The Main Detention Center is located at the Sheriff’s Headquarters Complex on Gun Club Road in West Palm Beach, Florida. It has an area of 835,000 square feet and is situated on a 52.8-acre parcel of land. The South Tower, one of three adjacent buildings, is a twelve-story high-rise linear structure constructed from concrete and steel in 1993 at a cost of $52 million. Originally constructed in 1983 with a bed capacity of 838, the six stories East and West Towers flank the South Tower to complete the Main Detention Center.

The total bed capacity of this correctional facility is 2,166. This number includes infirmary and special management bedding. The South Tower can house 1,285 inmates, the East Tower 418, and the West Tower 404. The inmate population is primarily comprised of pre-trial, un-sentenced adult males. Also housed in the Main Detention Center are adult females and juveniles.

The largest of the three Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office correctional facilities, the Main Detention Center has the greatest security capabilities and is used to house high-risk inmates, federal inmates, inmates who are in need of special medical and/or mental health care and also those inmates who cannot function at any other facility. The average inmate population for the Main Detention Center is 1769 inmates.