The Detention Center
Essex County Jail
- Operated byEssex County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address702 Stowersville Road, Lewis, NY 12950 (mail: P.O. Box 278, Elizabethtown, NY 12932)
- Jail established1799, per the Sheriff's corrections page
- Who is heldSentenced and unsentenced adults; sentences over one year are served in state prison
- VisitingPre-registration encouraged through an online scheduling system
- AccreditationThe page displays a 2022 jail accreditation certificate
- ProgramsHigh school education, substance abuse counselling, mental health and religious services
Source: Essex County Sheriff — Corrections · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗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 built1799, per the Sheriff's corrections page
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff David Reynolds
- Runs the jailYes — the Essex County Jail is under the Sheriff's Office
- How the office is filledElected county sheriff
- DivisionsCorrections, Patrol, Civil
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Essex County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-20
The Judges
New York's county and supreme court justices are state judicial officers, not county officials; city, town and village justices also set bail for people arrested in their areas.
Essex County Circuit Court
- Not found
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-20
The County Legislature or Board of Supervisors
They pay for the jail. In most counties the sheriff runs it.
- What they controlThe jail budget, the building itself, and the agreements that rent its beds to other agencies. Several counties also have an elected County Executive. In Westchester a county Department of Correction runs the jail rather than the sheriff.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations, and state oversight. The sheriff is separately elected and keeps the jail in most counties (NY Correction Law art. 20), while the State Commission of Correction sets the standards, inspects the facility and investigates every death in custody. The five New York City counties have no county sheriff jail at all — the city Department of Correction runs them.
- NoteBoard at 7551 Court Street, Elizabethtown.
- The boardEssex County Board of Supervisors →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- The supplied co.essex.ny.us address returned a 404; the county's own site is essexcountyny.gov and the Sheriff's pages sit at sheriff.essexcountyny.gov.
- The Sheriff's corrections page names the Essex County Jail at Lewis and describes who is held, visiting and programmes.
- The county's 2026 directory also lists the Public Safety Facility at 702 Stowersville Road, Lewis, and a County Jail number.
- The corrections page links out to commercial services for bail payment, care packages, deposits, messaging, phone and video visits, but publishes no rates and no written bail guidance, so the fees and bond_info checks stay 'no'.
- The Sheriff's reports page publishes annual reports, arrest and monthly statistics, a use-of-force policy and a HALT Act report, all hosted on a third-party document service rather than the county domain; no inspection report or death-in-custody record was found.
- The 2025 adopted budget on the county site carries 'A3110 SHERIFF' and 'A3150 COUNTY JAIL'.
- State inspection/oversight: New York's State Commission of Correction oversees every local correctional facility in the state, sets the minimum standards they must meet, inspects them, and investigates every death in custody.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Essex 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 who runs this jail is elected. So are the legislators who pay for it.
Names verified 2026-09-20 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered