The Detention Center
DeKalb County Jail
- Operated byDeKalb County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address215 E 8th St, Auburn, IN 46706
- Population shown on sheriff's home page (Sep 2026)96
Source: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓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 — 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 Brady Thomas
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff's site hosts the DeKalb County Jail pages and inmate search
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Chief DeputyBen Rice (staff directory)
- Office phone(260) 925-3365
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-20
The Judges
Indiana circuit and superior court judges are state judicial officers, not county officials. In most counties they are elected to six-year terms; a few counties choose some judges through a nominating commission followed by retention votes.
DeKalb County Circuit Court
- Not found
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-20
The Commissioners and County Council
They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.
- What they controlThe three county commissioners own and maintain the jail building and sign its contracts; the seven-member county council adopts the budget and appropriates the jail's money.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and keeps the jail by state law (IC 36-2-13-5).
- NoteBoard of County Commissioners (executive) and seven-member County Council (fiscal body). County site page co.dekalb.in.us returned 403.
- The boardDeKalb County Board of Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's own site names the DeKalb County Jail, shows a current population count (96 when opened) and hosts an inmate search; individual records show booking date, charges, bond per charge and custody status.
- Sheriff's site links PREA, Bail & Bonds, Commissary, Visitation and Jail pages, but these could not be opened (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED), so prea, bond_info and fees stay unconfirmed.
- Rated capacity not given on pages opened.
- What was tried: co.dekalb.in.us Sheriff department page returned 403.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail Services inspects annually (IC 11-12-4); reports are public record on request but not posted by the state. None found on the county's own site.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in DeKalb 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 and council members who pay for it.
Names verified 2026-09-20 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered