Rice County

The Detention Center

Not found (referred to only as "the Detention Center" on the Sheriff's Office page)

• Operated byRice County Sheriff's Office
• ContactDetention Center: 620-257-7877 option 1, "for all inmate questions and information," Monday–Friday 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
• Not published on the page examinedJail capacity, bond/bail information, fee schedules, or a current inmate roster
• What was triedricecounty.us was opened successfully this session (Sheriff's Office page, Commission page, About Rice County page). No dedicated Detention Center subpage was found in the domain-scoped search results, so year built, cost, capacity, and other jail-specific facts were not located.

Source: Rice County, KS — Sheriff's Office · 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 Rice 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 Nicholas Sowers

• TitleRice County Sheriff
• Confirmed on the county's own siteListed as "Nicholas W. Sowers" on the Rice County Sheriff's Office page
• Office address1442 W. Commercial St., Lyons, KS 67554
• Office phone620-257-2363 (non-emergency); admin/records 620-257-7876 option 2; Detention Center 620-257-7877 option 1
• Runs the jailYes, under K.S.A. 19-811 — the county's own site organizes a Detention Center as part of the Sheriff's Office, with its own dedicated phone line

Source: Rice County, KS — Sheriff's Office · 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). This county sits in the 20th Judicial District together with Barton, Ellsworth, Russell, and Stafford counties (per Wikipedia's Kansas District Courts article and confirmed independently in group 31's research on Barton County, which names Chief Judge Carey L. Hipp and District Judge Lisa Beran for this district). Which selection method the 20th District actually uses was not established on Rice County's own site this session. The 20th 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 →