The Detention Center
Scott County Jail
- Operated byScott County Sheriff's Department
- Jail address531 Airport Road, Forest, MS 39074
- CapacityUp to 323 detainees (sheriff's site)
- Work campWork camp houses up to 86 minimum-security prisoners (sheriff's site)
- ServicesKitchen, clothing, medical and dental; video court for initial appearances, arraignments and bond hearings
- Phone / video visitsSecurus Technologies phone and video calls; HomeWAV video visitation
Source: Scott County Sheriff's Department — Jail Information · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓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 — 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
- BedsUp to 323 detainees, plus a work camp for up to 86 minimum-security prisoners
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Mike Lee
- Runs the jailYes — county page lists 'serving as the county's jailor' and 'keeping a jail docket' among the sheriff's duties (Miss. Code 19-25-71)
- How the office is filledElected at-large, four-year term (county page)
- Budget roleSubmits his office's budget to the Board of Supervisors (county page)
- Office address531 Airport Rd, Forest MS 39074
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Scott County, Mississippi — Sheriff page · 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 Scott County
- Circuit Court: Mississippi's Eighth Circuit Court District, which also serves Leake, Neshoba and Newton. Circuit judges are elected district-wide to four-year terms and hear felony cases.
- Justice Court: Scott 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.
- NoteBoard page posts draft meeting agendas (regular meeting first Monday of each month, 10:00am); minutes and budget not posted there.
- The boardScott County Board of Supervisors →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- County site scottcountyms.gov and sheriff site scottcountyso.org both confirmed Scott County, Mississippi.
- Sheriff's jail pages name the Scott County Jail and state capacity: up to 323 detainees plus 86 in a work camp.
- Jail information page names Securus (phone/video calls) and HomeWAV (video visitation) and mentions commissary and an inmate handbook, but publishes no rates.
- No bond guidance, PREA, deaths, inspection or contract material found on the pages we could open.
- Board of Supervisors posts draft agendas; no minutes or budget found. Finance Department page posts no budget or audit.
- What was tried: scottcountyso.org root (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED); scottcountyso.org/jail/inmate-roster/ (robots refused) — the sheriff site's other sub-pages (roster, handbook) could not be opened, so roster is unconfirmed rather than absent.
- A Scott County S.O. Facebook page exists (not counted).
- 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 Scott 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