The Detention Center
Lemhi County Jail
- Operated byLemhi County Sheriff's Office
- Address206 Courthouse Dr., Salmon, ID 83467
- Capacity26 beds total; adult and juvenile facility, houses both males and females
- StaffingJail and Dispatch staff of approximately 16 full- and part-time officers; Debbie Bielby is Jail and Dispatch Commander
- Who it servesProvides jail and dispatch services to the Salmon Police Department and other local agencies
Source: Lemhi County, ID — Sheriff · 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
- Beds26
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff John Bennett
- Runs the jailYes — the Lemhi County Sheriff's Office runs the Lemhi County Jail (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: Lemhi County, ID — Sheriff · checked 2026-08-24
The Judges
Idaho has a District Court for the judicial district and a Magistrate Court. District judges are elected in district-wide nonpartisan elections; Magistrate judges are appointed by a district magistrates commission and then face a retention election. Both are state judicial officers, not county officials.
Seventh Judicial District — District Court
- Michael J. Whyte
Magistrate Court
- Andrew R. Woolf
- 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 Commissioner page: Rick Carlson (District 1), Kim Caywood (District 2), Lynn Bowerman (District 3) — https://www.lemhicountyidaho.org/243/Commissioner.
- Jail capacity (26 beds) and staffing are described in narrative text on the Sheriff page; no dedicated roster, budget, PREA, inspection, bond, or fee page was found on the county's site.
- Board of County Commissioners (three-member, elected by district)
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Lemhi 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