Project Jail Cell
A man sits alone in a jail cell at night, rain on the barred window. In another room a woman looks at a small phone, and a lighthouse beam crosses her rainy window.

Project Jail Cell, Inc.

What happens after an arrest.

Plain-language information about the first 24 hours after an arrest, so you do not have to wonder “What Happens Now?” We know the clock is ticking.

About the private beta

Email is not crisis help. We cannot look into an individual case, and we may not read a message for days. In an emergency call 911; for a mental health crisis call or text 988. For questions about a person in custody, use the official links below.

Read the full beta noticeShow less

What Happens Now is a testers-only beta in Alachua County. To open it you sign up (name, email, and who you are) and accept testing terms: it is a test, you will not rely on it for a real situation, and you release Project Jail Cell, Inc. from claims about your use of it as far as the law allows. Anyone 18 or older can sign up, so the form is not a secure or verified area, and the page is not run by or endorsed by the Sheriff’s Office or any agency.

The app explains the general first-24-hours process. It cannot tell you where a particular person is, when they will be released, or what will happen in their case.

Read the testing terms (opens in a new tab)

Official information

These are public pages run by their own organizations.

Open What Happens Now (opens in a new tab)
Read the mission

Someone just arrested in Gainesville or Alachua County? What Happens Now (opens in a new tab; a short sign-up form comes first) explains the general first-24-hours process: what first appearance means, how bond works, the public defender, phone calls, and commissary. It does not tell you where a particular person is, when they will be released, or what will happen in their case. It does not look up inmates and it does not replace the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office roster or VINE. Information, not legal advice.

what we’re building

our first project

What Happens Now

If someone you love was just arrested, What Happens Now explains the general first-24-hours process for families. It is available in English and Spanish. The app does not ask what happened, and each local fact shows how it was checked and when.

It is open to testers in Alachua County. Email to us is not crisis help or a way to look into an individual case.

We keep a tester’s name, email, role, and optional organization for up to 180 days, so we can write back. Each sign-up is also emailed to our inbox, and those email copies are not deleted automatically; we delete them, and the stored record, when a tester asks. We send one confirmation email through an email provider that keeps its own delivery records. Please do not put an arrested person’s name, a case number, or what happened in the form or in an email to us. A question typed into the assistant is sent to an AI service to write the answer. We do not save the question or link it to a person, but it is not private from that service, so do not type names, case numbers, or what happened.

What Happens Now is for Alachua County.

Open the testers-only beta (opens in a new tab)
Write for access

the unfinished hour

The first hours after an arrest should not be a guessing game.

When someone is arrested, their family often cannot find them, does not know what first appearance means, and does not know who to call. The person inside gets a recorded phone call, and what is said on it can be used in court.

A family looking for basic process information may have to search across official pages and commercial advertising during the first hours after an arrest.

The clock starts at the moment of arrest, and arrests do not wait for business hours. First-appearance time and courtroom can change, and changes are shown on the weekly calendars at www.circuit8.org. That is why the information has to be easy to find, quick to read, dated, and clear about its confirmation status.

Law enforcement agencies and community programs already work to give people information, and we appreciate it. VINE, jail rosters, and the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office inmate search and inmate-services pages exist, and we do not replace them. The gap is still real, and we are here to help close it the best way we know how: our founder heard the same questions for years, day and night, in patrol and booking. What Happens Now sits next to what agencies already offer. It is built for the first 24 hours, with no money from phone, commissary, or bond companies.

7.9 million

jail admissions, July 2023 to June 2024, United States

Bureau of Justice Statistics

69%

of the jail population was unconvicted at midyear 2024

Bureau of Justice Statistics

special legal pathways

Some arrests do not follow the usual timeline. These five have their own rules.

Read all five pathways

why a nonprofit, not a company

The first hours after an arrest are filled with questions, confusion, and uncertainty. A marketplace should not be what stands between a family and understanding what happens next.

A family should not have to become a customer just to understand the process. The information they need should be clear, sourced, and free, regardless of what they can afford or who may profit from the decisions that follow.

Project Jail Cell is a nonprofit so there is no business model built around that confusion. We do not sell referrals, take money from bail bond agents or jail phone and commissary vendors, or put essential information behind a paywall.

Funding supports the work behind the information: checking facts with the agencies that actually run the jail and courts, and keeping them current.

The information stays free to the people using it. The work stays independent.

No one should have to buy an answer just to understand “What Happens Now.”

the lines we don’t cross

We wrote these down, and we hold ourselves to them.

  1. 01

    We accept no money, sponsorship, referral compensation, or exclusive placement from bail-bond businesses, attorney-referral networks, or jail phone, video, tablet, commissary, or money-transfer vendors.

  2. 02

    We do not ask for an arrested person’s name, a case number, or case facts, and we do not store questions typed into the assistant or link them to a person.

  3. 03

    We never discuss the facts of anyone’s case.

  4. 04

    We say how each local fact was checked, and when.

  5. 05

    We never say an agency or partner endorses us without their written permission.

the founder

Our founder is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a former Florida law enforcement officer who served in patrol and booking.

The full mission

ways to help

Lend an hour of what you know.

Know the process, speak Spanish, or have been through an arrest? Telling us where our words lose you helps the next family.

Get involved

for agencies and jails

The same questions reach every jail. Answer them once.

Families and people in custody need clear local information after an arrest. What Happens Now is a resource public-safety partners can choose to share, without changing agency procedures or collecting case data.

For government partners

for funders

Funding helps us keep the facts true.

Funding would pay for checking facts, Spanish review, and an independent look at whether it works.

What funding would support