The Detention Center
Not found
- Operated byYalobusha County Sheriff
- Published nameThe county site does not name or describe the county jail
Source: Yalobusha 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
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 Jerimaine Gooch
- Runs the jailYes — Mississippi law makes the sheriff the county jailer (Miss. Code § 19-25-71); the county's sheriff page does not describe the jail
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Office address11803 Hwy 32, Water Valley, MS 38965; 662-473-2722
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Yalobusha 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 Yalobusha County
- Circuit Court: Mississippi's Seventeenth Circuit Court District, which also serves Panola, Tallahatchie and Tate. Circuit judges are elected district-wide to four-year terms and hear felony cases.
- Justice Court: Yalobusha 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 minutes, agendas or budget posted; the page says to contact the Chancery Clerk to be placed on the agenda.
- The boardYalobusha County Board of Supervisors →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Examined: county site yalobushaonline.org Sheriff page (with its link list), Board of Supervisors page, Finance Department page, Chancery Clerk page, Economic Development law-enforcement page.
- Sheriff Jerimaine Gooch is named on the county's sheriff page. The county's Economic Development 'Law Enforcement' page still names a former sheriff — an out-of-date page on the county's own site.
- No jail, inmate roster, bond, visitation, fee or budget material on the county site; no board minutes posted.
- What was tried: yalobushaonline.org home page refused until reached through a search result.
- Facebook pages, if any, are not counted as the county publishing.
- 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 Yalobusha 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