Mohave County

The Detention Center

Mohave County Jail, described in the Sheriff's strategic plan as the Mohave County Adult Detention Facility (MCADF)

• Operated byMohave County Sheriff's Office
• Jail addressMohave County Jail, 501 S. Highway 66, Kingman, AZ 86401. Phone 928-753-0759
• Size and shape of the building'Located in Kingman, the six level 242,000 square foot facility sits on 30+ acres. Initially occupied in December 2010, the MCADF is fully ADA compliant and contains detention housing areas, exercise yards, a medical unit, commercial kitchen, laundry facility, central plant, warehousing area, staff training rooms, inmate day rooms and an administrative office area'
• Who it holds'The Mohave County Adult Detention Facility (MCADF) serves as the detention center for all arrestees in Mohave County.' 'The facility houses both male, female and juvenile inmates. The housing areas include minimum and medium security as well as one high risk high security housing unit'
• Beds and population'The MCADF, originally designed with 688 beds, had an average daily population of 545 in fiscal year 2018, more than a 25% increase from the ADP for the first year of operation (FY2011) in the current facility.' Elsewhere the same document says the facility 'houses a maximum of 688 individuals and is currently averaging 520-550 daily'
• Room to grow'Additional housing units will be necessary and the facility currently has a shell that will accommodate two additional housing areas. With future expansion of this shell, our maximum housing level with grow to 842'
• A classification problem, in the county's words'This number can be deceptive as inmate classification determines appropriate housing assignments which at times results in open cells in one housing area and overcrowded conditions in another'
• People held a long time'The Mohave County Adult Detention Facility typically houses individuals who are either awaiting trial or have been sentenced to a year or less in the county facility. It should be noted that the facility currently houses many inmates who will be sentenced to state prison. Several of these inmates have been incarcerated in the facility for well over two years. This is a tremendous financial burden on the county'
• Court transport'The court transportation division of the jail services 10 Superior Court Judges and Commissioners and nine (9) Limited Jurisdiction Courts at the Justice and Municipal Court levels. This division also handles all fugitive matters as well as transportation of sentenced inmates to the Arizona Department of Corrections. Our facility is a vital component of the NW Shuttle network'
• Facility budget positions'The Facility budget includes 155 positions and is staffed with 114 Detention Officer Positions, 14 frontline supervisor positions, three administrators and 24 Office support and other staff'
• How to reach the jail'Hours of operations: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The public can call for inmate information or bond inmates out 24 hours a day - 7 days a week.' The phone tree is published: 'Visitation: press 1; Property and Programs: press 2; Warrants/Extradition/Holds: press 3; Classification/Work Release: press 4; Commissary: press 5; Medical/Kitchen/Facility: press 6; Charges/Bonds/Release: press 7; Administration: press 8'
• Visitation'Remote Inmate Visitation is offered 7 days per week. 0730 - 11:30 & 1300 - 1645 & 1800 - 2100. On-Site Inmate Visitation is available Monday - Friday 7:30 - 1500. Inmate visits, both on-site and remote, are recorded and monitored. Visits must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance by the visitor through NCIC Correctional Services'
• VendorsTelephones, tablets and visitation are all run through NCIC Correctional Services ('Phones / Tablets / Visitation - Only one account needed'), customer support (800) 943-2189. Inmate funds and commissary deposits go through TouchPay Holdings, LLC, facility locator 286401, telephone 1-866-232-1899, with a kiosk in the jail lobby. No price is published for any of it
• What was triedThe county's Sheriff, Jail, Jail Detention, Inmate Search, Visiting Rules, Mail Policy and Press Release pages; the Board of Supervisors and Board of Supervisors Meetings pages; Financial Services Budget Reports; the adopted FY2027 county budget forms (Schedules A to G); the MCSO 10 Year Strategic Plan 2019-2028; and the Mohave County courts site at mohavecourts.com. No death in custody, no PREA audit result, no independent inspection result, no contract rate for holding other agencies' prisoners and no telephone, video-visit or commissary price list was found

Source: Mohave County - Jail Detention · checked 2026-08-23

• ✓The jail is named
• ✗Who is in custody — not published
• ✓Beds and daily population
• ✓What it costs taxpayers
• ✗Deaths in custody — not published
• ✗PREA audits — not published
• ✗Independent inspection — not published
• ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
• ✗How to post bond — not published
• ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Mohave County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-08-23. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

• Year built2010. 'Initially occupied in December 2010', according to the Sheriff's 10 Year Strategic Plan. The plan also describes the previous arrangement as the 'first year of operation (FY2011) in the current facility'
• Original costNot found. The county describes the building in detail but does not publish what it cost or how the construction was financed
• Paid for byOperations are paid from the county general fund. Mohave County has no jail district. The adopted FY2027 budget carries Sheriff-Jail at $20,527,536, Adult Detention Centre Maintenance at $984,958, a Jail Commissary fund at $1,019,411, a capital Major Maintenance-Jail line at $2,001,381 and Capital Improvement-Jail Maintenance at $250,000
• Beds688 as designed, with a stated maximum of 688 individuals, and an average daily population of 545 in FY2018 and '520-550 daily' at the time of the strategic plan. The plan says a shell already built into the facility would take the maximum to 842 if fitted out

The Sheriff

Sheriff Doug Schuster

• Runs the jailYes. The Sheriff's Office publishes the Jail as one of its own divisions, with sub-pages for Jail Detention, Inmate Search, Visiting Rules and Mail Policy, and the county budget books the jail as 'Sheriff-Jail'. ARS 31-101 and ARS 11-441(A)(5) make the sheriff the jailer in every Arizona county
• How the office is filledElected. The county lists the Sheriff under Elected Officials alongside the Assessor, Clerk of Superior Court, Constables, County Attorney, Recorder, Superintendent of Schools and Treasurer. Arizona county sheriffs are elected countywide to four-year terms
• Main officeP.O. Box 1191, 600 W. Beale St., Kingman, Arizona 86402-1191. Main phone (928) 753-0753, fax (928) 753-0765, toll free (800) 522-4312
• SubstationsLake Havasu, 6534 Showplace Ave, Lake Havasu City 86404, (928) 453-0745; Beaver Dam, 700 N. Highway 91, Beaver Dam, AZ 86432, (928) 347-4900; Mohave Valley, 6870 S. Highway 95, Mohave Valley, AZ 86440, (928) 768-7055
• Mission'To enhance public safety and ensure a quality of life, safety, and welfare for the citizens of Mohave County... To maintain public trust through open, honest, and ethical behavior; exercising integrity in the use of power and authority'
• A published ten-year planSheriff Schuster presented a '10 Year Strategic Plan' for 2019-2028 to the Board of Supervisors Budget Workshop on 17 May 2019, and the county still publishes the 76-page document. It is the single richest source of jail facts the county has put on the record
• What the plan says about staffing'Currently the Mohave County Adult Detention Center has 133 general fund corrections positions'; 'Using defined industry averages, the Mohave County Adult Detention Facility should have 196 full time general fund correction positions'; 'This is 57% below recommended levels'. The plan adds the caveat: 'We recognize that, as a rural county with limited resources, we do not anticipate accomplishing the full ratios listed above'
• What the plan says about pay'Currently, the Mohave County Sheriff's Office offers the lowest starting salary of all local agencies included in the salary study'; 'The starting salary for a Mohave County Corrections Officer is 6% to 15.5% below the starting salary of a new hire officer with these competitive agencies'

Source: Mohave County - Sheriff · checked 2026-08-23

The Judges

Arizona Superior Court judges outside Maricopa and Pima Counties are elected countywide in nonpartisan elections to four-year terms; in Maricopa and Pima they are appointed by the Governor from a nominating commission's list and then stand for retention. Mohave County therefore elects its eight Superior Court judges, and Judge Steven C. Moss sits in Division 3 as Presiding Judge. Court commissioners and judges pro tem are appointed by the court, not elected, and one of them - Commissioner Billy K. Sipe - is assigned specifically to criminal and fugitive matters. Justices of the peace are elected to four-year terms in their precinct; Mohave has justice courts at Bullhead City, Kingman Cerbat (two judges), Lake Havasu and North Canyon. In Arizona it is normally the justice of the peace or a municipal magistrate who sets release conditions at the initial appearance, so the officer who holds the prisoner - the elected sheriff - and the judge who decides whether the prisoner stays answer to different electorates. All of these judges are state judicial officers, not county officials. The scale of the transport burden this creates is on the record in the Sheriff's own strategic plan: the jail's court transportation division serves ten Superior Court judges and commissioners and nine limited jurisdiction courts.

Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-08-23

The County Commissioners

They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.

• What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
• What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and answers to voters, not to the board.
• The boardBoard of County Commissioners →
• Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →