About Prison

The Bell County Detention Center in Pineville, Kentucky, is the local jail facility for Bell County, Kentucky.   It is run by jailer Gary Ferguson.  Like other local jail facilities, the Bell County Detention Center holds pretrial detainees, and may also hold detainees that have been convicted and sentenced to a term in a local jail rather than a prison facility.

Although the Bell County Detention Center does not have an extensive list of programming for inmates, it does offer AA Classes, GED Classes, NA Classes, and Sign Language Classes.  This level of programming is on-par with many other local detention facilities.

The Bell County Jailer, Gary Ferguson, has been in office since January 1, 2015.  He began his career as a police officer at the Pineville City Police Department, went on to work with the Bell County Sheriff’s Department, the Kentucky State Police, and the United States Marshal Service.  Trained an EMT and in riot control, Ferguson is a highly decorated office with experience in business management as well as law enforcement.

Bell County Detention Center Addresses

Physical Address

The address for the Bell County Detention Center is:

Bell County Detention Center
214 West Virginia Ave.
Pineville, KY

Inmate Mailing Address

The mailing address for the Bell County Detention Center is:

Inmate’s Full Name
Bell County Detention Center
214 West Virginia Ave.
Pineville, KY

The Bell County Detention Center does not have posted jail mail rules on its website and some jails are changing their mail rules in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, before sending mail you may want to contact the jail to make sure that the inmate can receive what you are sending.

General jail mail rules for detention facilities are that the mail should be written letters in blue or black ink on plain paper and a plain envelope.  Inmates may be permitted to have photos, but the size and number of photos may be limited.  All jail mail should include the sender’s full return address and name on the upper left-hand corner of the envelope.  Do not include any stickers, extra stamps, glue, makers, glitter, musical cards, or pop-up cards in the mail.

The Bell County Detention Center is one of the jail facilities that allows people to drop off property for inmates.  Property that inmates can receive includes: five white or gray t-shirts; five pairs of underwear; five pairs of socks; three pairs of white or gray thermal underwear; towels; and wash cloths.  Because it is winter, inmates can also have two pairs of white or gray jogging outfits.  These items can be dropped off from Monday through Sunday from 8:00am until 9:00pm.;

Inmates can also receive money for their commissary accounts.  This money can be dropped off at any time, so can inmate medication.  Medication must be prescribed to the inmate to be given to the inmate.

Almost all jail facilities allow inmates to receive publications as long as they are sent from an authorized retailer or publisher and they comply with jail rules.  Publications include newspapers, magazines, and books.  Prohibited content usually includes sexually explicit content, nudity, violence, or anything that could be used to plot an escape.  Books should be softcover and new.

Phone Number

The main phone number for the Bell County Detention Center is 606-337-5507.  The fax number is 606-337-6296.

Bell County Inmate Search

The Bell County Detention Center Inmate Roster contains list of all of the Bell County Inmates located at the Bell County Detention Center.  They are listed by date, with the most recent detainees listed first.  You can run a Bell County Inmate Search by clicking on the above link, which will take you to a list of all of the detainees in a list format, but you can also get additional information about each detainee by clicking on a view more button by their names.  The additional information includes a booking photo, the charges, the date of the charges, the arresting agency, bond amounts, and a physical description of the detainee that includes the detainee’s height, age, race, gender, hair color, eye color, and weight.

Bookings / Recent Arrests

The Bell County Detention Center Inmate Roster contains list of all of the people incarcerated in the Bell County Detention Center.  Because they are listed by date, you can easily see recent arrests or bookings just by looking at the inmate roster.

Mugshots

The Bell County Detention Center does not have a standalone mugshot database, but you can find booking photos on the Bell County Detention Center Inmate Roster. Once you see the list of inmates, you can click on a blue button for more information about that inmate.  That will pull up the inmate’s mugshot as well as identifying information about the inmate and a description of the charges against the inmate.

Bell County Jail Visitation

Visitation at the Bell County Detention Center is only on the weekends.  Visits are for 15 minutes each, but do not appear to be scheduled in advance.  There is no information about how many visitors an inmate is permitted in a day, how many people can attend a visit, or whether visitors will be allowed multiple 15-minute visits if there are spaces for visitation.  Visits are from 7:30am to 4:30pm.  Saturday is for visitors for female detainees.  Sunday is for visitors for male detainees.

The Bell County Detention Center does not provide any rules for visitors.  However, generally adult visitors to jails need to have photo identification, and minor visitors need to be accompanied by an adult.  Visitors are probably subject to a warrant or criminal history check, and if they have outstanding warrants may be subject to arrest.

If is a crime to try to take contraband into a jail facility.  Contraband includes any item that it is illegal to possess, such as illegal drugs.  It can also include items that are legal in other contexts, but not in jail, such as alcohol.  Visitors should not bring any weapons with them into the jail facility and should only bring any electronic devices that are specifically allowed by the jail rules.

Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, it is possible that the Bell County Detention Center will be changing its visitation rules.  We strongly urge people to contact the jail for any rules or restrictions that may impact visitation.

Inmate Phone Privileges

Inmates can only place outgoing collect phone calls or phone calls that are charged to an existing inmate account.  Generally, jails will not accept any incoming calls for inmates.  The Bell County Detention Center may choose to make an exception to this if there is a verifiable emergency. 

Inmate telephone services are provided through Securus Technologies.  You can contact them at 1-800-844-6591 to set up an account or phone line so that an inmate can call you and you pay for the charges for the call.  However, inmates can also make calls without an established account.  They are allowed to purchase phone cards through the Bell County Detention Center’s inmate commissary.  These cards allow them to make calls to people without the people receiving the call getting charged for it. 

Calls from jail may be recorded, with the exception of legal phone calls with counsel of record.  The information in those calls may be used to prosecute inmates and the other people on the phone.  Certain functions may be disabled during jail phone calls, such as call waiting, call forwarding, and three-way calling.  Using a system to connect an inmate with another phone number is prohibited.

Inmate Trust Accounts / Commissary

The Bell County Detention Center allows people to make deposits into inmate accounts.  The inmates can then use that money in the jail’s canteen/ commissary system.  Commissary is done on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  It starts at 6:00.  Therefore, you want to make sure and have deposits done the day before to let inmates use them for commissary purchases.

There are multiple ways to deposit money into an inmate’s account.  You can mail money to the jail in the form of a U.S. Postal Money Order.  Make sure and put the inmate’s name on the money order but make it payable to the Bell County Detention Center.  You can also bring money orders or cash to the jail, at any time.  Just be sure to get a receipt from the deputy who received the money.

In addition, while many jail facilities do not permit inmates to get property other than through their commissary systems, the Bell County Detention Center does.  Property drop-offs are Monday through Sunday, from 8:00am till 9:00pm.  Inmates can receive: 5 white or gray t-shirts, 5 pairs of underwear, 5 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of thermal underwear, 2 pairs of white or gray jogging outfits (only in the winter), wash clothes, and towels.

Bail Information

Usually, the Bell County Detention Center accepts bail for inmates.  It does not set bail.  Bail is set by the courts.  You can find out the amount of an inmate’s bail by using the inmate lookup tool.  The bail for charges will be listed underneath the charge, if bail has been set for that charge.  Bail for all charges must be paid or the inmate will not be released.  Bail can be paid in full and is refundable after trial, regardless of whether a defendant is found guilty or not guilty, as long as the defendant appears at trial and otherwise complies with any conditions of release.   However, if you cannot pay the bail in full you can hire a bail bondsman.  A bail bondsman charges a non-refundable fee, usually a percentage of the bail amount, to guarantee that the defendant will appear at trial.  If the defendant fails to appear, the bail bondsman then forfeits the amount of the cash bail, and there is usually some type of security agreement with the person who has arranged the bail that allows the bail bondsman to seize some type of asset to repay that forfeiture.     

The Bell County Detention Center’s website also has a link to a court roster that may have more information, including information on inmate arraignments.  However, as of the time this article was written, that link was not functional.

Conclusion

The Bell County Detention Center is the local jail run for Bell County, Kentucky.  Kentucky’s jail system differs from that of other states; local jails are not run by the sheriffs but by jailers.  The jailers are elected officials who are selected specifically to run the jails.  The Bell County Detention Center is located at 214 W. Virginia Ave, Pineville, KY.  Its main phone number is 606-337-5507.  Its main fax number is 606-337-6296.  Visitation is on weekends, with Saturday visitation for female inmates and Sunday visitation for male inmates.