The Detention Center
Steuben County Jail
- Operated bySteuben County Sheriff
- Jail address206 E. Gale St., Angola, IN 46703
- Year built1992 (sheriff's jail page)
- Capacity178 (jail page says originally designed for 130; annual report says renovated from original 132)
- Staff29 full-time confinement officers plus part-time staff
- Bookings 2023 (annual report)1,542
- Average daily population 2023 (annual report)107
- Medical provider (named on site)Quality Correctional Care
- Jail AdministratorCaptain Jason Hufnagle — Jail Commander (named in the sheriff's 2024 Annual Jail Report)
Source: Steuben County Sheriff — Jail Division · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
4/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✓Deaths in custody
- ✗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
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built1992
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds178
Since then
- Capacity raised to 178 from an original 130 (jail page) / 132 (annual report); dates not given
The Sheriff
Sheriff Rodney L. Robinson
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff's site has a Jail Division page and posts annual jail reports
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term; limited to eight years in any twelve-year period
- Office address206 E. Gale St., Angola, IN 46703
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Steuben 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.
Steuben 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).
- NoteThe county site lists a Board of Commissioners with meeting minutes and County Council resources (council is the fiscal body); budget documents are in the county Document Center but none was opened.
- The boardSteuben County Board of Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- The sheriff posts Annual Jail Reports for 2015-2024 and crime statistics on its Public Records page.
- The report titled 2024 (covering 2023) records 'One (1) in-custody death occurring in 2023' and 1,542 bookings.
- The same report summarises the state inspection as noting 'zero (0) significant deficiencies' and that 'The jail is lacking in proper storage space'; this is a summary, not a posted copy of the inspection report.
- Fees published on the jail page: remote video visits $4.00 per 20 minutes; tablet phone calls $0.25/minute; tablet time $0.05/minute; texts $0.10 each (inmatesales.com).
- No roster, bond guidance, PREA or contract information found.
- State inspection/oversight: IDOC Jail Services inspects annually (IC 11-12-4); reports are public record on request but not posted by the state. No copy found on the county's own site, though the sheriff's 2024 annual report summarises the latest inspection ('zero (0) significant deficiencies'; 'lacking in proper storage space').
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Steuben 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