The Detention Center
Not found
- Operated byIssaquena County Sheriff's Department
- Regional correctional facilityIssaquena County Correctional Facility, 22746 MS-1, Mayersville, MS 39113, operated by the Issaquena County Sheriff's Department — holds state prisoners under an MDOC contract
Source: MDOC — Issaquena County Correctional Facility · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
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 Waye Windham
- Runs the jailYes — by law the sheriff is the jailer of the county (Miss. Code § 19-25-71)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- CurrentNamed in the Mississippi Sheriffs' Association directory; not confirmed on a county page
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Mississippi Sheriffs' Association directory · 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 Issaquena County
- Circuit Court: Mississippi's Ninth Circuit Court District, which also serves Sharkey and Warren. Circuit judges are elected district-wide to four-year terms and hear felony cases.
- Justice Court: Issaquena 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.
- NoteNo county government website found.
- The boardIssaquena County Board of Supervisors
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- No official Issaquena County government or sheriff website was found. Nothing on a county or sheriff domain could be examined, so checks are left empty.
- The Town of Mayersville's site (mayersville.ms.gov/sheriffsoffice) has a 'Sheriff's Department' page listing Waye Windham as Issaquena County sheriff, with an undersheriff and deputies; it is a town site, not the county's, and has no jail information. Not scored.
- Sheriff name taken from the Mississippi Sheriffs' Association directory (P.O. Box 147, Mayersville); not confirmed on a county page.
- Regional correctional facility: MDOC lists the Issaquena County Correctional Facility (22746 MS-1, Mayersville), operated by the Issaquena County Sheriff's Department; it holds state prisoners and is separate from the county jail.
- Seat: not confirmed on a county page; the sheriff's and town's addresses are in Mayersville.
- 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 Issaquena 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