The Detention Center
Kemper Neshoba Regional Correctional Facility
- Operated byKemper County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address374 Stennis Industrial Park Road, DeKalb, MS 39328
- Regional correctional facilityKemper/Neshoba County Regional Correctional Facility — holds state prisoners under an MDOC contract
- Rated capacity355 state inmates, 50 joint county-state inmates, 75 county inmates (sheriff's jail page)
- Staff2 captains, 4 lieutenants, 4 sergeants, 19 correctional officers, 2 nurses, chaplain, case worker, office manager
- JuvenilesNot housed here; held in Scott County, MS
- RosterSheriff's roster headed 'Kemper County Detention Center' listed 392 people on 29 Sep 2026
- Jail AdministratorWarden Byron Walker, Kemper Neshoba Regional Correctional Facility
Source: Kemper County Sheriff — Jail · checked 2026-09-29
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
- Beds480 total by category: 355 state, 50 joint county-state, 75 county
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff James Moore, Sr.
- Runs the jailYes — county page calls the sheriff the county's jailor; the regional facility operates under Sheriff James R. Moore
- How the office is filledElected at-large, four-year term (county page)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Kemper 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 Kemper County
- Circuit Court: Mississippi's Tenth Circuit Court District, which also serves Clarke, Lauderdale and Wayne. Circuit judges are elected district-wide to four-year terms and hear felony cases.
- Justice Court: Kemper 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.
- NoteRoy Vandevender (D1), Johnny B. Whitsett (D2), Scott Johnson (D3), Lee McDonald (D4), Chris Cole (D5). 2025 agendas and minutes posted.
- The boardKemper County Board of Supervisors →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's site names the Kemper Neshoba Regional Correctional Facility, which houses county inmates as well as state inmates, and publishes its bed capacity by category.
- Live roster on the sheriff's site (392 listed on 29 Sep 2026) under the heading Kemper County Detention Center.
- No MDOC contract, per-diem or revenue figures published, so contracts is not credited.
- Bond/Fine page links only a 2022 justice court fine schedule image; no guidance on how to post bond.
- Commissary deposits via tigerdeposit.com; no fee rates published. No PREA, deaths or inspection material; no budget document on the county site.
- What was tried: kempercountyms.gov root refused at first (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED), opened via search-returned /sheriff/ page.
- 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 Kemper 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