Pickens County Detention Center (Carrollton, Alabama)

The Pickens County Detention Center in Carrollton, Alabama is the county jail operated by the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office and owned by the Pickens County Commission, according to ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight. ICE’s May 2026 inspection report describes it as holding ICE detainees “for periods less than 72 hours,” and ICE’s fiscal year 2026 detention statistics show an average stay of only a few days. Those statistics list it as holding ICE detainees, but ICE has no facility page for it on ice.gov, so the details below come from the Sheriff’s Office website and ICE’s published contracts and inspection reports.

For families, three rules on the Sheriff’s pages stand out: mail is postcards only, inmates cannot receive incoming calls, and visitors cannot have ever been incarcerated in a prison or detention facility.

Facility quick reference

How to find someone held here

1. Search ICE first. Use the ICE Online Detainee Locator System at locator.ice.gov, with the person’s A-number and country of birth, or their full name, country of birth and date of birth. Because ICE holds people here for short periods, the location the locator shows can change quickly.
2. The Sheriff’s roster. The Sheriff’s inmate roster page links to a list of current inmates at the Pickens County Detention Center and a list of everyone released in the last 48 hours. The roster page does not say whether people held for ICE appear in it, and its disclaimer says the Detention Center “can not certify the accuracy and/or authenticity of any information” on it.
3. Calling the jail. The Sheriff’s number is (205) 367-2000, answered 24 hours. The Sheriff’s telephone page says jail employees “are not permitted to deliver personal messages to inmates.”

For ICE contact channels in this area, see the New Orleans Field Office hub, which carries the field-office directory contact.

Visiting

The rules below are the Sheriff’s general visiting rules for the Pickens County Detention Facility; the Sheriff’s pages publish no separate rules for people held for ICE.

• Appointment required. Book at least 24 hours in advance at 205-367-2006 (Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.). The Sheriff’s page says: “If you have not made an appointment there is no visit.”
• You must be on the list. Each inmate has a visitation list of 3 family members and 1 minister, and only 2 family members may visit per session. The Sheriff’s page says visitors cannot add themselves; if the inmate has refused to make a list, you have to wait until they add your name.
• When: Monday–Friday (except holidays and court days), 9 a.m.–11 a.m. and 1 p.m.–3 p.m., at 188 Cemetery Street, Carrollton.
• How often: each inmate is allowed 2 visits per month, 30 minutes each. One-hour non-contact visits may be approved for visitors coming from more than 300 miles away.
• No physical contact between the inmate and the visitor is permitted.
• Background check and ID. The Sheriff’s Office runs background checks on all visitors, and visitors must give their Social Security Number to the Detention Center before visiting. Visitors 18 or older need a valid state or federal ID card or driver’s license with photograph and a current address, and must sign the visitor’s log.
• Former inmates barred. The visitation page states: “Visitors cannot have ever been incarcerated in a prison or detention facility before.”
• Bring nothing in. Purses, bags, phones, recording devices, keys, writing instruments and weapons are prohibited and must stay in your vehicle (keys may be left with the front-office secretaries). No food or drinks, no tobacco, and no packages, mail or photographs may be left for an inmate.
• Dress code: no revealing or see-through clothing; no sleeves shorter than halfway down the upper arm; no halter tops, swimwear or sleepwear; no spandex or tights without shorts or a skirt; nothing above mid-thigh; no clothing with obscene or offensive language, drawings or gang affiliations; undergarments required.
• Children 15 and younger should not be left unattended. An inmate can refuse to see a visitor.

As of September 26, 2026, the Sheriff’s visitation page mentions no video visits and names no video-visit company.

Money, phone calls and mail

Commissary deposits. As of September 26, 2026, we found no instructions on the Sheriff’s jail, visitation, telephone or home pages for putting money on an inmate’s trust or commissary account. ICE’s May 2026 inspection report names Kimble’s Corrections as the jail’s commissary provider. For how deposits for people in ICE custody work in general, see how to send money to someone in ICE detention.

Phone calls (from the Sheriff’s telephone page):

• After booking, a person gets one opportunity to make a collect call to arrange a lawyer or bond or to tell family, if the family accepts the charges.
• Inmates have three days after booking to give the phone numbers they want to call; the numbers can be changed every 3 months.
• Calls are limited to 15 minutes, dayroom phones can be used from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., all calls are recorded, and 3-way calls are not allowed.
• Inmates cannot receive incoming calls.
• The page says collect-call rates are set by the state’s Public Service Commission and the jail has no influence over them.
• To block calls from the jail, contact your phone carrier or send a written request to the Jail Administrator.

Securus prepaid accounts. The jail’s phone provider is Securus Technologies: set up an account at 1-800-844-6591 or www.securustech.net. The Sheriff’s page describes three options:

• AdvanceConnect — a prepaid account owned by the family, which must be funded before calls can be received;
• Direct Bill — calls billed to you monthly by Securus Correctional Billing Services; the page suggests it for attorneys, bail bondsmen, consulates and social workers, among others;
• Inmate Debit — the inmate’s own calling account. Family and friends “have the option to deposit funds directly into an Inmate Debit account without having to set up their own account.”

Phone cards of $10.00 and $20.00 are sold by a machine in the Sheriff’s Office lobby; the machine does not give change.

Mail: postcards only. The Sheriff’s jail page says: “Inmates in the Pickens County Detention Center will no longer be able to receive regular letters and envelopes, they may receive pre-stamped post cards only.” The page gives P O Box 226, Carrollton, Alabama 35447 as the jail’s mailing address but does not set out how to address a postcard to an inmate (checked September 26, 2026), so confirm the format at (205) 367-2000 before mailing.

Lawyers and immigration court

The Sheriff’s visitation page says: “Attorneys can visit without an appointment. Same time regulation applies.” Attorneys can use the jail side of visitation if they indicate the need, and the prohibited-items rule “also applies to professional visitors.” For phone contact, the Sheriff’s telephone page suggests a Securus Direct Bill account for attorneys and consulates.

We found no EOIR page naming this jail, so we cannot say which immigration court hears the cases of people held here; the court depends on the case. For courts and procedures, see immigration courts in Alabama; for nonprofit legal help, see BIA-recognized legal-aid organizations in Alabama.

Oversight and inspections

ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight (ODO) inspections page lists three Pickens County Detention Center inspections: November 28–30, 2023; August 6–8, 2024; and April 21–May 21, 2026.

ODO inspection 2026-006-110, April 21–May 21, 2026 (report, ERO New Orleans). The inspection included one day on site, May 19, 2026, and reviewed 10 standards under National Detention Standards 2019. The report’s findings section states: “ODO found no deficiencies during this inspection,” and its results table shows 0 deficient standards, 0 deficiencies and a facility rating of Superior. Its conclusion paragraph, however, says ODO found the facility in compliance with 9 standards and “one deficiency in the remaining standard”; the report does not identify any such deficiency. ODO attempted to interview eight detainees: four agreed and four declined. None of the four made allegations of discrimination, mistreatment or abuse, and all reported satisfaction with facility services. The report’s ICE bed-capacity and population figures are blank in the published copy.

The previous inspection (fiscal year 2024, August 2024) found 29 deficiencies in 13 standards, rated Acceptable/Adequate, according to the 2026 report: Custody Classification System (3); Detention Files (1); Facility Security and Control (8); Food Service (2); Funds and Personal Property (5); Grievance System (1); Hunger Strikes (1); Post Orders (3); Searches of Detainees (1); Sexual Abuse and Assault Prevention and Intervention (1); Telephone Access (1); Use of Force and Restraints (1); and Visitation (1). ODO says it received the jail’s completed corrective action plan for that inspection.

Earlier inspection: November 28–30, 2023. ODO’s compliance inspection 2024-001-244 (report, ERO New Orleans) assessed the jail against 25 standards under National Detention Standards 2019. Among its findings:

• Property on release or transfer. ODO found “No written procedures for returning funds, valuables, and personal property to a detainee being transferred or released,” and called it a priority component.

• Menus. ODO found that a registered dietitian had not run a nutritional analysis of the master-cycle menu and that a dietitian had not certified the menus; the report calls each a priority component.

• Phones for deaf and disabled detainees. The jail did not keep an operable teletypewriter, telecommunications device for the deaf, or other captioned telephone for disabled detainees.

• Grievances. The grievance section of the detainee handbook did not state that staff cannot harass, discipline, punish or otherwise retaliate against a detainee for filing a grievance.

• Detention files. ODO reviewed 11 detention files and found no classification level in 7 of them.

• Use-of-force cameras. The jail had no handheld cameras for use-of-force incidents; because there were no such incidents in the review period, ODO recorded this as an Area of Concern.

• In its November 28–30, 2023 report, ODO found no comprehensive staffing analysis and staffing plan to determine and meet detainee supervision needs. ODO report.

• In the November 2023 report, ODO found that the facility did not maintain a separate log for legal visitors. ODO report.

• In the November 2023 report, ODO found that the detainee handbook lacked rules and procedures for counts and contraband. ODO report.

Contractors and accreditation. Per the 2026 report, Comprehensive Correctional Care provides medical care, Performance Food provides food service, Kimble’s Corrections provides commissary, and “the facility does not hold any accreditations from any outside entities.”

Sexual-abuse reporting. The Sheriff’s PREA page says that when a staff member, contractor or volunteer is alleged to have sexually abused a detainee, Pickens County Detention will promptly report it to the Joint Intake Center, the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility or the DHS Office of Inspector General, and to the appropriate ICE Field Office Director.

As of September 26, 2026, we found no entry naming this jail on ICE’s detainee death reporting page and no DHS Office of Inspector General report naming it.

Short ICE stays since 2020

• Since 2020. ICE’s May 2026 report says ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations began housing detainees here in 2020 under ERO New Orleans, that it is a non-dedicated ICE detention facility, and that ICE deportation officers are not assigned full-time but “conduct visits as needed.”
• Under 72 hours. The same report says the facility “holds male and female detainees with low, medium-low, medium-high, and high security classification levels for periods less than 72 hours.” ICE’s own fiscal year 2026 statistics (box above) show an average stay of a few days, longer than the 72-hour figure in the inspection report.
• The current agreement. ICE’s detention-contracts library lists “70CDCR25DIG000022 BASE Pickens County IGSA – Carrolton, AL” (listing, updated July 25, 2025). The published contract establishes a new IGSA between ICE and Pickens County Detention Center with a period of performance of June 30, 2025 to June 29, 2030, and marks its detention bed-day line “UNDER 72 HOUR.” An earlier agreement, 70CDCR20DIG000003, appears in the same library (modification P00003, listing updated March 20, 2024).
• 287(g) is a separate program. ICE’s 287(g) participating-agencies list (downloaded September 26, 2026) shows the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office on the Task Force Model, signed August 13, 2026, with its agreement link marked pending. Two other Pickens County agencies appear on the same model: the Reform Police Department (June 29, 2026) and the Gordo Police Department (July 9, 2026). The 287(g) list is not the agreement under which the jail houses ICE detainees.

287(g) agreements in Pickens County

This facility is in Pickens County, Alabama (per the U.S. Census Bureau geocoder for the address ICE publishes). ICE's 287(g) participating-agencies workbook, dated October 9, 2026, records 3 agreements with agencies in that county:

Source: ICE, 287(g) program (participating-agencies workbook). A 287(g) agreement is between ICE and the law-enforcement agency; on its own it says nothing about this facility. What each model means · all agreements by state.

Related resources

• Know your rights
• How to send money to someone in ICE detention
• Immigration courts in Alabama
• BIA-recognized legal-aid organizations in Alabama
• Other ICE detention facilities in Alabama
• All facilities under the New Orleans Field Office
• ICE detention movement data
• All ICE detention facilities

General information, not legal advice. Visiting, phone and mail rules are set by the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office and its vendors and can change at any time; details above were checked against the Sheriff’s own pages and ICE’s published documents on September 26, 2026. Confirm current instructions with the jail before you travel or send money. For a specific case, contact a licensed immigration attorney or a BIA-accredited representative.