Small jails, mostly located in rural areas, do not have the ability to transfer problem inmates to special handling units, and they do not have specialized units for housing mentally ill, elderly, female, or juvenile inmates. Small jails have little control over police or sheriff's operations that influence the number of jail admissions, or over courts, whose case-processing efficiency and sentencing influence the custody length of pretrial and sentenced inmates. Rural small jails are typically the default means for handling failures in other economic, social, and health systems. Since there are few other options for handling individuals in crisis who engage in problem behaviors, they are brought to the jail. One of the most significant problems facing jail administrators who responded to the survey was jail overcrowding. Even when jail expansions are built, the new beds are quickly filled. Other challenges for small, rural jails are the hiring, training, and retention of staff. State funding for small jails would be a significant step in reducing some of the challenges identified in this study; however, this option is unlikely to occur, since few States want to absorb the costs or address the challenges of operating local jails. Some of the problems might be better addressed if regional jails were located in counties with larger populations with greater human and financial resources. The survey was conducted in January 2005 and obtained replies from 213 jails in 43 States, with overrepresentation from jails in the Midwest and South. 3 tables and 59 references