Alcona County, Michigan — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Alcona County Jail

Operated byAlcona County Sheriff's Office
Jail address214 W Main St., Harrisville, MI 48740
Operating statusPer the Sheriff's Office site, the jail is not fully staffed and does not house inmates overnight; in 2023, 64 defendants were booked through Alcona County Jail while 109 arrestees were lodged directly at Iosco County Jail
Where population goes when unstaffedIosco County Jail

Source: Alcona County Sheriff - Corrections · checked 2026-09-19

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 Alcona County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-19. 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
BedsNot found

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Scott A. Stephenson

Runs the jailAlcona County Sheriff's Office operates the Alcona County Jail, which per the office's own site is not fully staffed to house inmates overnight; defendants are frequently transferred to Iosco County Jail pending bail or court hearings
How the office is filledElected, four-year term, MCL 51.70
Statutory basisMCL 51.75 gives the sheriff custody of the county jail

Still needed

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

Source: Alcona County Sheriff · checked 2026-09-19

The Judges

Michigan circuit and district court judges are elected on a nonpartisan ballot to six-year terms under Mich. Const. art. VI — state judicial officers, not county officials.

Alcona 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 2026-09-19

The County Commissioners

They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.

What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and answers to voters, not to the board.
The boardNot found
Where the jail money is decidedNot found

Notes on the record

The Sheriff's Office site states the jail is 'not fully staffed and housing inmates overnight' is limited; arrestees are frequently transferred to Iosco County Jail pending bail or court hearings.
In 2023 the office booked 64 defendants through the Alcona County Jail versus 109 lodged directly at Iosco County Jail, per the site's Corrections page.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Alcona 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 who pay for it.

Names verified 2026-09-19 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered