Stevens County

The Detention Center

Not found (the county's departments page lists the Sheriff's remit only as "Jail, Dispatch, Vehicle Inspections"; no proper facility name is given)

• Operated byStevens County Sheriff's Department
• CustodyArrestees who remain in custody after court proceedings are "remanded to the custody of the Stevens County Sheriff's Department" (per the Sheriff's Department page)
• BailBail can be posted at the Sheriff's Department 24 hours a day via cash, surety bond, or cashier's check
• Commissioners' statutory duty (per county's own site)The County Commission page states their duties include "Providing a jail, courthouse, office space, and supplies for all county officers"
• Bed capacity, staffing, budget, out-of-county inmatesNot stated on the county's own site or the KSA profile

Source: Stevens County Kansas — Sheriff's Department · 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 Stevens 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 Ted Heaton

• TitleStevens County Sheriff
• Office address505 S Monroe, Hugoton, KS 67951 (per county's own site); mailing address PO Box 459, Hugoton, KS 67951 (per KSA profile)
• Phone620-544-4386
• Fax620-544-2656
• Hours24 hours/day (per county's own site)
• 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: Stevens County Kansas — Sheriff's Department · 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 26th 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 →