Smith County

The Detention Center

Not found (the county's own site labels the page simply "Jail"; no proper facility name is given)

• Operated bySmith County Sheriff's Office
• Location217 South Jefferson St., Smith Center, KS 66967 (same building as the Sheriff's Office)
• VisitationIn-person visitation Tuesdays 2:00-4:00pm, non-contact through a glass partition; commissary items accepted Tuesdays only
• Communication systemCIDnet handles phone, messaging and video visitation; no rates are published
• Bond processCash bonds, surety bonds, and OR (own-recognizance) bonds are processed per K.S.A. 22-2802
• Bed capacity, staffing, out-of-county inmates, annual budgetNot stated on the county's own site or the KSA profile

Source: Smith County, Kansas — Sheriff's Department, Jail page · checked 2026-09-17

• ✗The jail is named — not published
• ✗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
• ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Smith 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 Travis Conaway

• TitleSmith County Sheriff
• Office address217 South Jefferson, Smith Center, KS 66967
• Phone785-282-5180
• Fax785-282-5185
• Sheriff's Office staff (county's own site)Travis Conaway — Sheriff; Richard Linneman — Undersheriff; Trenton Frydendall, Ryan Lewis, Travis Story — Deputies; Tiffany Wiseman — Office Manager
• Statutory jail dutyK.S.A. 19-811 makes the elected sheriff the charge and custody officer of the county jail and all prisoners in it

Source: Kansas Sheriffs' Association — Smith County profile · 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). 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 →
• Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →