Madison County Jail

The Madison County Jail is located in Huntsville, Alabama and is operated by the Madison County Sheriff's Department. This facility holds adult male and female inmates who have been arrested by local county or municipal law enforcement. This facility is the primary detention center for all law enforcement agencies in Madison County. 

Inmates are incarcerated for crimes ranging from a violation to misdemeanors to felonies. The Madison County Jail houses:

• Persons who have been charged with a crime and are awaiting trial
• Those who have been arrested on warrants
• Those who have been sentenced to the county jail for one year or less for a misdemeanor crime
• Those who've been placed on hold by Alabama Probation and Parole
• Inmates sentenced by municipal courts in the county
• People who have been placed in the jail "on hold" by other agencies, and
• Inmates who are waiting to be transferred to their assigned Alabama Department of Corrections facility

To check a current inmate roster, click here. 

Bonding someone out of the Madison County Jail

ALL bonds require a $35.00 bond-filing fee in the form of a money order. There are four methods in which bond can be posted for the release of an inmate from the Madison County Detention Facility:

• CASH BOND:
  • City of Huntsville: Misdemeanor bonds can be posted in person with the City of Huntsville magistrate 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week or by calling (256) 427-7817.
  • City of Madison: Misdemeanor bonds can be posted in person with the City of Madison Magistrate Monday – Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm, or by calling (256) 772-5617.
  • Madison County: Misdemeanor and felony bonds can be posted with the District Court Clerk's Office Monday – Friday 8:00am to 3:30pm on the 2nd floor of the Courthouse Room 200 or by calling (256) 532-3373. Bonds can also be paid on-line at www.alapay.com, www.cashbondonline.com, or by calling 1-888-726-6301.
• PROPERTY BOND: A property bond is based on the tax assessment of real property owned by anyone attempting to secure an inmate's release.
  • City of Huntsville: Property bonds can be posted with the City of Huntsville magistrate at any time, 24 hrs a day/7 days a week.
  • City of Madison: Property bonds can be posted with the City of Madison magistrate Monday – Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm, excluding holidays.
  • Madison County: Property bonds can be made at the Sheriff's Administrative Offices at 100 Northside Square Rm 206, Monday – Friday, 8:00am to 3:30pm, excluding holidays.
• PRETRIAL RELEASE: This type of release is approved by the Office of Alternative Sentencing and Release by calling (256) 533-8940 or by submitting a request to:

Office of Alternative Sentencing and Release
Pretrial Release Division – Justyn Hayes
715 Wheeler Ave Unit C
Huntsville, AL 35801

• PROFESSIONAL BONDING COMPANY: Release may be made through a private bonding company approved by the Sheriff's Department.

Property Bond Information

Property Bonds are no longer done at the Madison County Jail and instead must be taken care of at the Sheriff's Office, which is located in Room 206 of the Madison County Courthouse. This can only be done during regular business hours of 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday, except holidays. This process can take up to 7 business days to complete.

Two or more property owners are required on bonds that total over $3500.00. ALL property owners must sign the property bond, regardless of the bond amount. You must have enough equity in the property to cover the total bond amount, and you can use multiple properties within  Madison County if needed.

You will need to obtain the following items as documentation that you have enough property amounts and they are free from liens and encumbrances:

• A copy of the Deed of the Property will be required, which can be obtained on the 3rd Floor of the Madison County Courthouse, 
• A copy of your Tax Assessment Sheet for property owners in Madison County. This can be done at the Tax Assessor's Office.
• A copy of the Property Taxes Paid on your property from the Tax Collector's Office.
• A copy of your most recent Mortgage Balance Statements. If the property is paid off, they will need some sort of confirmation from the mortgage company.

Bring all the above information to the office to be reviewed and approved before further steps are taken.

Personal Property

All inmates booked into the Madison County Detention Facility will have all their personal effects inventoried and stored for 30 days. Any personal property held longer than 30 days will be disposed of and/or donated to a local charity. 

It is the inmate’s responsibility to contact someone who can pick up their personal property. Family members may pick up property of housed inmates at any time, 24/7, with a photo ID. The jail will not throw out wallets, keys, phones, jewelry, ID, legal documents, and purses. These items will be maintained in storage until the inmate's release.

Relatives of inmates who are being released from jail may bring clothing to the lobby for the inmate to change into.

Civilian clothing for inmates going to court (jury trial only) is accepted at the jail’s Central Control area Monday thru Friday, from 8:00am – 4:00pm. If you have any questions, please call 256-519-4800

Prison Insights

Visiting Hours and Rules

Inmates must be at the Madison County Jail for 30 days before visitation is allowed. All visits are subject to monitoring and/or recording. 

Visitation appointments can be made by calling (256) 519-4864 Monday - Friday from 8:00am - 10:30am and from 12:00pm - 3:00pm the week prior to the actual visit. Visitation appointments are on a first come, first serve basis. You must be on the inmate's visiting list.

Inmates are allowed a maximum of three different visitors per day. Once a visitor is on the list and given a visitation time, no changes can be made. Visitors must arrive 10-15 minutes prior to scheduled visitation time to be checked in. 

Main Facility Visitation:

• Housing 1 Units A - E Wednesdays   8:00am - 2:30pm
• Housing 2 Units F - K  Wednesdays  8:00am - 2:30pm

Tower Facility

• L-Floor  Mondays        8:00am - 2:30pm
• M-Floor Tuesdays        8:00am - 2:30pm
• N-Floor Thursdays       8:00am - 2:30pm
• P-Floor Mondays          8:00am -2:30pm

**There is no Visitation on Fridays.

The Madison County Sheriff's Detention Facility digitizes all incoming personal mail for all county inmates. All correspondence (letters, cards, photographs,etc.) are scanned into the commissary system and delivered to the inmates in digital form only. 

Inmates have access to their personal mail through the Kiosk inside the housing areas. After the mail is scanned and delivered to the inmates digitally, the Madison County Detention Facility retains all items of personal mail for a period of seven days.

All Inmates are given the opportunity to designate someone to respond to the jail and retrieve the original mail. All items of mail not retrieved during the seven-day time period will be discarded. 

Books and periodicals are delivered to the inmates provided they are shipped directly from the publisher.

ALL incoming and outgoing inmate mail is subject to search. All incoming and outgoing mail must be properly addressed or it will be returned to the sender. A valid return address is required on all incoming mail, if no return address is provided the incoming mail will be disposed of properly.

The mail rules at Madison County Jail are:

• Stickers and/labels are strictly prohibited
• No writings, doodling, or drawings are allowed on the envelopes except for proper addresses
• Holiday/Greeting/Birthday cards are accepted if the card does not contain any music/vocalizations or contain any device that utilizes any type of power source. Cards can not contain metal (including glitter), plastic, rope, or other hard material. Cards are not to be folded in any way that could hide contraband, or be larger than 9 X 12 inches.
• Any items available to order from the commissary (pens, paper, stamps, etc.) are not accepted through the mail.
• Pictures must be no larger than 4x6; mounted, framed, or Polaroid pictures are not allowed. No photographs exhibiting lewd, sexual, criminal behavior or gang related behavior or writings. Photographs displaying genitals or exposed breasts are not authorized. No photos of inmates in jail or prison. No photos of large sums of money or any other activity that may appear to be illegal. Photos of children must be fully clothed.
• Any type of currency, checks, drafts, money orders, phone cards, or any forms of barter are not authorized.
• No social security cards, driver's licenses, birth certificates, or any other forms of identification can be mailed to an inmate. These items will be destroyed.
• Anything that depicts or describes procedures for the construction of weapons, ammunition, bombs, chemical agents, or incendiary devices.
• Any mail that contains materials that threaten physical harm, blackmail, or extortion is prohibited.
• Any mail "stained" or "perfumed" will be returned to the sender or destroyed.
• Lipstick, lip gloss, crayon, marker, stickers, tape, corrective tape (white out), glitter pens, glue or paint are prohibited.
• Maps and laminated materials are prohibited.
• No bubble wrapped envelopes will be accepted.
• No personal packages are allowed.

Reading Materials

Inmates are allowed to keep the following reading materials in their possession:

• Three Books
• Three Magazines
• Five days of newspapers
• One Bible or Koran
• Five days – other news print material allowed

Reading materials must be received directly from a publisher or bookstore. Books, magazines, or newspapers received from any other source will not be delivered.

How to Call an Inmate

You can't call an inmate who is housed at the Madison County Jail, but they do have access to phones in their cell blocks. 

To create and fund an inmate's phone account, please visit NCIC Inmate Communication's website at: https://account.ncic.com or call 1-800-943-2189.

Electronic Messaging

How to Send Money

Friends and family can put money on an inmate's books by using the kiosk in the Lobby which accepts cash, debit, & credit cards or online at www.jailatm.com.  Money Orders are not accepted!

Commissary orders are processed on Tuesday morning at 5 am, and orders are delivered on Wednesdays. Funds must be placed on the inmate’s account by 5 pm on Monday in order to place a Wednesday Commissary order.

Programs For Inmates

• Adult Basic Education (ABE) / General Educational Development (GED)
• Substance Abuse Program (SAP)
• Narcotics Anonymous Meetings
• Alcohol Anonymous Meetings
• Anger Management
• Transition Skills
• Life Light (Juvenile Mentoring/Tutoring Program)

Programs at the Madison County Jail are available based on openings, classification, and disciplinary history. The program’s coordinator will interview an inmate before he or she can be placed in any program. Some programs have fees associated.

Jail Ministry / Church Services

 Religious services are offered by the Jail Ministry Program. Jail ministry visits are conducted:

• Thursdays, 7:30pm - 9pm
• Saturdays, 1pm - 3pm
• Sundays, 1pm - 3pm

Funeral Viewing

When possible, the Madison County Detention Facility allows inmates to attend a funeral viewing of family members. The following is an outline of who is eligible and who is restricted from attending viewing services:

• Funeral viewing is only for immediate family members—defined as mother, father, siblings, grandparents, and children of the inmate (natural or adopted).
• The viewing must be within Madison County, AL.
• The viewing will be without any family members or friends present. Should anyone be present, other than funeral home staff, the visitation will be terminated and the inmate will be returned to the facility.
• Viewing will last no longer than 20 minutes.
• The inmate cannot be charged with a violent crime or with the trafficking or manufacturing of narcotics.

Pictures of Madison County Jail

Careers at Madison County Jail

If you are interested in a career with the Sheriff's Department and would like more information about the job openings at the Madison County Jail, click here.