The Detention Center
DeSoto County Adult Detention Facility
- Operated byDeSoto County Sheriff's Department
- Jail address3425 Industrial Drive W, Hernando, MS 38632
- Rated capacity568 beds
- Opened2012
- ExpansionExpanded from 304 beds in 2015
- Staff90 staff incl. 80 security and 10 medical (per county page)
- AccreditationCounty page says it is accredited by the American Correctional Association
- VisitationBy video phone at 2615 Panola Street, Hernando
- Juvenile facilityThe county also runs a Juvenile Detention Facility
- Jail AdministratorLeAnn Farr — Colonel, listed under the Adult Detention Facility in the sheriff's staff directory
Source: DeSoto County — Adult Detention Facility · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
4/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✓PREA audits
- ✗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
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built2012
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds568
Since then
- Expanded from 304 to 568 beds in 2015
The Sheriff
Sheriff Thomas E. Tuggle II
- Runs the jailYes — the county's own page says his duties include "serving as the county's jailer"
- How the office is filledElected at-large, four-year term
- Office address3091 Industrial Dr. West, Hernando (per Sheriffs' Association directory)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: DeSoto County — Sheriff Thomas E. Tuggle II · 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 DeSoto County
- Circuit Court: Mississippi's Twenty-Third Circuit Court District, which serves DeSoto County alone. Circuit judges are elected district-wide to four-year terms and hear felony cases.
- Justice Court: DeSoto County's justice court judges are elected by district within the county and often set bail at the first appearance.
- 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.
- The boardDeSoto County Board of Supervisors →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- County site (desotocountyms.gov) has full jail pages: Adult Detention Facility, Commissary, Visitation, inmate handbook.
- Roster: the county's jail page links an 'Online Jail Docket' on a vendor portal (omsweb.public-safety-cloud.com); it returned only an error when opened, so roster not credited.
- PREA: the inmate handbook states zero tolerance for sexual misconduct and lists ways to report it.
- Fees: commissary price list (dated 2016) and handbook medical copays ($10 doctor, $3 nurse, $10 dental) are posted.
- Board of Supervisors posts agendas and minutes in its Agenda Center; no county budget found on the pages opened.
- No bond/bail guidance, death-in-custody records, housing contracts or inspection reports found on the county's pages.
- Jail administrator taken from the sheriff's staff directory (desotocountysheriff.org/m/directory/department?did=54).
- 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 DeSoto 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