The Detention Center
Owyhee County Jail
- Operated byOwyhee County Sheriff's Office
- Address20381 State Highway 78, Murphy, ID 83650
- Beds40 bunks
- BuiltCurrent jail built in Murphy in 1992 (an earlier jail was in Silver City, then Murphy, before the courthouse and jail relocated)
- Contract revenueBecause Owyhee County does not fill all 40 bunks, beds are rented to other counties and the State of Idaho; this brought over $284,000 into the county general fund in 2019, per the county's site
- Daily fee$25/day for Owyhee County charges for Owyhee County residents, with a $500 limit
- 2019 activity540 people arrested and incarcerated for 11,857 prisoner-days in 2019, per the county's jail history page
Source: Owyhee County Idaho – Jail · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
5/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗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
- ✗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 built1992 (current facility in Murphy)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds40 bunks
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Larry Kendrick
- Runs the jailYes — "Idaho Law gives the County Commissioners the authority to operate a jail. The commissioners give the authority to run the jail to the Sheriff."
- Office address20381 State Highway 78, Murphy, ID 83650
- Chief DeputySteve Crawford
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Owyhee County Idaho – Sheriff · 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, then face a retention election. Owyhee County's own courts page references the Third Judicial District's Court Assistance Office (www.thirdjudicialcourt.idaho.gov) but does not name a sitting judge for Owyhee County.
Magistrate Court / District Court
- Not found — only court clerks are named on the county's own site (Jamie Eubanks, Lena Johnson, Brittany Gonzalez, Pamela Redmon)
- 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
- Beds are published (40 bunks) but a current daily population figure is not; 'capacity' is marked yes for the published bed count.
- The jail page states the facility 'every year ... passed the Jail Inspection requirements for the State of Idaho' under rules set by the Idaho Sheriffs' Association, but this is a general claim on the county's site, not a published inspection report or result — per the brief, Idaho ISA inspection reports are voluntary and not public, so state_inspection is recorded as empty with this note.
- An active-warrants list is also published at https://owyheecounty.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ActiveWarrants-1.pdf.
- Three-member elected Board of County Commissioners: Walt Holton (District 1), Kelly Aberasturi (District 2), Cindy Bachman (District 3).
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Owyhee 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