The Detention Center
Not found
- Operated byKnox County Sheriff's Office
Source: Knox County — Departments · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
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
Not found
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff keeps the county jail (IC 36-2-13-5)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Sheriff's website (linked by county)knoxcountyindianasheriffsoffice.com — could not be opened
- State directory listsDoug Vantlin — not confirmed on a county or sheriff page. The State of Indiana's sheriff directory (in.gov/sheriffs) was out of date for 4 of the 66 counties we could check against county pages, so this name is shown for reference only.
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Knox County — Departments · 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.
Knox 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).
- NoteCounty site links a Commissioners page, a County Council page (fiscal body), a Meeting Documents page and recorded meetings; those pages could not be opened, so members were not recorded.
- The boardKnox County Board of Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Only the county's Departments page could be opened; it gives the courthouse (111 N 7th St, Vincennes, IN 47591) and links to the sheriff's own site, but says nothing about the jail.
- Checks are based on that one county page only, so the 'no' answers are thin; the sheriff's site may publish more.
- What was tried: knoxcountyindianasheriffsoffice.com, knoxcounty.in.gov/commissioners and /meeting-documents were refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED). Commercial roster sites ignored.
- Not scored: Sheriff's site was refused; only the county Departments page was read. Marking the rest 'not published' would claim more than was checked.
- 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 Knox 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