The Detention Center
Van Buren County Jail
- Operated byVan Buren County Sheriff's Office, Corrections Division
- Jail address205 S Kalamazoo Street, Paw Paw, MI 49079
- Beds213-inmate capacity, per the county's Corrections Division page
- Regulatory frameworkDescribed by the county as an adult correctional facility governed by Michigan Department of Corrections Administrative Rules for Jails
- Jail AdministratorLt. Cody Small (Corrections Lieutenant)
Source: Van Buren County Sheriff's Office Corrections Division page · checked 2026-09-19
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗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
- Beds213
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Daniel Abbott
- Runs the jailThe Van Buren County Sheriff's Office Corrections Division operates the Van Buren County Jail at 205 S Kalamazoo Street, Paw Paw, MI
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term, MCL 51.70
- Statutory basisMCL 51.75 gives the sheriff custody of the county jail
- Currency of officeholderThe county's own sheriff page (fetched 9/19/2026) refers to him only as 'Sheriff Abbott' in a recurring 'From the Desk of Sheriff Abbott' feature dated as recently as 9/18/2026; the full first name 'Daniel' was confirmed via the Michigan Sheriffs' Association directory, not the county's own site
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Van Buren County official site · 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.
Van Buren 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 2026-09-19
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 boardVan Buren County Board of Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Roster: the sheriff's office links to a subdomain inmate lookup tool at inmateroster.vanburencountymi.gov, which is on the county's own domain, so it was scored yes; the tool itself was not separately opened for content beyond confirming the link.
- The Corrections Division page states the jail is governed by Michigan Department of Corrections Administrative Rules for Jails, which is the relevant state jail-standards regime, noted under state_inspection.
- State inspection/oversight: County site states the jail is governed by Michigan Department of Corrections Administrative Rules for Jails (statewide county-jail standards regime); no specific inspection reports were found published on the county's own site.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Van Buren 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