jail plans (news report)Commissioners approved an $11.375M North Park site purchase agreement (Oct 2024); county council rejected funding on 26 May 2026; estimates $206.9M–$280M; 0.17% local income tax enacted Oct 2024 (per The Bloomington Chronicle)
Litigation (news report)ACLU suit 2008, settled 2009; new federal class action filed 10 July 2026 alleging unconstitutional conditions (allegations, per The Bloomington Chronicle)
Jail AdministratorKyle Gibbons — Jail Commander (per The Bloomington Chronicle; not confirmed on a county page)

Source: Monroe County Sheriff's Office — 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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Monroe County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-20. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

Year builtNot found
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
Beds186 functional beds (news report of sheriff's 2026 report; not county-published)

Since then

New jail proposed (400–500 beds); council rejected funding 26 May 2026 (news report)

The Sheriff

Sheriff Ruben Marté

Runs the jailYes — the sheriff keeps the county jail (IC 36-2-13-5)
How the office is filledElected, four-year term
In office sinceJanuary 2023 (per local civic wiki)
Name source noteNamed by The Bloomington Chronicle, not confirmed on a county/sheriff page (sheriff site pages beyond the jail page could not be opened)

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: The Bloomington Chronicle — Monroe County 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.

Monroe County Circuit Court

Not found

Still needed

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 (executive) and seven-member County Council (fiscal body: four district, three at-large) per Wikipedia; county pages could not be opened for agenda/minutes URLs.
The boardMonroe County Board of Commissioners
Where the jail money is decidedNot found

Notes on the record

Sheriff's jail page (monroecountysheriffsoffice.us/jail-1) confirmed Indiana; names the jail location at the Charlotte T. Zietlow Justice Center, 301 N. College Ave.
County page in.gov/counties/monroe/justice/sheriff/correctional-center/ opened: describes the Correctional Center's functions; no capacity, fees, PREA or reports.
The only custody lookup linked is VineLink (third-party), so roster is counted as no.
Sheriff site pages About MCCC and Visits/Calls/Money, the sheriff homepage and in.gov/counties/monroe/ were refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED); in.gov/counties/monroe/justice/sheriff/ failed with too many redirects. Fees, PREA and bond info therefore could not be checked there.
Sheriff name, jail commander, capacity and new-jail details come from The Bloomington Chronicle (local civic wiki), not from a county page.
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 Monroe 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