Tippah County, Mississippi — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Not found

Operated byTippah County Sheriff (jailer by law)
Published jail informationNone beyond the sheriff's duty to serve as jailor and keep a jail docket

Source: Tippah County Sheriff page · checked 2026-09-29

Transparency rating

0/10Closed

✗The jail is named — not published
✗Who is in custody — not published
✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Tippah County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-29. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

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 Karl Gaillard

Runs the jailYes — county sheriff page says his duties include serving as the county's jailor and keeping a jail docket (Miss. Code 19-25-71)
How the office is filledElected, four-year term
Office address205 West Spring Street, Ripley, MS 38663

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: Tippah County 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 Tippah County

Circuit Court: Mississippi's Third Circuit Court District, which also serves Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Marshall and Union. Circuit judges are elected district-wide to four-year terms and hear felony cases.
Justice Court: Tippah County's justice court judges are elected by district within the county and often set bail at the first appearance.

Still needed

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 lists composition, meetings and contact only; no minutes, agendas or budget posted. Finance Department page posts no budget or audit.
The boardTippah County Board of Supervisors
Where the jail money is decidedNot found

Notes on the record

County site co.tippah.ms.us opened: home, sheriff, sheriff's office, board and finance pages read.
Sheriff page names Sheriff Karl Gaillard and says he serves as county jailor and submits his office budget to the Board of Supervisors, but no budget is posted.
No jail name, roster, capacity, bond, fees, PREA or any other jail material on the county site; the sheriff's office page shows only a building photo.
No separate sheriff website found; a Facebook page is linked from the county site (not scored).
What was tried: guessed https://www.tippahcountyms.gov/ refused before search.
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 Tippah 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