The Detention Center
Navajo County Adult Detention Center, also published as the Navajo County Jail and the Navajo County Detention Facility
- Operated byNavajo County Sheriff's Office, Detention division, under Deputy Chief Ernie Garcia as Chief of Custody. Funded through the Navajo County Jail District, a voter-created taxing district whose board of directors is the Board of Supervisors
- Jail addressNavajo County Governmental Complex, 100 East Code Talkers Drive, South Highway 77, Holbrook, AZ 86025; mailing address for prisoners is 'Inmates Name and ID Number, c/o Navajo County Jail, P.O. Box 668, Holbrook, Arizona 86025'. Detention Center phone 928-524-4316
- Who runs the detention divisionDeputy Chief Ernie Garcia. 'With over 35 years of dedicated service in law enforcement, Deputy Chief Garcia is a seasoned professional with deep expertise in Enforcement, Custody, and Program Services. A retired Arizona Department of Corrections Warden... For the past 12 years, Deputy Chief Garcia has served as Deputy Chief at the Navajo County Sheriff's Office, where he has overseen all aspects of jail operations as Chief of Custody.' He reports to the elected Sheriff, so he is recorded here rather than as an appointed jail administrator
- Beds438. The county's 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report publishes 'Inmate beds available' as a capital asset statistic and gives 438 for every one of the last ten fiscal years, 2016 through 2025, alongside 'Jail Facilities: 2'
- Who is in it todayThe county publishes a live 'Inmate Housing (18 and older)' list giving booking number, name, date of birth and housing location for every adult in custody. When read for this record it showed '1 - 25 of 205 items' across nine pages. The page carries the line 'All persons are innocent until proven guilty'
- Classification'Inmates housed in the Navajo County Detention Center are housed according to their classification. An inmate's classification is determined by their risk to the public, the risk to the facility, program needs, medical needs, and/or security needs'
- Mission'We, the employees of the Navajo County Sheriff's Office, commit to providing all individuals a safe environment using innovative techniques and resources while being sensitive to the needs of each community... We as professionals view our responsibilities as a covenant of public trust'
- Physical mail is abolished'Inmates will receive personal mail (letters, cards, and photos) electronically via TextBehind scanning services contracted with the jail. They will receive scans of their mail on an electronic tablet. After the service scans mail for electronic delivery, the physical mail will be destroyed. The jail does not accept physical incoming personal mail and will be returned to the sender.' Personal mail must be sent to a TextBehind address in Highland Heights, Kentucky
- Visitation, on site'On-site visits are conducted at the New Jail Visitation Building located on the north end of the facility... Each on-site visit is 30 minutes. On-site visitations are available from 8:15 am to 7:30 pm, 7 days a week'
- Visitation, remote, and its price'Visitors will be charged $15 for each 30 minute remote visit.' Remote visitation runs 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week and must be booked at least 24 hours ahead
- Electronic messages'The cost of the email service is $0.40 per message'
- Telephones'All phones are subjected to monitoring and recording. All outgoing calls either local or long distance from the day room phones must be collect or prepaid.' No per-minute or per-call rate is published
- Commissary'Commissary privileges are available once each week... There is a $100.00 limit on commissary purchases and a $100.00 limit on gift packages per week. Commissary will be ordered through the KIOSK.' A property box 'can be order under on-site items for $3.00'. Indigent prisoners with '$3.00 or less on your books' may order '$4.00 worth' of items. No item price list is published
- Jail fees the county does publishFrom the Inmate Manual: '$10.00 - Medical fee each time you see Health Provider for medical and/or psychiatric services'; '$10.00 - Medical fee for each medical and/or lab service provided'; '$5.00 - Initial medication and refills'; '$20.00 - OFF site medical visit non emergent'; '$7.50 - Replacement fee to replace inmate ID bracelet'; '$2.00 - Per day - Meal fee for breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals provided'; '$50.00 - Hospital Transport Fee for every time you are transported to the hospital via Ambulance'; '$1.50 - Copy service, per document copied'; '$7.50 - Notary service'. Working prisoners are exempt from the $2.00 meal fee on days they work
- Holding other agencies' prisonersThe county states plainly that it does so: 'The Sheriff's Office charges other government's public safety departments to hold persons in the County Jail. The County Jail saw a decrease in persons being held when the federal government paused federal grants and loans in January 2025.' The budget carries an 'Inmate jail meals' revenue line of $53,900. No agreement and no per-day rate is published
- VendorsMoney is deposited through jailatm.com and inmatesales.com; personal mail is scanned by TextBehind; commissary is ordered on an in-pod kiosk and prisoners are issued mini tablets
- What was triedThe county's Sheriff, About the Sheriff's Office, Detention, Detention Center Mission Statement, Inmate Housing Report, Inmate Information, Visitation, Bail Bond Information and Community Service pages; the 18-page Inmate Manual; the Superior Court, Justice Court and all six justice precinct pages; the Board of Supervisors page; the Finance and Budgets pages and the Archive Center; the adopted FY2027 budget Schedules A to G; and the 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. No year of construction, no construction cost, no death in custody, no PREA audit result, no independent inspection result and no telephone rate was found
Source: Navajo County - Detention · checked 2026-08-23
Transparency rating
5/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓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
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found. The county publishes the facility's rules, its population and its bed count but not the year it was built. Its Visitation page refers to a 'New Jail Visitation Building located on the north end of the facility', and the ACFR records two jail facilities, but no construction date is given for either
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byThe Navajo County Jail District, created by voter approval in August 2019 and levying a separate excise tax, pays for jail operations. The district recognised $7.1 million of excise sales tax in FY2025 and the adopted FY2027 budget estimates $7,140,000, with a further $1.5 million maintenance-of-effort transfer from the General Fund and $543 thousand from the Sheriff's Office Fund in FY2025. The county states the district was created specifically to offset property tax losses from power plant closures. Intergovernmental revenue from holding other governments' prisoners is described as being 'typically used to pay for capital outlay expenditures'
- Beds438. Published in the 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report as 'Inmate beds available', unchanged across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, together with 'Jail Facilities: 2'. The live Inmate Housing Report showed 205 adults in custody when read for this record
Since then
- Not found. The bed count has been flat at 438 for the whole ten-year series the county publishes
The Sheriff
Sheriff David Clouse
- Runs the jailYes. The county lists 'Adult Detention (Jail)' as one of the Sheriff's Office units, and the Sheriff's Detention division runs the Navajo County Adult Detention Center. ARS 31-101 and ARS 11-441(A)(5) make the sheriff the jailer in every Arizona county
- How the office is filledElected. 'Sheriff David Clouse was sworn in as the 18th Sheriff of Navajo County on February 12, 2019.' Arizona county sheriffs are elected countywide to four-year terms
- Career'Sheriff Clouse has been with the Navajo County Sheriff's Office for 10 years... started his career with NCSO as a patrol Deputy later promoted up the ranks to Sheriff. He began his career working in Heber and has since worked in every community NCSO covers. He was named Deputy of the Year in 2011 and Supervisor of the year in 2016.' He was appointed Deputy Chief in 2018, in command of Patrol, Dispatch, Training, Criminal Investigations, Property and Evidence and the Civil Division
- Education'Sheriff Clouse attended and graduated from Northern Arizona University with a bachelor's degree in Emergency Management. He is currently attending Arizona State University and working on graduate courses'
- A family office'Sheriff Clouse is the grandson of former Sheriff, Glen L. Flake who served as Sheriff of Navajo County for 12 years and in law enforcement for a total of 29 years within Navajo County. David's great-grandfather, S Eugene Flake was also a Deputy for Navajo County in the 1930s and 40's'
- Units'Patrol, Communications, Criminal Investigations, Evidence, Administration, Adult Detention (Jail), Training, and Search and Rescue', plus the Sheriff's Auxiliary Volunteers
- Office137 West Arizona Street, Holbrook, AZ 86025; mailing address P.O. Box 668, Holbrook, AZ 86025. Phone (928) 524-4050. The Detention Center's own number is 928-524-4316
- Staffing on the booksThe adopted FY2027 budget funds 71.50 full-time equivalents in the Navajo County Jail District fund at $3,848,193 in salaries and $5,320,271 in total personnel cost, plus 3.00 FTE in Jail Operations and 83.71 FTE in the Sheriff's fund
Still needed
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Navajo County - About the Sheriff's Office · 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. Navajo County therefore elects its four Superior Court judges, and the county says so in its own words - 'four elected Superior Court Judges and one part-time Family Commissioner'. Justices of the peace are elected to four-year terms in their precinct, and the county's Justice Court page states 'There are six Justice Courts located in Navajo County, which are presided over by an elected Justice of the Peace.' Two of the six sitting justices reached the bench by appointment to fill a vacancy rather than by election in the first instance - Judge Wilkinson in 2020 on Judge Marez's retirement, and Judge Nelson in 2007, appointed by the Board of Supervisors when Judge Bradley retired. That is the one point at which the county's own governing body touches the selection of a judge, and it is worth recording because it is the exception rather than the rule. 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.
Navajo County Superior Court - Presiding Judge
- Michala M. Ruechel, Division IV. The county's Superior Court page opens 'Presiding Judge Michala M. Ruechel welcomes you to the Navajo County Superior Court website' and the Arizona Supreme Court's Presiding Judges list names 'Judge Michala M. Ruechel, Navajo County'
Navajo County Superior Court - other divisions
- Joseph Clark - Division I
- Melinda K. Hardy - Division II
- Jon Saline - Division III
- Michael Penrod - Family Law Commissioner / Pro Tempore Judge
- The county states: 'The Navajo County Superior Court currently has four elected Superior Court Judges and one part-time Family Commissioner.' Four divisions sit at the Navajo County Complex in Holbrook and the court has also 'expanded some services to the Southern portion of Navajo County by establishing a Superior Court in Show Low'
Justice Courts - six precincts
- B.J. Little - Winslow, Precinct II. 'In November 2014, B.J. was honored to be elected as Navajo County Justice of the Peace, Precinct Two.' 'Judge Little currently serves as Presiding Justice of the Peace for Navajo County'
- Krista R. Wilkinson - Holbrook, Precinct I. 'Krista R. Wilkinson was appointed in 2020 to serve as interim Justice of the Peace upon the retirement of elected Judge Evelyn Marez.' She joined the county as a justice court clerk in 2004
- Hunter Lewis - Snowflake, Precinct III. 'Hunter Lewis was elected as Justice of the Peace for Precinct III in 2022. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Lewis was a deputy county attorney for Navajo County'
- Susie Nelson - Kayenta, Precinct IV. 'Judge Nelson was appointed to the bench in 2007, by the Navajo County Board of Supervisors, when the former Judge Evelyne E Bradley retired.' The court 'is located on the Navajo reservation, gateway to the beautiful Monument Valley'
- Scott Tipton - Show Low, Precinct V. 'Scott Tipton ran for the office of Show Low Justice Court Constable in 2010 and served in that position for 12 years until he was elected as Justice of the Peace in the Show Low Justice Court in 2022'
- David Widmaier - Pinetop-Lakeside, Precinct VI. 'Elected in 2000, Judge Widmaier is currently serving his fifth term as Justice of the Peace.' He is 'a former Presiding LJ Judge of Navajo County, past President of the Arizona Justice of the Peace Association for five years'
Still needed
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
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 →
Notes on the record
- Navajo County is the most transparent jail in this group on every measure that can be checked from outside. It publishes a live custody list, a ten-year bed count, a full budget for a jail district it created by referendum, and a written price for a video visit - four things most of its neighbours do not.
- roster is marked yes and the disclosure is unusually complete. The Inmate Housing Report page embeds a live grid at apps0401.navajocountyaz.gov/inmate-grid giving booking number, name, date of birth and exact housing location - down to cell numbers such as 'K-102', 'Booking Cell 1' and 'ANNEX C-3' - for every adult in custody. It is paginated and showed 205 people when read. The county heads it 'All persons are innocent until proven guilty'.
- capacity is marked yes on the strength of the county's own audited financial report rather than any page on the Sheriff's site. The ACFR's capital asset statistics table publishes 'Inmate beds available: 438' for ten consecutive fiscal years and 'Jail Facilities: 2'. Read against the live roster, that puts both halves of the question - beds and current population - on the public record.
- fees is marked yes, and the reason is a specific published price rather than a vendor's name. The Visitation page states 'Visitors will be charged $15 for each 30 minute remote visit' and 'The cost of the email service is $0.40 per message'. The Inmate Manual adds a full schedule of jail fees, including a $2.00 per day meal fee and $10.00 medical fees. What is still missing is the telephone rate - outgoing calls are described only as 'collect or prepaid' - and a commissary price list; the manual gives spending limits ($100 a week) and an indigent allowance ($4.00) but no item prices.
- bond_info is marked no, and this needs saying carefully because the county has a page that looks like it should pass. The Bail Bond Information page contains only a link to a list of bail bond companies, with the disclaimer 'This list is provided as a Courtesy of NCSO. It does not rotate for updates or make changes.' A list of commercial bondsmen is not guidance on how bail is set, what forms of security the jail accepts, or what a family member must actually do to get someone out, so the check fails.
- contracts is marked no, but the county states the practice openly in its financial report: 'The Sheriff's Office charges other government's public safety departments to hold persons in the County Jail.' It even explains a revenue fall - 'The County Jail saw a decrease in persons being held when the federal government paused federal grants and loans in January 2025' - and notes that this money is 'typically used to pay for capital outlay expenditures'. Neither the agreements nor the per-day rates are published, so the check fails.
- deaths, prea and inspections are marked no. Nothing was found on the county's pages recording a death in custody, a PREA audit result or an independent inspection result.
- The county has abolished physical personal mail to prisoners. Letters, cards and photographs must be sent to a contractor, TextBehind, in Highland Heights, Kentucky, are scanned for delivery to a tablet, and 'the physical mail will be destroyed'. This is recorded because it changes what a family has to do and what the jail holds, not as a judgement about it.
- Board of Supervisors, five members, each representing one of five districts 'divided geographically and by population'. Daryl Seymore is District IV Chairman, Dawnafe Whitesinger is District V Vice Chair, and Fern Benally (District I), Alberto L. Peshlakai (District II) and Jason E. Whiting (District III) are Supervisors. Leah Thomas is Clerk of the Board. Navajo County has a Jail District, and the county's own accounts explain both why it exists and who controls it. The 2025 ACFR describes it as 'A tax-levying district that provides and maintains the County jail operations; the County's Board of Supervisors serves as the board of directors and County management has operational responsibility for the component unit.' Its origin is stated as plainly: facing power plant closures and 'an approximately $750,000 reduction in property tax collections beginning in fiscal year 2027', the county 'proposed and secured voter approval in August 2019 for the formation of a Jail District in the County. The newly formed Jail District levies an additional separate excise tax in support of public safety expenses, which reduces the amount of General Fund monies budgeted towards those expenses.' In FY2025 the fund 'recognized $7.1 million of excise sales tax and received transfers of $1.5 million of maintenance of effort funding from the General Fund and $543 thousand from the Sheriff's Office Fund'. The adopted FY2027 budget estimates jail district sales tax at $7,140,000 and budgets the Navajo County Jail District at $11,452,776 with 71.50 FTE, plus a Jail Enhancement fund of $191,800 and Juvenile Detention separately at $1,596,723. Under ARS Title 48, Chapter 25 an Arizona county jail district is a taxing and financing body, not an operator; the jail itself is run by the Sheriff.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Navajo County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
The sheriff who runs this jail is elected. So are the commissioners who pay for it.
The sheriff is on your ballot
The county recorder runs the election in Navajo County and prints the ballot the sheriff’s name is on. Links from USA.gov and vote.gov.
Names verified 2026-08-23 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered