what is the head of a jail called
Prison warden The warden (US, Canada) or governor (UK, Australia), also known as a superintendent (US, South Asia) or director (UK, New Zealand), is the official who is in charge of a prison.
Sheriff The word sheriff is a contraction of the term "shire reeve". The term, from the Old English scÄ«rgerefa, designated a royal official responsible for keeping the peace (a "reeve") throughout a shire or county on behalf of the king.[2] The term was preserved in England notwithstanding the Norman Conquest. From the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the term spread to several other regions, at an early point to Scotland, latterly to Ireland and to the United States.