The Detention Center
Starke County Jail
- Operated byStarke County Sheriff
- Jail addressNot stated on the jail page (sheriff's office: 5435 E State Road 8, Knox)
- Jail AdministratorNathan Caudill — Warden (sheriff's Jail page)
Source: Starke County Sheriff's Office — Jail · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗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 Jack Rosa
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff's site has a Jail division page with the jail's warden and commander
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term; limited to eight years in any twelve-year period
- Office address5435 E State Road 8, Knox, IN 46534
- Chief DeputyWayne James
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Starke County Sheriff's Office — Sheriff · 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.
Starke 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 lists Commissioners' agendas (next meeting 21 Sept 2026) and the County Council (fiscal body) directory, agendas and minutes; no budget document was opened.
- The boardStarke County Board of Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- The sheriff's Jail page names a warden (Nathan Caudill) and a jail commander (Austin Fletcher) and links an inmate roster (JailTracker, Starke_County_IN); the roster itself did not render when opened.
- A visitation PDF is linked from the jail page but was refused when opened, so any fee rates could not be checked.
- No capacity, bond guidance, PREA, inspection, death-in-custody or contract information found on the pages opened.
- 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 Starke 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