The Detention Center
Gem County Jail
- Operated byGem County Sheriff's Office
- Address410 East First Street, Emmett, ID 83617
- Also referred to asGem County Detention Center (on the county's PREA information page)
- PREAThe county publishes PREA policies, reporting procedures, and a reference to an annual Aggregated Sexual Abuse Data Report and a 2018 Corrective Action Progress Report, but no independently audited results
- NoteThe PREA page lists 'Sheriff Rolland' and 'Jail Administrator, Commander Rolland' as contacts, which conflicts with the current Sheriff's Office page listing Donnie Wunder as Sheriff — the PREA page appears to be out of date
- What was triedChecked the Sheriff's Office, Jail PREA Information, and Jail Service Information pages — no capacity, roster, or budget figures were found
Source: Gem County Sheriff's Office — Jail Service Information · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
1/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗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
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Donnie Wunder
- Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Office operates the Gem County Jail / Detention Center (Idaho Code Title 20, Chapter 6)
- How the office is filledElected
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Gem County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-08-24
The Judges
Idaho has a District Court for the judicial district and a Magistrate Court. Magistrate judges are appointed by a district magistrates commission and then face a retention election; both are state judicial officers, not county officials. Gem County is part of Idaho's Third Judicial District.
Third Judicial District — District Court
- Brent Whiting
Magistrate Court
- Tyler D. Smith
- John Meienhofer
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-08-24
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
- Commissioners identified from the county's Commissioners page: Kirk Wille (District 1, Chairman), Earl DeFur (District 2), Mark Rekow (District 3) (https://gemcounty.org/government/county_commissioners/index.php).
- PREA policies and complaint procedures are published, but not what the brief defines as independently audited 'results,' so the prea check is marked no.
- Board of County Commissioners
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Gem 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.
Names verified 2026-08-24 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered