Clarke County, Mississippi — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Not found

Operated byClarke County Sheriff's Office
Jail pagesThe county's sheriff page gives only the office address and phone; no jail name or details

Source: Clarke County — Sheriff · checked 2026-09-29

Transparency rating

0/10Closed

✗The jail is named — not published
✗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 Clarke County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-29. 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 Anthony Chancelor

Runs the jailYes — the sheriff is the jailer by law (Miss. Code § 19-25-71)
How the office is filledElected, four-year term
Office address444 West Donald Street, Quitman, MS 39355 (county page)

Still needed

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

Source: Clarke County — Sheriff · checked 2026-09-29

The Judges

Mississippi's circuit judges are elected state judges who hear felony cases. Bail is often first set at an initial appearance by a justice court judge, elected by district within the county, or by a county or municipal judge.

Who sets bail in Clarke County

Circuit Court: Mississippi's Tenth Circuit Court District, which also serves Kemper, Lauderdale and Wayne. Circuit judges are elected district-wide to four-year terms and hear felony cases.
Justice Court: Clarke County's justice court judges are elected by district within the county and often set bail at the first appearance.

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 2026-09-29

The Board of Supervisors

They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.

What they controlThe county budget, including the sheriff's office and the jail, and the jail building itself. Five supervisors, each elected from a district. In fifteen counties, the county also runs a regional correctional facility that holds state prisoners under a contract with the Department of Corrections.
What they don'tDay-to-day operations. By law the sheriff is the jailer of the county and hires the jailers (Miss. Code 19-25-71). No state agency inspects the jail.
NoteThe county posts no board minutes or agendas online.
The boardClarke County Board of Supervisors
Where the jail money is decidedNot found

Notes on the record

County site clarkecountyms.gov opened: home, sheriff, board, chancery clerk and community-links pages examined; no jail material of any kind.
The county site links no separate sheriff's website or inmate roster; the sheriff's office has a Facebook page (not scored).
Board meets first and third Mondays; no minutes, agendas or budget are posted online — the board page directs requests to the board secretary.
What was tried: https://www.clarkecountyms.gov/ and http://clarkecountyms.gov/ roots were refused before a search supplied the sheriff page; the root then opened.
State inspection/oversight: Mississippi has no state agency that inspects county jails. The State Department of Health's jail inspections ended when the Legislature stopped funding them in 2017.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Clarke 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 is elected. So are the supervisors who pay for the jail, and the judges who set bail.

Names verified 2026-09-29 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered