Carter County, Oklahoma — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Carter County Jail

Operated byCarter County Sheriff's Office
Name as the county writes it'Inmate Search – Carter County Jail' (inmate-search page heading); 'subject to a rejection notice from Carter County Jail' (inmate mail policy)
Sheriff's Office address100 South Washington, Ardmore, OK 73401
Phone(580) 223-6014
Visitation / phone vendorNCIC Inmate Communication Systems — account created on NCIC site, select 'Carter County Facility', select inmate, choose date and time
Attorney visitsScheduled with the jail administrator
Commissary vendorTiger Commissary — orders must be placed by Sunday 4:30 PM; distributed Wednesdays

Source: Carter County — official source · checked August 21, 2026

Transparency rating

2/10Closed

✓The jail is named
✓Who is in custody
✗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 Carter County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked August 21, 2026. 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 D.J. Long

NoteThe Sheriff's Office site writes 'Sheriff D.J. Long' as the page heading and 'Sheriff DJ Long' throughout the biography; the Oklahoma Sheriffs' Association writes 'DJ Long'.

Still needed

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

Source: Carter County Sheriff's Office · checked August 21, 2026

The Judges

Oklahoma elects its district judges in nonpartisan elections. District and associate district judges set bond and decide who waits in this jail.

District Court, Judicial District 20

Hon. Carson Brooks — District Judge, 20th Judicial District (Carter County Courthouse, 20 B. Street S.W., Suite 304, Ardmore) — (580) 223-3803
Hon. Ryan Hunnicutt — Associate District Judge, Carter County (20 B Street SW, Suite 203, Ardmore) — (580) 223-3803
Hon. Johnny Loard — Special Judge, Carter County (20 B. Street S.W., Suite 201, Ardmore) — (580) 223-3803
Hon. Wallace Coppedge — District Judge, 20th Judicial District (chambers: Marshall County Courthouse, PO Box 58, Madill, OK 73446, (580) 795-3392)

Carter County Courthouse, 20 B Street S.W., Ardmore, OK 73401

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 August 21, 2026

The County Commissioners

They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.

What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and answers to voters, not to the board.
The boardBoard of County Commissioners →
Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →

Notes on the record

WRONG DOMAIN WARNING: cartercountyok.org is NOT the county — it is a parked/lander domain that immediately redirects to '/lander'. The genuine county government site is cartercountyok.us and the genuine Sheriff's Office site is cartercountysheriff.us.
The Sheriff's Office site is served over plain HTTP rather than HTTPS.
BOND: the county publishes a registered-bondsmen list with paperwork rules but no bond amounts, no jail bond-posting hours and no accepted payment methods, so 'bond_info' is false.
VENDORS NAMED BUT NO RATES: NCIC (visitation and phone) and Tiger Commissary are identified, and commissary order/delivery days are given, but no call rate, video-visit price or commissary price list is published — so 'fees' is false.
DEAD DISCLOSURE SURFACES: the Sheriff's Office 'History' page and 'FAQs' page both render headings with no content.
NOT THE COUNTY JAIL: the City of Ardmore operates a separate municipal jail; do not conflate it with the Carter County Jail.
The county publishes commissioner agendas through the County Clerk's 'Agendas' page. A 'Past County Commissioners' page also exists. Board contact: commissioners@cartercountyok.us; administration office 25 A St. NW, Ardmore, OK 73401.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Carter 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 commissioners who pay for it.

The sheriff is on your ballot

The county election board runs the polling place in Carter County and prints the ballot the sheriff’s name is on. Links from the Oklahoma State Election Board and vote.gov.

Names verified August 21, 2026 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered