The Detention Center
Jones County Adult Detention Facility
- Operated byJones County Sheriff's Department
- Jail address5178 Hwy 11 North, Ellisville, MS 39437
- Juvenile facilityJones County Juvenile Detention Facility, 5172 Hwy 11, Ellisville
- Who it holdsPeople held for local, state and occasionally federal agencies (sheriff's page)
- Roster countSheriff's roster showed 249 people in custody when read on 29 Sep 2026, with bond amounts
- Jail AdministratorMajor David Jordan, Corrections Division
Source: Jones County Sheriff — Detention Centers · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗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
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 Joe Berlin
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff is the jailer by law (Miss. Code 19-25-71); the Sheriff's Department has a Corrections Division
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term; sheriff's site says elected November 2019, re-elected November 2023
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Jones County Sheriff — Administration · 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 Jones County
- Circuit Court: Mississippi's Eighteenth Circuit Court District, which serves Jones County alone. Circuit judges are elected district-wide to four-year terms and hear felony cases.
- Justice Court: Jones 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.
- NoteCounty government website could not be located within the search cap; no board page opened.
- The boardJones County Board of Supervisors
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's site (jonesso.com) names the Adult and Juvenile Detention Facilities and runs a live inmate roster with bond amounts (249 listed on 29 Sep 2026).
- Roster count not credited as capacity: no rated beds or published population figure.
- Detention Centers says the jail holds people for state and occasionally federal agencies, but no housing contracts or rates published.
- No bond guidance, PREA, deaths, fees or inspections on the sheriff's site; sitemap lists no such pages.
- County government site not examined: jonescountyms.com refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED) and co.jones.ms.us failed (certificate mismatch). Budget and board minutes therefore unchecked.
- 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 Jones 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