Decatur County

The Detention Center

Decatur County Jail

• Operated byDecatur County Sheriff's Office
• Location4th Floor, Decatur County Courthouse, 120 E. Hall Street, Oberlin, KS 67749
• AvailabilityStaffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, per the county's own sheriff page
• Visiting hours12:00pm–3:30pm, per the county's own sheriff page
• Offender registrationMonday–Friday 9:00am–3:00pm, by advance scheduling, per the county's own sheriff page
• Capacity (KSA figure, not the county's own site)12 beds, including 2 dedicated female beds (expandable to 4 depending on male population), per the Kansas Sheriffs' Association
• What was triedThe county's own sheriff page (dccoks.org/sheriff) was opened and names the jail and gives visiting/registration hours, but does not publish capacity, roster, budget, deaths in custody, PREA results, inspection results, contracts, bond guidance, or fee schedules. A follow-up attempt to open the county's own homepage (dccoks.org) to look for a commission or budget page was blocked by the site's robots.txt this session.

Source: Decatur County — Sheriff's Office page · checked 2026-09-17

• ✓The jail is named
• ✗Who is in custody — not published
• ✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Decatur County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-17. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

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

The Sheriff

Sheriff David Wachendorfer

• Runs the jailYes — K.S.A. 19-811 gives the sheriff charge and custody of the county jail and its prisoners; K.S.A. 19-1903 makes the sheriff responsible for the manner in which it is kept.
• How the office is filledElected countywide for a four-year term (K.S.A. 19-801a).
• Office address120 E. Hall St, 4th Floor, Oberlin, KS 67749 (also PO Box 89, Oberlin, KS 67749)
• Phone / fax(785) 475-8100 / (785) 475-8160
• StaffingUndersheriff Ed Temmel; Jail Administrator/Deputy Amber Carfield; Deputies Brady Ginther and Sandra Meier — per the county's own sheriff page.
• Sworn staffing (KSA figure)Four full-time and two part-time sworn officers, per the Kansas Sheriffs' Association (not the county's own site).

Source: Decatur County — Sheriff's Office page · checked 2026-09-17

The Judges

Kansas decides judicial selection district by district under Kan. Const. Art. 3 §6 and K.S.A. 20-2901. In most rural Kansas counties the district magistrate judge sets bail (K.S.A. 20-302b). Whether the 17th Judicial District has adopted nonpartisan/merit selection, and the names of its sitting judges, were not established this session — the district's own court pages were not reached, and Decatur County's own site did not publish this. The 17th Judicial District elects its district judges on a partisan ballot - the default under Kan. Const. Art. 3 sec. 6. Its voters have not adopted the nonpartisan nominating-commission method available under K.S.A. 20-2901.

Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-17

The County Commissioners

They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.

• What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
• What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and answers to voters, not to the board.
• The boardBoard of County Commissioners