The Detention Center
Wells County Jail
- Operated byWells County Sheriff's Office
- Address1615 Western Avenue, Bluffton, IN 46714
- Capacity"houses 98 inmates"
- Year built1985
- VisitationScheduled 24 hours ahead via InmateSales.com or 1-866-340-7879; onsite and offsite video visits
- CommissaryInmate Canteen accounts; money orders payable to Wells County Jail
Source: Wells County, Indiana — Sheriff's Office Jail Information · checked 2026-09-20
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓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 built1985 (county jail page)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsHouses 98 inmates (county jail page)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Scott Holliday
- Runs the jailYes — the Indiana sheriff keeps the county jail (IC 36-2-13-5)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term; no more than eight years in any twelve
- Took office1 January 2019, per the county jail information page
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Wells County, Indiana — Sheriff's Office Jail Information · 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.
Wells 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 home and commissioners pages could not be opened; the seven-member County Council is the fiscal body.
- The boardWells County Board of Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- County jail information page opened: Wells County Jail, 1615 Western Avenue, Bluffton; houses 98 inmates; built 1985; Sheriff Scott Holliday, elected and in office since 1 January 2019.
- The page links a list of bail bondsmen (PDF) but gives no instructions for posting bond, so bond_info is no.
- Phone, video-visit and commissary vendors are named but no rates are published, so fees is no.
- No inmate roster, PREA, inspection, budget or contract material found on the page; the sheriff's office, public information and county home pages refused to open (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED).
- 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 Wells 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